This icon: 
denotes a Dashboard Widget. Requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later
NeoOffice/J 0.8.2  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later, 256 MB RAM, 400 MB Hard Drive space |
Price: $0 |
| These days, there are a variety of Microsoft Office replacements available. Most of them either require extensive Unix knowledge or require you to install extra software to get it to work, but not NeoOffice/J. This is a Java implementation of OpenOffice.org, which means anyone can run it with ease. While the interface does look like windows and is a little slow to respond, the ability to create, open, print, and just use Office files without paying $400 is simply awesome. If you need to access the occasional Office files, this may be just the program for you. |
Print Center Repair 3.0.3 and Print Setup Repair 4.0.2  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later |
Price: $15 |
| These two utilities are hands down the best for fixing your OS X print problems. They can fix a wide variety of problems ranging from repairing specific permissions, to repairing various directories, to resetting the Print Center/Setup. Also, they allow you to do difficult tasks with ease, such as deleting built in print drivers (to save hundreds of megabytes of space), and install PPD files. If you are having OS X print problems, give one of these utilities a shot. |
OnyX 1.4.1  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later (Jaguar version available at the website) |
Price: $0 |
| A perfect compliment to last week's Shareware Pick, Onyx is a free Mac OS X maintenance tool. It does most everything Cocktail does, albeit slower, and with a harder to use interface. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a free maintenance tool, look no further than Onyx. |
Cocktail 3.3.1  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later |
Price: $11.95 |
| Cocktail is one of the best maintenance utilities for Mac OS X. With it, you can run cron scripts, clean caches, repair permissions, change network settings, prebind specific folders, set various hidden application and system settings, and optimize your system. Every Mac OS X user should have this program install, not only for the maintenance and optimization, but also for troubleshooting. |
Word Rage 2  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X |
Price: $10 |
| Word Rage is a game like the TV gameshow "Lingo." If you are not familiar with that game, you start out with the first letter of a five-letter word, and try to guess what that word is. If you get a letter(s) right (in the correct place or not), the letter(s) will be higlighted in descriptive colors. To aid you in your journey, there are "powerups" available. The more words you get right, the higher your score gets. You can't win $5000 or a fabulous vacation, but it's fun nonetheless. |
DVD Cache 0.4.9  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS 10.2 |
Price: $0 |
| DVD Cache is a tool that will help you organize your DVD collection. You can add DVDs quickly by searching the IMDB database, and including them in your list of movies. You can edit various fields, and even keep track of who is borrowing your movies. However, there are still some thigns it needs, but the developer seems to implement all suggestions as soon as they come in. A couple more versions, and this could be the best DVD organizer for Mac OS X. |
iHam on iRye 2.0  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS 9.x or later, Mac OS 10.1 or later, iTunes 2.0.4 or later |
Price: $0 |
| iHam on iRye is a neat little utility that acts as a remote control for iTunes. With this program, one computer can act as an iTunes server, playing the songs that other computers tell it to. From a client computer, you can control what playlist to use, the volume, what song to play, order or playing, and more. It's a very handy tool if you have one computer with all your songs, and would like to play them without sitting in front of that computer. |
Poisoned 0.41  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later |
Price: $0 |
| Poisoned is a peer-to-peer file sharing program that uses the OpenFT, FastTrack, and Gnutella networks to search for and download files. By using three separate networks, it can find many more files than the average p2p program. Better yet, most of the files will download, unlike with other p2p clients. The interface is very easy to use, and it's constantly improving do to its open source nature. This is currently the best peer-to-peer file sharing client for the Mac. |
SreamRipperX 1.04  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later |
Price: $0 |
| StreamRipperX is a very cool application that allows you to listen to streaming MP3 radio stations, as well as recording individual songs. works well as a stand alone application, but also integrates elegantly with iTunes. If you have always wanted to record those songs you can seem to download, this is the tool for you. |
Show Desktop 1.5  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1 or later |
Price: $0 |
| Show Desktop is a handy little utility that will show or hide all application windows with a single click of the mouse. It has the ability to rest in the Dock or the Menu Bar, making access easy. It has many options including an exclusion list for excluding the apps that are hidden. |
Monolingual 1.1.2  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.0 or later |
Price: $0 |
| Monolingual is a very handy utility that will remove all the selected language localizations from your Mac OS X system and applications. After running this app, you could potentially save up to 300-400 MB of hard drive space, and get rid of tens of thousands of files, speeding up your Mac OS X system. I have used this application many times, without problems, and feel it is safe for everyone. |
Jaguar Cache Cleaner 1.5.2  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1 or later |
Price: $7.95 |
| Jaguar Cache Cleaner is a very good troubleshooting tool for OS X users. With it, you can easily clean your cache files, repair permissions, update prebindings, run maintenance scripts, clean swap files, and more. If you don't think Mac OS X is quite running right, give Jaguar Cache Cleaner a shot. |
Hide From Dock 1.1  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.0 or later |
Price: $0 |
| Hide from Dock is a Mac OS X hack that allows you to hide application from the dock. This can be very handy, especially if you are a multibutton mouse user. If you are worried this hack will make your Mac unstable, rest assured that it's just a quick and easy way to change a system configuration file, and is very safe. |
SystemSound Extension 1.0  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.1 or later |
Price: $0 |
| SystemSound Extension is a background application for playing those old system sounds in Mac OS X. This is a handy tool for those who have many old system 7 sound files, and no way of playing them on their newer Macs. However, this program does lack the much needed ability to convert system 7 sounds to aiff format. |
SharePoints 2.1.1  |
| System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later |
Price: $0 |
| SharePoints is an application and pref pane that lets you get around the Mac OS X default of only sharing your public folder. Not only will this little piece of software allow you to share any folder you wish, but it will also bring back the user and group administration Mac OS 9 users love. This is something Apple should have put in the OS themselves. |
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