This is a list containing much of the software I install first thing when I have formatted my mac or get a new one.
1: Alfred (AppStore) – it is Spotlight 2.0, faster searches and you can customize it to enable searching on google etc. install it and set the CMD+space hotkey for this program instead of spotlight!
2: Ji-Touch (www.jitouch.com) – Adds +100 gestures and shortcuts to the multitouch trackpad
3: Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) – Auto backup software. It’s like a usb-drive, but connected to all of your computers, smartphones and tablets simultaneously!
4: Caffeine (AppStore)- Prevents the computer “falling asleep” or the screen becoming dark
5: UnRarX (www.unrarx.com) – small and simple .rar file extractor
6: jDownloader (www.jdownloader.org) – download manager which automatically grabs links from your clipboard
7: Bejeweled 3 (www.popcap.com) – .. because it’s an awesome game!
8: Switch – ACC/mp3 converter
9: TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com) – Remote desktop’s made easy, have people help you, or help others! With computerrelated problems from their/your own home.
10: VLC (www.videolan.org) – media/dvd/iso/music/everything player
11: Skype (www.skype.com) – Voice and video communication
12: TeamSpeak and Ventrilo – voice communication, used for gaming or meetings where video isn’t needed, or where you just want an awesome sound and have some other solution for broadcasting video!
13: Split & Concat – rar/zip splitter, awesome for when you have to move files bigger than 4gb, mac’s fat-system doesn’t allow this.
14: Quicktime Broadcaster – streaming your screen when working or gaming. A bit rough to setup but simply an awesome tool!)
15: Espresso – Web development program with build in FTP client
16: Xampp – local apache/php, mysql og ftp server, for programming PHP-sites offline
17: Adium (http://adium.im/) – msn (and lots of other IM clients..) for mac
18: Textmate (http://macromates.com/) – Absolutely awesome text editor with syntax highlighting
19: ShiftIt (https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt) – Shortcuts for “really” maximizing windows, or aligning them to either side of the screen windows style.
20: LittleSnitch (www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch) – software for monitoring and blocking the internet access of programs
These might not be the most awesome and best programs in the world, but it’s the programs I use since I’ve come to love either how simple or easy they are to work with, that they accomplish their specific task in such a great way or that it’s just a free program! – have fun!