Apple Remote Desktop 2.1 - Apple Computer

Any administrator who has been in charge of multiple Macs knows the repetitive chore of installing and updating software. Add in the inevitable phone calls requesting help, and you quickly wish you could shorten the distance between users’ computers and your chair .... read more at Macworld

Archiware PresStore 1.5 - JPY

For those weaned on the relative simplicity of backup programs such as Dantz's Retrospect, the first moments spent in the unfamiliar company of Archiware's PresStore come as a bit of a culture shock .... read more at MacUserUK

QuicKeys X3 - QuicKeys

QuicKeys is the Mac's leading automation utility, enabling the recording and playback of shortcuts - from opening a file or folder to building up complex sequences of actions .... read more at MacUserUK

DragThing 5.5 - DragThing

Long-time MacUser favourite DragThing is ostensibly a launcher. But labelling it as such is like saying Photoshop is okay for a bit of photo editing. This is because DragThing's feature set has expanded over the years. With Mac OS X's increasing reach, it's just as well; after all, Apple's Dock stole ground back from DragThing with regards to launching items. But DragThing still has the lead, and version 5.5 offers lots of improvements ... read more at MacUserUK

DownloadComment 1.0 -Ecamm Network

Despite several impressive recent entries in the Mac OS X browser market, Safari remains my favorite. But it’s still missing some features. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer for OS 9 provided a very clever method for keeping track of where you found a particular item: it added the download URL to the file’s Finder comments. When I wanted to find out where I got a file, I could simply use the Finder’s Get Info command to view the download URL. As someone who is lucky enough to get paid to try new software...... read more at Macworld

Backdrop 1.2 - John Haney

With Backdrop, window cleanup is a thing of the past. Just launch Backdrop, and you’ll see a solid background that fills your entire screen, leaving only the menu bar and the Dock visible. You then bring the desired app to the front and take your screenshot...... read more at Macworld

iKey 2.0 - ScriptSoftware

'Do less, accomplish more' is the proud boast on the iKey page of Script Software's website. It's a bold claim but, in the main, it's something that iKey enables you to achieve. In short, iKey is an automation utility. You can use it to automate countless tasks, freeing you up to do more interesting things. Almost any task can be automated, including typing chunks of text (such as your email signature or address when writing letters); regular maintenance and back-up procedures when you shut down; opening applications, menu items, or Finder folders; mounting servers every morning; and many, many more..... read more at MacUserUK

Entourage-Address Book 2.5.1 - Paul Berkowitz

If you use OS X's Address Book to store your contact information, you can take advantage of Apple's iSync to synchronize your contacts with your iPod, PDA, and many mobile phones. In addition, many applications and utilities work with Address Book (including OS X's iChat AV and built-in fax functionality). If you don't use Address Book, you've probably felt left out in the cold .... read more at Macworld

WordService 2.5.1 - Devon Technologies

In a previous issue, I wrote about OS X's services ("OS X's Overlooked Shortcut," Working Mac, December 2003), which let you use one application's abilities from within another. In that article, I briefly mentioned some of the best services plug-ins, but one is so useful that it deserves more attention .... read more at Macworld

WinSwitch 1.2.1 - Wincent Colaiuta

One of my favorite features in OS X 10.3 is Fast User Switching, which lets you quickly switch between user accounts via a menu-bar menu. Unfortunately, the menu's title is the current user's full user name, which can take up a significant chunk of the menu bar. .... read more at Macworld

Plain Clip 1.0.1 - Carsten Blüm

All Plain Clip does is strip the formatting of text in the Clipboard -- nothing more. Just put it in your Dock or assign it a key combination using a macro or launcher utility .... read more at Macworld

iPaste 1.0.2 - IGG Software

iPaste lets you store any number of bits of information -- text or images, for example -- that you tend to use frequently. Once you've stored these "clips," you can paste them into any document or text field in one of three ways .... read more at Macworld

Preferential Treatment 1.0.1 - Jon Nathan

Using Preferential Treatment, you can scan both user-level preference files (those in your user folder: Library: Preferences folder) and system-level preference files (in the root Library: Preferences folder); you can also scan other folders .... read more at Macworld

TheHotFolder - Ronin no Sakurakai Softronics

Drag a folder into the TheHotFolder window and choose whether you're planning on burning a CD or a DVD. TheHotFolder shows you how much space is available on the disc that you'll eventually burn .... read more at Macworld

KeyCue - ergonis software

After installing the utility, hold down the Command key within any application for a certain amount of time (which you determine), and up pops a window summarizing all the shortcuts currently available from within that application.... read more at Macworld

StuffIt Deluxe 8.0 - Aladdin Systems

With compression now built into Mac OS X 10.3 in the form of the Finder's Archive command, has Aladdin's StuffIt Deluxe outlived its usefulness? For remedial compression chores, perhaps. But if you're looking for more efficient compression and expansion of a wide variety of formats, the ability to encrypt archives, and a wealth of ways to interact with archives, StuffIt Deluxe 8.0.2 remains a necessary tool.... read more at Macworld

xSMB 0.4 - Frederic Bell

it does indicate, in the menu bar, the number of users currently connected to your Mac. You click on the menu to display the details -- each connected user's name and IP address and the shared folders they're accessing... read more at Macworld

AFS Monitor 1.0.1 - HornWare

Many OS X users have lamented the absence of OS 9's File Sharing Monitor, which kept track of users connected via File Sharing. HornWare's $5 AFS Monitor 1.0.1 is an inexpensive alternative... read more at Macworld

Tofu 1.0.1 - Amar Sagoo

Developer Amar Sagoo's theory is that reading text in columns, as in a newspaper, is much easier on the eyes. His free Tofu 1.0.1 aims to prove that point by allowing you to read documents -- text, RTF, the text portion of HTML documents, and (in Panther) Microsoft Word documents -- in column format ... read more at Macworld

Fob 1.0.1 - Leaky Puppy Software

I like to have a timer program on my computer that reminds me when my other activity is done. I've tried a bunch of these little helpers, but my favorite is Leaky Puppy Software's free Fob 1.0.1 ... read more at Macworld

iCalibrate 1.3.1 - Alex Nicksay

you can choose colors for backgrounds, borders, and text, and you can even customize background gradients. Each calendar can have its own custom theme, ... read more at Macworld

CalculateSizeCM 1.2 - Pixture Studio

is a plug-in that adds a Calculate Size item to the Finder's contextual menus. It provides much more detailed information than the Finder's standard Get Info command ... read more at Macworld

Path Finder 3.2 - Cocoatech

Path Finder looks and operates much like the Finder itself. It lets you do anything you can do in the Finder, but it offers many extra features. For example, Path Finder gives you a number of additional view options, including the ability to show file owners and groups in list view and to sort in column view ... read more at Macworld

You Synchronize 2.01- You Software

If you need to keep the same set of the most up-to-date versions of files on multiple Macs—say, on your PowerBook and your desktop Mac, then you're a prime candidate for You Synchronize, a handy utility that makes file synchronization easy, if not always speedy. ... read more at MacAddict

MenuPrefs 2.5 - iThink Software

I like the fact that, in OS X, Apple has placed most user settings in System Preferences. But I don't like that you can't go directly to a particular preference pane unless System Preferences is already running. A few menu utilities can provide you with direct access, but iThink Software's $5 MenuPrefs 2.5 has become my favorite. ... read more at Macworld

ToDo X 1.5 - Omicron

ToDo X lets you create as many task lists -- which the program calls categories -- as you need, and each list can have an unlimited number of tasks. You rank these tasks in importance (from 1 to 9) and mark them as completed. Each task has a note field. ... read more at Macworld

Trans Lucy 1.0.1 - CE Software

Using OS X's Quartz Extreme technology in ways Apple probably never imagined, Trans Lucy makes your movie translucent and sticks it right on top of your other work -- you can still see, and use, other applications through the haze of your movie ... read more at Macworld

You Control - You Software

while we're complaining, You Control's interface is not as intuitive as it should be, and you're limited to the modules You Software provides (module development is not open to third parties at this point). Quirks and bugs aside, though, we love this program, and we'll love it even more when it's polished ... read more at MacAddict

iBeeZz 2.2.1 - iBeeZz

In Panther, Apple finally brought back OS 9's scheduled-startup, sleep, and shutdown features. But Panther still limits you to only two schedules: one for startup, and another for either sleep or shutdown. If you'd like more control over these functions, you'll love iBeeZz 2.2.1 ... read more at Macworld

uControl - gnufoo

you can swap one modifier key for another -- switching the enter and option keys is popular with PowerBook users. If you're left-handed and want to reverse the buttons on your two-button mouse, you can do that, too. You can also enable mouse or trackpad scrolling ... read more at Macworld

nSwitch 1.1.1 - open-source

After you install fnSwitch and enable the Activate F1–F12 Keys option in its preference pane, your function keys will work as function keys when you press them; if you want to use them to change system settings, you hold down the fn key ... read more at Macworld

Snapz pro x 2 - Ambrosia

This version of Snapz Pro X may be related to the basic screen-grabbing tool that began life in the early days of the Mac OS, but it's a distant descendant. The powerful new QuickTime video capture abilities offered in Snapz Pro X 2 make it indispensable to anyone who wants to record what's happening on their screen . ... read more at MacUserUK

DragThing 5 - DragThing

DragThing is Apple's Dock done right. Rather than shoehorning everything - applications, documents, minimised windows, URLs - into a single space, DragThing lets you create multiple docks, each of which can be geared to handling a specific data type. The beauty of DragThing is that you can set it up however you want, and the permutations seem inexhaustible . ... read more at MacUserUK

QuickPlayCM 1.0 - Pixture Studio

It lets you view any QuickTime-supported movie file in the Finder by control- or right-clicking on the file ... read more at Macworld

Ittec 2.1 - Balance Software

With Ittec installed, control-clicking (or right-clicking if you have a multibutton mouse) on a folder in the Finder brings up a contextual menu listing that folder's contents (including other folders, which appear as hierarchical menus) ... read more at Macworld

Smart Scroll X 1.1b1 - Marc Moini

Many third-party mice have scroll wheels that facilitate scrolling through documents, but I've long wished that my keyboard had scroll-up and scroll-down keys right next to the page-up and page-down keys. If you've ever had the same wish, Marc Moini's $15 Smart Scroll X 1.1b1 may be just what you're looking for ... read more at Macworld

SUITCASE X1 - Extensis

As your laser printer churns out the pages, you notice Copperplate looks suspiciously similar to Times, and all your Helvetica distortions look exactly alike. What happened? Why do some laser-printed results sometimes look nothing like what we created on the screen? For the most part, it's because fonts have been mismanaged and wrongly substituted, which is why the Extensis upgrade to their font management utility, Suitcase XI, is so useful ... read more at macHOME

DejaMenu 1.0 - Karl Hsu

takes a unique approach: it brings the menus to your mouse. The first time you launch DejaMenu, it prompts you to create a keyboard combination to access menus; I use control-shift-Z. ... read more at Macworld

Spring Cleaning 6.0 - Aladdin Systems

Spring Cleaning is a good choice for managing the digital junk you've created, such as documents and QuickTime movies. But some of Spring Cleaning's features make it potentially dangerous for people who may not know what they're deleting. As for Internet Cleanup, if you use Internet Explorer, you may find it useful. Fans of other browsers should look elsewhere ... read more at Macworld

iKey - Script Software

This application enables you to create shortcuts for all manner of tasks, including Terminal commands, menu item selection, window control, and application and document launching. You can also store pieces of text, which can be retrieved using a hot-key. ... read more at MacUserUK

WorkStrip 3.0 - Softchaos

When we last reviewed WorkStrip ( November 2002 ), we felt that the program's excellent features weren't well organized and that it had too onerous a learning curve. Version 3 brings a happy change ... read more at Macworld

DV Backup 1.1 - coolatoola

Lets you use your video camera or deck as a tape-backup system ... read more at Macworld

MacMaid 2.1 - Realmac Software

Upon €rst learning about MacMaid 2.1, I jumped for joy: the little utility purports to use rules you set to automatically clean your Desktop or any other folder ... read more at Macworld

After Dark X + Fish - Infinisys

With After Dark X + Fish, Infinisys, the Japanese distributor of After Dark, brings the screen saver back, but not necessarily in a good way ... read more at Macworld

Norton SystemWorks 3.0 - Symantec

"Norton SystemWorks 3.0 is an impressive collection of utilities for OS X that includes Norton Utilities 8.0, Norton AntiVirus 9.0, Aladdin Spring Cleaning 5.0 and Dantz Retrospect Express 5.0. The utilities build on the strengths of their predecessors, and together, they provide essential maintenance while helping to prevent data loss" ... read more at macHOME

SharingMenu

It offers a convenient universal menu that lets you quickly enable or disable each service (as long as you have administrative access) ... read more at Macworld

Menu Master - Unsanity

lets you add or change shortcuts, or remove them altogether. And doing so couldn't be easier -- just highlight the appropriate menu item in the desired application and then press a keyboard shortcut to assign it to that menu item (or press the delete key to remove an existing keyboard shortcut) ... read more at Macworld

To the Trash 1.1 - Mireth Technology

If you tremble at the thought of emptying your Mac's Trash, To the Trash can be your security blanket. To the Trash automatically deletes specific files, from one day to several millennia after you drop them on the program's icon ... read more at Macworld

EarthDesk 2.0 - Trygve H. Ind

It's one thing to know in the abstract that people in other parts of the world are heading out to happy hour as you're waking up with the sun; it's quite another to see it happening. Trygve H. Inda's EarthDesk 2.0 makes a real-time map of the world on your computer desktop, so you can see when the sun rises -- or sets -- across the globe ... read more at Macworld

Clone'X - Tri/Edre

According to its documentation, Clone'X is a utility that "allows you to easily clone the System [Folder] (Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, or Mac OS 8.6) that runs your computer." The reality is something entirely different. Clone'X thrashed our System Folder every time we tried to restore it to our machine -- making our Mac unbootable ... read more at Macworld

QuicKeys X2 - CE Software

"QuicKeys X2, which also requires Jaguar, offers even more ways to control your Mac, with an interface that's more thoughtfully organized. To tap into QuicKeys' added power, though, you'll have to spend considerable time debugging and tweaking your shortcuts" ... read more at Macworld

Alepin - MacChampion

"Using Alepin, you can create an infinite number of files, which contain pages that hold text and images. You can also group pages into categories, giving Alepin sorting capabilities that Scrapbook and Notepad would envy" ... read more at Macworld

XShelf - Karl Hsu

"XShelf is exactly what its name implies -- a temporary shelf on which to store objects you're in the process of filing away " ... read more at Macworld

Marine Aquarium 2.0 - Prolific Publishing

"After I loaded Prolific Publishing's Marine Aquarium 2.0 on my computer, my LCD looked almost as if someone had transformed it into a sleek and stylish MacQuarium. The fish, coral formations, algae, and other aquarium elements were smoothly rendered and realistic" ... read more at Macworld

FontDoctor 5.5 - Morrison

"If you have a large collection of fonts that sometimes causes trouble, a house call from Morrison SoftDesign's FontDoctor 5.5.1 can cure what ails you. This utility searches local and networked drives for damaged or incomplete fonts " ... read more at Macworld

iLife Voice Solution - MacSpeech

"Why fool with menus and buttons when you could just tell your Mac what to do? That's the idea behind MacSpeech's iLife Voice Solution ScriptPaks, premade scripts that enhance the command-and-control abilities of iListen" ... read more at Macworld

QuicKeys X 1.5.4 - CE Software

"Missing Features, But Getting Better - QuicKeys X 1.0 brought OS X compatibility to the popular macro utility at the expense of a leaner feature set. Version 1.5.4 -- which requires Jaguar and costs more than version 1.0 -- edges QuicKeys closer to the power of QuicKeys 5 by giving you more control over the Mac interface " ... read more at Macworld

Imprint - Ampersandbox

"Imprint can read all the names and groups from your Address Book file, include PostNET bar codes, change fonts easily, and print on standard and custom envelope sizes" ... read more at Macworld

Addressix - A Sharp

"prints envelopes in any of 12 U.S. and international envelope sizes; you can also create custom ones. Addressix reads your contacts and groups from Address Book, although you can enter addresses directly or import a text file with addresses in it. The program is smart -- it remembers the addresses you've printed, lets you add multiple return addresses" ... read more at Macworld

Typeset - Vizspring Software

"Typeset is worthwhile if you want to look at type comparisons on screen, although it can print limited text samples as well. It has a nice slide-show mode for displaying customized text " ... read more at Macworld

FontBook - Lemke Software

"Primarily designed as a tool to print specimen pages of your fonts, it has many of the features I liked in Font Gander Pro -- including the ability to open fonts that aren't currently installed -- and offers a wide range of good specimen pages for printing" ... read more at Macworld

TypeIt4Me - Riccardo Ettore

"a more powerful and systemwide autocomplete utility that has been around for a while on the classic Mac OS, and more recently on OS X -- and my fingers haven't been quite so happy in a long time " ... read more at Macworld

Location X - Alex Keresztes and Greg Novick

"The problem is simple: you work in more than one place, you have different network settings and printers, and you even have to use alternative mail-server settings in order to send mail. Location X takes your network settings as a starting point and lets you change all that stuff and more, via a very clean interface " ... read more at Macworld

iMsafe 1.8.1 - SweetCocoa

"The $15 iMsafe can back up folders and files to disk (or an online backup location), and it can synchronize two sets of folders or disks" ... read more at Macworld

iClock 1.11 - Script Software

"an enormously enhanced replacement for OS X's menu-bar clock. " ... read more at Macworld

Cocktail 2.2.1 - Dicom

"Cocktail performs 20 system tasks and interface adjustments, arranged in five basic categories: Disks, System, Files, Network, and Interface. Similar to MacJanitor and Tinker Tool, it can run maintenance tasks " ... read more at Macworld

F10 Launch Studio 1.2 - Chronos

"F10 Launch Studio is a little utility that tries to make your Mac life easier by putting all your applications, folders, and documents on a single launch pad " ... read more at Macworld

Menu Master 1.0 - Unsanity

"Unsanity's haxies are fast gaining a reputation for filling perceived holes in Mac OS X. Its latest creation, Menu Master, claims to 'change or remove menu shortcut keys in any application with ease'" ... read more at MacUser UK

Default Folder 1.6 - St. Claire Software

"Default Folder X attaches a toolbar to the right-hand side of these [open and save] dialogs in both Carbon and Cocoa applications" ... read more at MacUser UK

Font Reserve 3.1 - DiamondSoft

"DiamondSoft is back with an updated edition of Font Reserve, which finally makes sense of the biggest font challenge to date: the brain-busting dichotomy between Mac OS X and Classic" ... read more at MacUser UK

F10 Launch Studio 1.0 - Chronos

"Many fans of the OS 9 Launcher have never been happy with the OS X Dock--you can only fit so many applications in the Dock before the icons shrink to the size of a 12-point text character. F10 Launch Studio is the latest in a long line of launcher utilities for OS X that try to overcome this limitation" ... read more at macHOME

FontAgent Pro 1.1 - Insider Software

"Although it lacks some of its rivals' bells and whistles, FontAgent Pro adds a few of its own, including a way-cool Font Player that may well have other software companies wondering, 'Why didn't we think of that?'" ... read more at macHOME

Spell Catcher X - Casady & Greene

"Spell Catcher contains many useful features, and the editing tools and reference guides will be a boon to anyone who writes on a daily basis" ... read more at MacUser UK