Mac utilities reviews, news and tips, including system utilities and other Mac software

xGestures updated for Snow Leopard

Jeff Porten — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:52:00 -0800

xGestures is a program that allows mouse movements to trigger menu items, keystrokes, and AppleScripts; it's recently been updated to work with Snow Leopard.

Add more effects to Photo Booth and iChat

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0800

Learn how to add over 20 additional effects to photos taken in Photo Booth and iChat

Secrets pref pane updated for Snow Leopard

Jeff Porten — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:37:00 -0800

The Mac preference pane with hundreds of hidden user interface tweaks is updated for Snow Leopard.

Jitouch adds new gestures to Multi-Touch trackpads

Dan Frakes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0800

Jitouch is a simple program that adds eight new sets of gestures to the Multi-Touch trackpads on recent Apple portables.

New DiskTool Pro update includes CPU meter, improved Snow Leopard support

Roman Loyola — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:00 -0800

Macware on Tuesday announced an update to DiskTools Pro, the company’s software utility for hard drive management.

Backblaze opens online backups to businesses

Dan Miller — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

Backblaze has been offering online backup services to individual Mac users since last April. Now it's expanding those services to businesses, too.

Delete networked files without caution dialog

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:43:00 -0700

Learn a timesaving (but potentially dangerous) method of deleting files stored on networked volumes without going through the Finder's "are you sure?" warning dialog.

See icon previews in folder Quick Look windows

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:41:00 -0700

Learn how to see a rotating set of icon previews for files within folders in Quick Look mode - perhaps not terribly useful, but visually intriguing

SMART Utility monitors your hard drives' health

Dan Frakes — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

SMART Utility monitors the SMART status of your internal hard drives, warning you if any of them is showing signs of drive failure.

Two more Snow Leopard Expose tips

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:41:00 -0700

Learn how to change the Expose All Windows sort order, and how to control whether or not Expose searches across Spaces in Application Windows mode.

1Password 3 beta now open to all

Nicholas Bonsack — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:19:00 -0700

1Password 3, the latest version of Agile Web Solutions's password storage utility for Safari, is now available in beta mode for all interested parties.

Review: ScreenFlow 2

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:30:00 -0700

ScreenFlow 2 adds transitions, audio ducking, clip playback speed adjustment, and more to the screen recording and editing suite.

First Look: VMware Fusion 3

Rob Griffiths — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:00:00 -0700

VMware Fusion3 brings better overall performance and a number of major new features to the virtualization app. Fusion now supports "Aero" 3D effects in Windows 7 and Vista, improves 3D graphics performance, and includes full Snow Leopard support.

ScreenFlow 2.0 adds powerful new editing features

Lex Friedman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:25:00 -0700

Telestream's already-powerful screencasting studio, ScreenFlow, gets more powerful with version 2.0.

DoorStop X security suite ready for Snow Leopard

Dan Miller — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:04:00 -0700

In addition to adding Snow Leopard compatibility to the suite's firewall and the firewall advisor, DoorStop X 2.3 also includes a new read-only mode in the firewall for non-admin users while the Who's There? Firewall Advisor offers an improved geo-location service.

Review: BusyMac BusyCal 1.0 calendar software

Joe Kissell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

If you’ve been frustrated by iCal’s limitations or are looking for a scheduling program with a little more oomph, BusyMac’s BusyCal may be just what you need.

Add notes to events and contacts created with data detectors

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:14:00 -0700

Data detectors in Mail in 10.5 and 10.6 can help you create new contacts and events from dates, addresses, and phone numbers. Learn how to automatically associate notes with these new entries.

Multiple-Clipboard utilities (and why you should use one)

Dan Frakes — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

In this week’s Macworld video, Dan Frakes takes a look at three of his favorite utilities for gaining multiple Clipboards, in the process showing you how they can improve your productivity.

Psystar selling software to run Snow Leopard on generic hardware

Nicholas Bonsack — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:53:00 -0700

Psystar has released a product called Rebel EFI, which lets users install Snow Leopard on generic PC hardware.

Mac News Briefs: Chronos rolls out version 8 of SOHO Notes, Organizer

Macworld Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:18:00 -0700

Both the notes management and information organization applications from Chronos feature a slew of new features. Also, Sente announced a new version of its self-titled academic reference manager, while NetNewsWire, Delicious Library, Twitterrific, and Snowtape all saw minor updates.

Find recently-used apps and documents in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:45:00 -0700

In Snow Leopard, you can use the Recent Items menu to help you quickly find where you saved a recently-used document (or application).

LaunchBar 5 adds clipboard history, more

Derik DeLong — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:50:00 -0700

The popular launching software LaunchBar has reached version 5, bringing new features such as clipboard history along with it.

PTHPasteboard Pro provides multiple Clipboards and much more

Dan Frakes — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:21:00 -0700

PTHPasteboard Pro is a utility that provides multiple Clipboards, but it's also a powerful text-processing and -storing program.

Two ways to download software updates in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:29:00 -0700

Snow Leopard removed a useful 'download only' option from Software Update. Learn two ways to replace that lost functionality.

See which processes are using the Internet

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:11:00 -0700

Use Terminal to see which processes are using your Internet connection

Mac News Briefs: Business Card Composer 5 adds map integration

Macworld Staff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:58:00 -0700

Google Maps integration in the latest version of the business card creation tool lets users include a map and directions on their business cards. Also, Ambrosia Software updated Snapz Pro X and RecoSoft announced a version of its PDF2Office file conversion utility aimed at iWork users.

Dictionary Cleaner lets you edit your spell-check dictionaries

Dan Frakes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:14:00 -0700

Dictionary Cleaner is a System Preferences pane that lets you edit Mac OS X's custom spell-checking dictionaries.

PhoneView 2.3 can retrieve iPhone MMS, Visual Voicemail

Dan Moren — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:49:00 -0700

The latest version of Ecamm Network's PhoneView lets you easily archive MMS messages and Visual Voicemail messages from your iPhone onto your Mac.

Mac News Briefs: Acrobat, Reader updates tackle security vulnerability

Macworld Staff — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:58:00 -0700

The 9.2 updates for Acrobat and Adobe Reader address vulnerabilities that could cause the applications to crash and potentially allow an attack to take control of the affected system. Also, SuperDuper and Cocktail both saw maintenance updates released on Tuesday.

Evernote 1.5 gains more languages, fixes, beta option

David Chartier — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:16:00 -0700

Evernote, the cross-platform and portable digital filing cabinet, gained a smorgasbord of new features and fixes in its version 1.5 update, including Safari and Windows Ink notes, new language localizations, and the option to go beta.

Review: CodeWeavers CrossOver Mac Pro 8

John Brandon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

CrossOver Mac Pro 8.0 is an application that runs a virtual environment so you can run Windows applications on your Mac.

Mac News Briefs: Logic Pro update enhances features, addresses stability

Macworld Staff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:04:00 -0700

The minor update to Apple's professional music recording, editing, and mixing software allows Flex Markers to align and snap to MIDI notes, makes performing a punch-in recording with Replace Mode behave correctly, adds an option for latency measurement to he I/O plug-in, and causes TDM plug-ins to behave as expected.

Herald of your email

Derik DeLong — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0700

Herald may be what you're looking for if you previously used Mail.appetizer.

Bevy brings a unique view to application launching

Dan Frakes — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:08:00 -0700

Bevy offers an interesting—and, at times, fun—way to access your applications: via a wall of icons that pops up on your command.

App Store Expense Monitor tracks your iPhone-app spending

Dan Frakes — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:05:00 -0700

WetFish Software's App Store Expense Monitor makes it easy to get an estimate of how much you've spent on iPhone apps.

Recovering an erased hard drive

Christopher Breen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:56:00 -0700

So, you erased your hard drive. Here's one recommendation for a tool to use to recover it.

Quicksilver lives again on Snow Leopard

David Chartier — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:16:00 -0700

Open-source utility Quicksilver is a jack of all trades; a recent update finally brings it into accord with Snow Leopard.

RIM releases official BlackBerry desktop software for Mac

Dan Moren — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:11:00 -0700

After a long wait, RIM has released BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac, allowing users of the popular mobile platform to sync data with their Macs.

Select Expose windows by name in Snow Leopard

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:35:00 -0700

Learn how to select any window in Expose's All Windows mode based on the name of that window.

USB Overdrive lets you control your input devices

Jonathan Seff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:29:00 -0700

USB Overdrive 3 provides Snow Leopard (as well as Tiger and Leopard) users with customizable, system-level mouse and keyboard control without slowing down your system.

Solutions for synchronizing folders

Christopher Breen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:56:00 -0700

Student Ross Wehner would like to synchronize his school and home homework folder. Here are some suggestions.

Snow Leopard can once again Growl

Derik DeLong — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:47:00 -0700

The Growl notification framework has been updated for Snow Leopard with the release of Growl 1.2.

Top iChat etiquette tips

Christopher Null — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0700

Don't want instant messaging to add up to instant embarrassment? Then follow these simple rules whether you're at work or home.

Mac News Briefs: PDFpen has new OCR engine

Macworld Staff — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:25:00 -0700

PDFpen 4.5 uses version 15.5 of the OmniPage OCR engine, which should improve accuracy in the PDF editing program. Also updated on Tuesday were Typinator, RealBasic and Real Studio, VideoFlash Converter, and Djay.

BusyCal 1.0 is calendaring for power users

Dan Moren — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0700

BusyMac has released version 1.0 of its new calendar software, BusyCal, which aims to compensate for many of the shortcomings of Apple's iCal.

Latest version of StuffIt Deluxe incorporates cloud computing

Dan Miller — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:44:00 -0700

Among its other new features, StuffIt Deluxe 2010 supports the new "cloud-based" StuffIt Connect service, which lets you share large files with other users more easily.

TwoUp and SizeUp organize multiple windows

Dan Frakes — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:18:00 -0700

TwoUp and SizeUp are utilities, one free and one not, that let you organize multiple windows on your screen; for example, to make it easier to move files between two Finder windows, or to more easily compare two documents.

Mac News Briefs: Major update for Workgroups suite

Macworld Staff — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:47:00 -0700

Workgroups 2010, the productivity management software suite for marketing, creating design, packaging, and prepress workgroups, features a new Document Organizer and browser-based proofing tool. Also, IntelliScanner released a sub-$100 version of its scanner-based organizational tool, and a Carbon Copy Cloner update now works with Snow Leopard’s HFS+ filesystem compression.

Yet another way to move app windows to Spaces

Rob Griffiths — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:24:00 -0700

Learn one additional method of moving app windows into Spaces.

Blowing past Comcast's bandwidth cap

Glenn Fleishman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:03:00 -0700

Glenn Fleishman took a bunch of online backup services for a spin, and inadvertently destroyed his Comcast terms of service. Oops.