Install These Apps on Your New Mac
In the spring of my youth, I enjoyed setting up a new computer, installing programs into a bare OS, as if I were laying out the shining city of Brasilia. Now I’m in a deep age, my back hurts from sitting, and installing a new computer is a tedious task. I can go without some applications for weeks or months, but I rely on a wonderful number just to function properly. Or, more optimistically speaking, these apps make me more productive. Maybe they’ll help you too. I got a new Mac at work last week. Here’s everything I installed right away.
- Chrome : I am using Safari for testing purposes only. Firefox looks more attractive again , but I rely on a lot of Chrome extensions, especially Workona . Luckily, Chrome automatically syncs all my extensions, so that’s the only thing I don’t need to redo.
- Dropbox : I can’t imagine trusting my computer with the only copy of my files. I use selective sync to get my Lifehacker folder and a couple of other useful folders like the one with my reaction gifs. ( Giphy is normal junk. ) Plus, I can work from home or even check a file from my phone if I need to.
- 1Password : I hate going into everything on a new computer, especially two-factor. 1Password makes this bearable.
- Slack : This is what Lifehacker uses instead of email. Constant work chat has its drawbacks, but it is still much better than long conversations of letters. And since almost all of my emails involve external communication, I don’t have to mentally switch so often between conversations with readers and sources and conversations with my colleagues.
- Spotify : I subscribe to Apple Music and Spotify, which is silly but has its uses. Spotify is social, but Apple Music integrates better with the music I have.
- Simplify : tells last.fm what kind of music I listen to on Spotify and iTunes. I have an unhealthy interest in keeping track of my listening habits meticulously, so I don’t want listening left out. I promised myself twice that I would delete my last.fm account and break free. I have been defeated twice.
- Private Internet VPN, Malwarebytes Malware Protection and Sophos Home Antivirus : Honestly, I could have missed them, but in the end I would have regretted it. I learned to floss and immediately learned to install my security apps.
- Photoshop : To add a column logo to a post image, or “enlarge” the image by filling the sides with content-aware fill, or cover my calendar with an expanding brain meme .
- Fantastic : Great for subscribing to many calendars. Fantastical doesn’t have a sync feature of its own, so I have to subscribe it to my Google / Facebook calendars, etc. every time I install it on a new device. It’s well worth it because of the flexible display features, notifications, and the excellent addition of events in plain language.
- VLC : Quicktime sucks. VLC handles more file formats and playlist options.
- Joink : Allows me to drag and drop files to temporary storage instead of moving them to and from the desktop. Finder must have this feature.
- Bartender : Mac OS lets me hide menu bar items, but getting them back is painful. The bartender just hides them in one click. This is where I use Airplay, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, and other elements that I need to see sometimes.
- Freedom : Block Twitter, Facebook, etc. when I need to work.
- Wunderlist : I have a stupid habit of using multiple to-do apps at once. But this is not a habit. I put random thoughts, ideas, and quotes on the Wunderlist because it’s more convenient than storing text files.
- Todoist : This is where I set real tasks, but eventually give up and use the Reminders app instead. But sometimes I have a project that actually requires tiered lists and team sharing, and I manage it in Todoist.
I ended up downloading even more favorites: the Soulver calculator, Piezo for recording snippets of audio from other applications, Highland 2 for recording, Smallpdf for awkward PDF tasks, Disk Map for visualizing my hard drive space. And in the end I had to grab Office and Skype, although I wouldn’t call them my favorites. But I need the above applications right now, otherwise my computer still feels like someone else’s home. And since I am old and easily confused, I try to avoid this feeling.