MacKeeper or MacKrapper?  



MacKeeper is a maintenance program for Mac that claims to fix a lot of issues on you Mac and to speed it up, plus, on the top of that, few utilities added as a bonus, i.e antivirus, hider, anti theft...etc 
MacKeeper is a hot subject, you either love it or hate it.
MacKeeper has not invented anything new, it's basically a re-bundled software.  Where few years ago you had multiple apps that each did a specific job, MacKeeper is a "bundle" of those, a kind of Repackaged-Does-It-All. 
I have nothing against repackaging, everybody does it, From Toyota-Lexus, Fiat-Ferrari, to Coke, Tide and American Express.  It's either called SKU Extension, Aspirational Marketing or avoiding Brand Dilution.

So, MacKeeper has features such as Anti-Theft, Antivirus, Login Items, Shredder, file finder, hider  etc etc.. So far So good ..
My first thought was to notice that most of those features already exist by default on your Mac, minus few. It's just that they come under one GUI with a sleek interface. 
Ok, if you are a Mac novice, a grand beginner, that could simplify your life a bit, So, you'll have one click instead of two, but that gain of one click is going to cost you $39 minimum.  After all, it's your call. 
If you are the "LOL OMG guyz!! Dis iz so Kool" type, it could provide some help.  Ditto if you are the natural child of Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Snooki from Jersey Shores: Yes, the sea is salted because of the whales, Buffalo Wings are made out of Buffalo meat, etc etc .. Do you catch my drift?  If your are a Jessnooki Hilton, well... buy it ...

Otherwise, fasten your seat belt and hold onto your credit card, here come the surprises .... 

92% Off, A $510 value for only  $39    $59   $89














Yes, it's called a "+50 -20": Jack up the price, then give a discount. It's a dubious marketing technique, but it's legal. I have myself a stock of UberPremium NanoCarbon based Space Pencils that can write in Zero Gravity, Each of those technical wonders sells for $1,000, but with your 90% discount coupon code, you'll get them at only $100. Premium VIP Shipping and Handling included. Want one?
☞ Dubious Marketing

Download 15 days Trial





 




"15-days fully functional trial with all features available"
One or two little issue though... 
All features available, but not all fully working.  Furthermore, as long as you don't have purchased MacKeeper,  annoying pop-ups reminder will appear on your screen.  Another feature of the "Trial" was the pop-up left behind when MacKeeper was removed. Apparently, it's no longer the case, but if you google "Mackeeper pop up" you'll get an idea on how bad it was.
Mackeeper was also known to be very hard to remove, after 3 years of complains, they finally added a full remover.  Before that, pop-us , crumbs, and a clusterf**** of little things left behind. 
☞ Deceptive / False Advertising
  
ZeoDisk 
ZeoDIsk is a feature that .... is "under development" ...for the past 3 years. It's a non-working Dropbox!

Nevermind, ZeoBit is marketing as working. Look closely, you'll see a tiny "under development" And still valued at $59...
That, in my eyes, and under my personal and private opinion, it's borderline scam and absolutely taking your customer for a bunch of moronic idiot.




 








Pushing something as a non-existing feature yet, is something rarely seen, but the best with ZeoDisk, is that, beside not working, it's valued at $60 on their "90% off", and in order to market a non existing feature, you must have some serious guts! Not only you sell wind, but it's expensive wind ... :  "Con me if you can" should be the name of the feature. 
Using the Wayback machine, I can find traces and mention of ZeoDisk as far back as April 2010.  It has never worked but has always been presented as a "feature".  Such practice are fairly rare in the software industry and I must say that, it feels like an extremely deceptive practice to do such.   I am surprised that MacKeeper has not been hit by a class action law suit yet. 
On the Top of everything,  take a look at the EULA, and you'll see that "Additional fees may also apply to using the ZeoDisk service."

Deceptive Practices / False Advertising / Unethical 
☞ Replace with DropBox  (Free) (Working) (Very Well)

As long as it's not working, please don't include that in the "16 apps in 1"   14 should be the count. 
-Yes,  Windows protection for a Mac?  huh?


Data Encryptor
 
Quoted: "Data Encryptor makes your personal data invisible on the hard drive. It can use a password so that the data cannot be retrieved through Finder or Terminal"

Invisible??








Well, invisible for a very short period of time;) MacKeeper simply reverse the name of the file / folder, so your "foobar.doc" become "cod.rabooF". As you can see a simple "find -name" on terminal will find it. 
The encryption does exist, also by default on your Mac. Not to restart a whole previous post about encrytion, but just in case you missed it, OS X does it already. Furthermore Lion and Mountain Lion can encrypt on-the-fly, not just a file, but the whole disk. Otherwise, create a disk image and encrypt it. (Disk Utility)
☞ Existing feature
Invisible as long as you don't look for it.
☞ Replace with Disk Utility 


Backup
A backup is always very useful.  That's why your mac comes directly equipped with Time Machine. Time Machine is amazingly good. So, here again, MacKeeper ask you to pay for something already existing. Furthermore , as you can see, ZeoDisk is mentioned again, even they know it's not working. Try to backup something in a non existent feature and let me know how it works for you... 
As a last words on the backup, Time Machine does a backup, automagically, of any file changed in the last hour. It means that you do NOT have to think about it, and that's pretty good. 
 

Deceptive / False Advertising
☞ Existing Feature
☞ Replace with Time Machine, Disk Utility (to create, i.e,  a bootable USB stick ) Dropbox, or with Drive Genius 3
 

Antivirus
There is one, working.  Although, when I tested it, it was not as good as they claimed it, no one can say that MacKeeper is lying on the Antivirus feature.  
Their Antivirus is using a Wine emulation, and is kinda slowish, nevertheless Antivirus it is. 
As most of us, always skip the EULA, I made an exception, and it falls under the Good To Know:
"ZeoBIT will provide a limited service of free antivirus updates for a period of one year from the first time you activate MacKeeper." 
Hence, one could expect a fee on the top. I do not know what the fee is.

Nevertheless, Antivirus it is, so we're all good. 
Antivirus: Working 
☞ Replace with Sophos Free Mac Edition

- Wait ... 
- What?   
- ARE YOU SERIOUS????   
- You MUST be kidding me! 

According to Thomas Reed, of Thomas Tech Corner (http://www.reedcorner.net/beware-mackeeper/) 
MacKeeper has done something that is beyond unethical and nothing less than Mafia Marketing

Quoted: 
" ZeoBIT has also, however, done something that shows conclusively that they have no ethics.  One of the features of MacKeeper is anti-virus protection.  There is a free, and quite excellent, anti-virus program for the Mac called ClamXav.  The ClamXav web site is clamxav.com.  ZeoBIT has purchased a very similar domain – clamxav.org – and has posted a “review” of ClamXav there.
The page that ZeoBIT has posted on that site appears to be a ClamXav review.  In the past, at the end of that review, there was a big green “Download” button that actually redirected the user to the MacKeeper web site.  After a number of people (including me) criticized them for that in a public forum, they added an itty-bitty little link below the Download button that was nearly unreadable.  That link read something like “Download ClamXav” and pointed to the real ClamXav site, but the Download button still redirected to the MacKeeper site.
"
I would recommend to anyone to read the Article in Full , and I apologize to Thomas Reed for quoting such a long paragraph (well beyond the acceptable quotation length) 

I also did some digging and went to the Wayback Internet Archive,  The link that Thomas mention is true, re-directing you direrectly to MacKeeper.  There is also a tiny link below that redirect you to ClamXav. Obviously placed for legal reasons.  Image Retrieved via Wayback, Image date June 2011
 









MacKeeper has pop-ups everywhere, pop under, planted reviews, and has also a very aggressive "Excellent Reviews" Blogger for hire everywhere,  but this ... is disgusting ... It shows the true mentality and the ethics of the people behind that ClamXav.org scam ... 
As a Rule Of Thumb,  If a company is willing to do such with others, just don't expect the company to be straightforward with you. 
☞ Deceptive / False Advertising
☞ Mafia Marketing
☞ Lies / Libel / Planted Reviews

Shredder
When "deleting" a file/folder,  you simply in fact remove the first letter of the name and replace it by a question mark, i.e   "foobar.jpg" becomes  "?oobar.jpg"  Your system now knows that it can overwrite the space available. 
It's faster than "erasing" or "Wiping" large aera of your HDD. 
One issue, it's easily recoverable.  In order to Erase, Wipe or Secure Delete, you have to re-write over that space. 
Multiple option exist: Just re-writing zeros over it , either one pass, 3 pass, using a 7 pass secure delete also known as "DoD" (Department of Defense), or the Absolute Nuke: Gutman 35 pass. 
MacKeeper provides you with that feature.  As well as your Mac. 
Nothing new here, Existing feature again, Use Secure Delete on your Mac.
Please be aware that "Gutman 35"  takes 35 times longer than a one pass.  After 7 pass, you have to be NSA/CIA level to attempt to recover data.  The NSA/CIA Geek Squad does not use Gutman, they use a Degausser and then shred -physically- the drives to a fine powder.
☞ Existing Feature
☞ Replace With Secure Delete or Drive Genius 3


Anti-theft
Ok, a Feature that does not exist by default on you Mac.  Even thought I consider the Anti-Theft feature on MacKeeper a bad Knock-Off of PreyProject (Free) Mac Keeper has indeed that feature. 
I have one little problem with it:  If I install an anti-theft/recovery feature on Mac, I want it as Stealth as possible. 
MacKeeper has it visible for everyone, including the thief.  



Knowing that, it does not take a PhD to figure out a Counter solution.  Not Only Prey is free, is Stealth, but is also Goddam efficient.  Get Prey! 
Anti-Theft: Working
☞ Replace With PreyProject

Recovery
AKA "Undelete" 
Yes! a true feature.  For the inner workings, read above "shredder" (?oobar.jpg > Foobar.jpg) It won't recover everything, but it can be useful in case of a "Oopsie".  If you wait too long, chances are that the clusters will be overwritten and you won't be able to recover your deleted-by-mistake files. 
If you are looking to Undelete old files, or files that have been shredded,Overwitten, Deleted, Erased, DoD'ed or even Gutman'ed, there is a Free solution for you:  Time Machine.  ;)  Works like a charm ..... 
For you Geeks and Geekettes, as well as smart people , a Time Capsule is the best thing I can recommend, plus you'll get a fantastic Dual Band Router and a WIFI Backup.  It's worth every penny. 
Recovery: Working
☞ Replace With Time Machine

Login Items
Login items????? 
Muahahahahah!  You must be joking, huh? Seriously....  What's next?  The Color Screen App? 
This MacKeeper feature is borderline insulting.  And you should feel insulted!  Unless you have the IQ of a sponge.
☞ Existing Feature by default on OS X

File Finder
Falls under the same category as Login Items.  Click Finder, use the search bar, and a "+" will appear. You'll then have 1000 ways to search files on your Mac, probably more ways and details than you can chew, i.e finding a picture based on the fact that "Flash" was ON or OFF,  or even finding the ISO settings, etc etc.
☞ Existing Feature
☞ Replace with Finder or FileFind.app (free)

Disk Usage
Again...  Same stuff, already existing moronic feature. You're just paying for nothing else than a little bit of color and a lot of wind.
☞ Existing Feature

Default Apps
I am seriously considering making my Color Screen.app. If MacKeeper can sell that, I should find people to buy my Color Screen App. 
Default Apps is .... a Moronic re-packed re-branded already existing version of "Get Info"
That's not even funny... They are insulting anyone with an IQ superior to a rubber ducky.
☞ Existing Feature

Update Tracker
Read ALL of the above, then if you do not understand, you may need the "Color Screen App" A fantastic,  ultra fast App that allows you to turn your average Mac Screen into a Ful Color Screen (million of different colors!) 
☞ Existing Feature (app store)

Fast Cleanup
This is a working feature,  Nothing new, you'll find plethora of identical app and utilities, some "free", some "fee"
☞ Working Feature
☞ Replace with (Free)  Onyx, Monolingual,
☞ Replace with (Fee)    Clean My Mac

Duplicate Finder
This is a working feature, As above, multiple Apps available.
☞ Working Feature
☞ Replace with


Smart Uninstaller 
Again,  Nothing new, just a knock-off of previously invented app.  Any "Smart Uninstaller" can be useful, so I'll grant them a point for that.
Nevertheless,  there is an extra mention for MacKeeper Smart Uninstaller:  For the longest time, it was unable to uninstall MacKeeper ;)  leaving ..."crumbs" behind ....
As a Rule-Of-Thumb:  Where there is "Crumbs" , One could find "Cockroaches" too. (Computer Proverb) 
Some more details below ...
☞ Working Feature
☞ Replace with App Cleaner (Free)

Support, AKA Geeks on Demand
A true genuine feature, well, after all, it was about time. Nevertheless, they have a support available.
Before jumping too high,  back again to the EULA:
"ZeoBIT will make an effort to provide you with email, phone and chat support pertaining to your use of MacKeeper. The said support will be limited to topics within the domain of basic usage of MacKeeper. ZeoBIT is not required to offer you general advice on technologies underlying or related to MacKeeper. ZeoBIT reserves the right to cease offering support of any kind pertaining to the usage of older releases of MacKeeper whenever a new release, whether for free or for pay, of MacKeeper becomes available."

I won't throw a stone at them for that, it's kinda normal to limit the support.  But in that case, don't put a picture of an Apple Certified Tech if you only intend to help as "Support will be limited to topics within the domain of basic usage of MacKeeper."



So, here we go... 
The Results
Working                                     : 5  (non existing features found by default on a Mac)
Genuine Original Features      :1   (support) 
Replaceable For Free               :10
Non working dubious feature  :1 (ZeoDisk)

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Obvioulsy, support is appreciated.  What is NOT appreciated is the Gangster Marketing, the lies, the planted review(s), the fake website to libel competition, the tricky links to coerce you to download their soft, the pop ups, pop-under, reminders, and an absolutely disgusting disregard to the bare minimum level of ethics.
If a company uses such gutter techniques to sell you a product,  one can expect some rotten surprises down the pipe.

MacKeeper had, for the longest time, made their soft extremely hard to remove, always leaving crumbs behind to remind you that "Your Mac Was at Risk"  Do you know how it is called?  Some call it "Malware" or "Trickware", and down the line "RansomWare".  A Genuine company, with a good software does not use this type of trick to coerce you into buying their product.
 It took over 2 years to finally bend to the pressure and do something about it and provide an uninstaller.  Anyone or any software having this type of behavior should be considered as suspicious.

MacKeeper: Scam or Not? 
In the USA, it's a "Buyer Beware" market, there are no laws that prevent companies for using Moronic Marketing or making claims that would be hard to verify.  Legally, in its whole, MacKeeper does not fall under the strict description of a Scam, even though, one could argue that ZeoDisk, being marketed as working on some pages and being under development for almost 3 years, could be perceived as deceptive and fraudulent: What is a reasonable amount of time is long gone.
What has prevented them to be sued is probably that they guarantee you a 365 days full refund. In case of "dissatisfaction"  you can be refunded.
Ethically it's another story, but it is suggestive. If you have purchased MacKeeper and is very happy with it, nobody can tell you that you should not.  Only after reviewing what it does, you could question the ethics behind it.     

My 2 cents:  Stay Away From MacKeeper!  I would rather give my money to an ethical company that does not engage in deceptive marketing, nor plant fake reviews of its competition.



















How to save $510 
  
Anti-Theft / Recovery 
Prey Project

AntiVirus 
Sophos Free Mac Edition

Encryption
Disk Utility, FileVault (OS X)
FileVault2 (10.7, 10.8)
TrueCrypt     (Free)  (For Advanced Users)

Backup
Time Machine (OS X)
Carbon Copy Cloner
SuperDuper
DropBox

Shredder
Secure Delete (OS X)
Drive Genius 3
Permanent Eraser

Wise / Smart Uninstaller
AppCleaner (Free)

File Finder
Finder OS X (Use the options, you silly!)
File Finder

Duplicate
Finder
DupeGuru (Fairware)
Drive Genius 3

Geek On Demand (With Premium)
Apple Store ;) (No Premium)
Google (No Premium)

ZeoDisk
DropBox

Login Items & Default Apps

OS X by default ... 

2) but if you insist .... Don't forget to ask about The Color Screen.App








ColorScreen App
This app transform your regular Macbook pro, or iMac screen into a full color one! 
A Genuine non-working-yet-app-under-development with no promise whatsoever that it will work one day

Buy now! $99 for a limited time only! 

 Spring Cleaning

How to speed up my Mac

Update Sept 2012: 
MacKeeper has now entered a "grayish" zone:  They started nice but have since moved far out.  
The Marketing techniques used, overrated statements, false advertising are making them closer to a legal scam than a true Mac Application.   After digging a bit more into the guts of MacKeeper,   I can only state my personal and private opinion about MacKeeper:  Stay away from it!  
 

Do you remember when your Mac was brand new?  It was fast, huh?
With the time your mac may have became a little sluggish, a bit slow to respond.
Wait ! Don't sigh!
You can do something! They're apps for that!

They are a bunch of free apps in fact, each of them doing a great job at speeding up your Mac.
Let's look first at the culprits, and the ways to fix the issue(s)

Multiple languages
Each programs ships with at least 10 to 12 languages ready. Some of them are out with more than 50, including Klingon, Swahili & Breton (!)  Unless you are using all them on your Mac, you may just need few.  For the most of us: one.
Removing them will free up to 7GB of space. 
Prog to use:  Monolingual or CleanMyMac

Universal Binaries
Once upon a time, it was Power PC, now it's Intel Chips.
Some progs are still written for both, hence a lot of the code is useless either for one or the other.
(If you are on Power PC and are going to move to Intel soon, skip that step)
Progs to use Xslimmer or CleanMyMac

Caches
Cache(s) are made to store information that you may need to re-use. If you use Safari, Firefox or Google Earth, you probably have (large) cache hogging your hard drive.
You can do the following test: Open Google Earth and make a flight over  New-York-Paris-London-Boston.  Then Re-do it.   Much faster now: The Cache!





Yes, it's faster but I recently discovered that the cache for my Google Earth -only- was 650MB.
 If you add all the other App using a cache ... you have few gigs there.
 Progs to use: The App itself,  OnyxCleanMyMac 

Apps
If you uninstall your Apps by trashing the App itself, there is a great chance that they are not properly removed and you left dust balls behind you. You need to remove those apps properly, along with the plists and attached folders (resources, folders, icons, etc)
Progs to use: AppCleaner,  CleanMyMac

Memory
Memory is in high demand!
If you start you Mac with 10 Apps on "Open at Login", then have everything on the face of the earth running by default (Bluethooth, Universal Access,  etc ) it will drain the resources.
Take a look at Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items.  You'll see what's running at login.
I love DropBox, but i don't need it, I kill it. Ditto for Airport (WI-FI). I used to launch everything at login, just by convenience; I quickly stopped doing that.


A quick look at Activity Monitor may make you gasp: RAM use @ startup: Photoshop 70MB, Firefox 70, Excel 70 Etc. Some Apps (i.e Photoshop) may go up to the gig.

Progs to use: Your common senseiFreeMem

Diverse Junk
Logs, System Junk
Logs are kept for diverse reasons, i.e crashes etc. unless you have repetitive issues, you do not need to keep them for ever.
Progs to use: Finder,  CleanMyMac

Double Trouble
Because I am a reformed windows user, I have a tendency to backup everything. And then backup the backup. Still,  sometimes it's not enough.  (50 crashes on Excel and counting.  Thank you MS)
Because of that, I end up with duplicates and triplicates.  Chipmunk does the trick: It checks your HDD for duplicates.  After that, it's your decision to delete or keep.


Fragmented Files
OS X has a self control over fragmented files, hence you do not need a defragmenter.  The thing that you can do for large files is to copy or move the files or directory to an external HDD,  Delete them on the original and re-copy to the HDD. It does not make miracles but when re-copied,  they are copied in one block.  issue: it does change the date and time on the file, and it's time consuming.


What I would do if I Were You 

If something can wrong, it will!   Hence an excellent idea is to Backup With Time Machine
Seriously!  


CleanMyMac does almost everything, BUT it has a Demo limitation of 210MB of cleaning.

The Good news is that there is a Workaround, and no, it's not a Crack, Serial or a Keygen for CleanMyMac.

To avoid reaching the limit in the first try, I would first start with Monolingual and Onyx and once the bulk has been removed use CleanMyMac.  Just use the Workaround explained here to reset the limit.
iFreeMem does not increase your total memory but solely swap some RAM. It create a temporary increase in the RAM available.

Before Clearing the Binaries:  Be sure  to update the "safe list"  Some progs have a Checksum verification. To avoid pirated versions, if the checksum is not correct, they will stop working.
Hence - UPDATE THE SAFE LIST -  (CleanMyMac >> Preferences )

Onyx Does much more than clearing cache. It Checks the SMART Status and is able also to tweak your preferences on a click.  And that's 02% of what is can do.

iFreeMem available here

Xslimmer is here   (Demo)







Once Installed,
Backup with Time Machine, then run Monolingual First,  Then Onyx (Smart, Plist, Cache)
then finish with a polish with CleanMyMac
Check your "Open at Login" settings, reboot and you should be all set.

 Update:
Sept 2012: 
MacKeeper has now entered a "grayish" zone:  They started nice but have since moved far out.  The Marketing techniques used, overrated statements, false advertising are making them closer to a legal scam than a true Mac Application.   After digging a bit more into the guts of MacKeeper,   I can only state my personal and private opinion about MacKeeper:  Stay away from it!  



While your are at it , take a look at MacKeeper,
( http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/ )it also has an undelete function and also a Duplicate Finder.  I am the type to backup the backup, but I must admit that it takes some space.

WARNING!  You will be tempted to download a crack, or a keygen. That would be illegal, and the best way to end up with a Rootkit or a Keylogger.
The creator(s) of MacKeeper have a Trial Version with no limitation and they provide FREE real licenses. Just be creative
http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/media_room/newsletters/2010-07-30




Updated:
25   36  Free Apps you can't live without




System App

Prey 

Recover What Is Rightfully Yours.

UPDATE !!! April '10  Geo-Localization Enabled ;-)
Distant Lock (can be used as Parental Control) 

Prey is a MUST!  So, drop everything you are doing right now and install it.  And it's Free!
Prey is a Private Investigator, A certified Spy, a life insurance & your best friend.  Prey can help you recover a stolen or lost computer.   I know... Now It's not the most important thing in your mind;   But If your laptop is stolen or lost, then it will rapidly become your best friend.  Furthermore,  Prey is becoming better by the hour: Keylogger in Dev, iPhone App, Multiplatform, MultiDevices. (Now available for Android Phone)
Prey is a MUST. So, drop everything you are doing right now and install it.  (Did I mention that Prey is Free?)
Prey is "Install & forget",  1 minute to save your life. -And all your documents, pictures, memories, emails ..... Install it NOW!   Tutorial here


Quicksilver

Act without doing. Do it Fast!   Quicksilver is a "Unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data".
Quicksilver takes a little period of adaptation, but after that you'll be able to do your daily tasks few parsec faster




Onyx  

Configure your Mac the way you want.  In few clicks, Onyx Allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, run tasks of system maintenance, configure hidden parameters for: Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and some of Apple's own applications, it deletes caches, removes cache files and folders that may become cumbersome.  It also include possibilities such as changing the default setting of screenshots from .png to .jpg in one click. Onyx exists for Snow Leopard , Leopard , Tiger & Panther.




Ever needed to split a large file? (Deconcatenate) and to join it again? (Concatenate). There, here you are: MacSplit. 
Why? , because most of the email provider will limit the size of an attachment to 20MB.  BTW,  Read the post about Gspace: You've just received 7385 MB of free storage / sharing for reading this post ;-)




iStat Pro 

What's going on?   All your Mac at a glance, a complete system monitoring:
Activity Processes, Network, HDDs SMART status
Bandwidth, Bluetooth
Battery health, Charge
Temperature of your CPU's, GPU, Base, and also Fans speed.    Very useful.



AppCleaner

AppCleaner is a small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps. No more Plist left behind. AppCleaner finds all these small files and safely deletes them.
App Cleaner can also protect your preferred App from deletion,  keep a log and has a smart delete feature.  Clean removals are very important




SaveCircle & ForEverSave Lite
 
Two app that save your docs or files at regular intervals. It helps you to NOT commit suicide when you realize that you have lost 3 hours of work because CMD+S is a too complex shortcut.
Pick the one you like: Save Circle has a detachable timer.
The ForeverSave Full version is $15 but has a lot of features, such as a Time Backup, etc,  but it's $15.   [ Time Machine is Free ] ;-)



Monolingual

Unless you wish to learn Klingon, Breton, Swahili, Kalaallisut and the famous Kinyarwanda, you may wish to remove unused languages on your Mac. I have nothing against Kalaallisut, but if i can free up to 7GB by doing so, I will.  Monolingual gives you back some real estate on your Hard Drive. 


  


 
 CleanMyMac is not free, but they have a demo version.  Limited to 500 MB.
Limited that is, IF you don't know the workaround.
As soon as you know the workaround, you can clean with almost no limitation. 
Huh? The workaround ? No, it's not a crack but it's explained here


iWeb App



iWeb SEO Tool

Making the publishing of your Google Analytics Code a breeze
Quickly and easily optimize your iWeb based website for search engines then publish directly to your iDisk or FTP server without ever leaving the application.
Now iWeb users can enjoy the same search engine benefits enjoyed by all other websites optimized specifically for all major search engines. iWeb SEO Tool can also easily add Google Analytics or any other analytics code to your iWeb site.





iTweak

iTweak is the ultimate companion for iWeb which allows you to add nearly all the missing things. To make this short and effective, here is a list of the main features:
iTweak can back up both iWeb 06 and iWeb 08 sites in a snap
It can add a Favicon via a simple drag and drop method
You can integrate a Google Search bar into and for your site
You can add Google Analytics, Statcounter and any other hitcounter in the world
Easily embed the Haloscan Commenting system


FileZilla

 An excellent FTP client
 Once you have tweaked your iWeb Website, you'll need FileZilla 
 Works on Windows too




  

WebCrusher

Ok , this one is NOT FREE , but if you have the use of it ....

It Squeeze your website out of the unnecessary fat code and over big images
it makes your pages load up to 50% faster.  iWeb is also graphic intensive and some may say -slow-, that will speed it up...
That could be the difference between a sale or a client gone ...
One-click website optimization, reducing the time it takes for your website to load in your customer’s web browser. Create your web site any way you like then run it through WebCrusher and publish it to your web server. In less than 5 minutes you will have a faster loading web site with absolutely no additional work on your part.
  

Text Wranglers & Manipulators



TextWrangler 

TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor.  From the basic text edit to sorting, finding , grep , editing , Text Manipulations, FPT , and Unix and server administrator’s tool too
It does things that you have not dreamt of yet!  Sorting, killing duplicate's, etc  
Get it , you'll use it






Mass Replace It 

You know how to Find and Replace, but when it comes to do it in 500 files , that can be tedious.
MassReplaceIt makes it a dream, Select the folder , and chop chop , it's done ...
Want to change the extension of hundreds of files at once? Or have you ever needed to change an email address on 50 different pages of a website? Then MassReplaceIt is the tool for you.
MassReplaceIt can change a line of code in an entire website in a breeze. It may help you more than you can imagine




Video App 


Handbrake 

Easily Rip your DVD's & Convert videos for all your Apple gear and beyond:  iPhone, iPod, Mac. Even Windows and Linux. Multitrack, you can burn the subtitles as well as multiples languages in one file. Presets makes it  a breeze to find the right settings for your device.
Handbrake is a must!  Tutorial is here





VLC

The cross-platform open-source multimedia framework, player and server
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac ...) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.  See the full features list.
  It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.
Anyway... You want Handbrake?? You'll need VLC. That simple.





Perian 

The Swiss Army Knife for Quicktime.  Not an app "per say" but it allows Quicktime to play many different formats.







Graphic Editors


Gimp



If you have Gimp, you won't probably need Photoshop. 
Besides the fact that it works under almost anything, Gimp has also a large (and Free) Plugin Library.  You'll also save $200.




Seashore 

If you are between Paint and Photoshop Master Jedi Level, (Noob and UberGeek) Seashore is for you. You can still do a lot, but it's not a complex as Gimp or Photoshop. Here again, download and save $100.  Yup!, That's 3 Snow Leopard or a 5 licenses pack for iWork. Or almost 7 "Most Expensive Starbucks" [Inflation corrected] [Can you tell it's raining today?]



Icons Editor



Img2Icns & Telling Folders

I am a "visual memory" guy,  Img2Icns & Telling Folder allow me to create Icons the way I want to, and differentiate my folders the way I want to. I also find the regular Apple icons not so appealing when you end up with 20 identical folders. Those 2 Apps are very easy to use and you'll create your Icons in a snap, direct from pictures (Img2Icns) or flatten image within an existing "Apple" regular folder. (Telling Folder)
Examples, left to right:
Icon and Folder created with Img2Icns
Folder "Pages" created with Telling Folders







Music / iTunes



Artwork Gofer


Are you missing CD Covers on iTtunes?  The "Get Artworks" option on iTunes has some flaws:  Use Artwork Gofer and you should be OK. 
This easy to use application allows to find missing artwork for your iTunes albums and add it to the albums tracks. You can get artwork for selected tracks, or you can simply find all the missing artwork for your iTunes music.
To search artwork for selected tracks, select any number of tracks in iTunes, then select the Search Artwork menu command in the iTunes Scripts menu.
If you want the Lyrics too, look for "Get Lyrical".
For the Artwork, you can also try "Tidysongs" the free trial offers 100 fixes, after it's $30.   If you are looking for a TidySongs crack, read the Antivirus & RootKit post 10 times. Then Repeat.  Posted!!!  




Desktop



Camouflage

Camouflage will hide your Desktop Icons in a click
It makes your Mac look all clean and neat.
For a messy guy like me, it's a blessing.








Browsers



Firefox , OperaChrome (?)
 
On a Mac, you have Safari by default:  Don't get me wrong Safari is an excellent browser,  but Firefox is Excellent too.  Each of them have functionality that the other does not have.  Some Firefox Add-on are really good (All in One Gesture, TinEye, Gspace, No Script etc) so why don't you enjoy the best of each?   BTW, if you have IE, now is the time to move on.  IE is often ranked last in quality, speed and safety. Chrome for Mac is in Development and should be soon available.   Opera is also very good,  and due to his small market share, Opera is the less likely to be targeted for exploits. Noted??



Security 

iAntivirus        Avast!


- Hey! you don't mention ClamXav?
Nope!..I know ....
-Why?
Because I tested 7 Antivirus, and as per my tests, ClamXav ended up Rock Bottom.  So, I understand the concept of Free Software, but ClamXav was so bad that they should pay you to install it.  Hence under my right of free speech, I do NOT advise ClamXav under any circumstances, as of Nov '10.

- Ok.... What should I use?
 The (new) tests are here, along with results & recommendations.


Talking about "exploits"  You do have an Antivirus on hand? Correct?
Why? because Mac DO get Viruses, Rootkit, Trojan and Worms.

If you are sure you'll never get one because you "do not download stuff", then read this little story:  "Best Buy Digital Photo Frames Shipped With Virus"  . Ditto, USB key were sold at "clearance prices" or intentionally left in Internet Cafes for people to find them:  The USB keys were "preloaded" with some nasty crapware;  You can guess what happened.
About those 2 Antivirus, I have tested both and I prefer iAntivirus over Avast!  (Ease of use)  Nevertheless, I keep both on hand (yes, they're free) Just don't run them together.  
ALWAYS DOWNLOAD FROM TRUSTED SOURCES
READ the note at the end about AV




RootKit Hunter

"RKHunter is scanning tool that checks for signs of various pieces of nasty software on your system like rootkits, backdoors and local exploits. It runs many tests, including MD5 hash comparisons, default filenames used by rootkits, wrong file permissions for binaries, and suspicious strings in LKM and KLD modules"
Source: Insecure.org





Chat



Skype / iChat / Adium 

I feel strange just to mention those ones.  Do I really need to mention them?  iChat has a Desktop Sharing and a distant control which can be very very handy if you need help, also up to 3 simultaneous Video Chat.  Skype has a screen sharing and allows you to make unlimited phone calls in the US (Land and Cell) for $30 a year*.  Video Chat (2 Max) and conference calls (up to 24 participants) (You'll need a serious bandwidth if you are planning a conference call @ 24)
Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook Chat, and much more. All in one





WIFI & Networks

 

KisMAC
KisMAC is a really powerful WIFI sniffer and WIFI stumbler.  WEP and WPA auditing / cracking, Injection, Dehauth and Flood attack and GPS capable.  KisMac is not for the absolute beginner, but once mastered it's a fantastic tool:  I was able to crack my own WEP network key in less than 3 seconds and it was not a "123456" Password
Last thing: Read the legal disclaimer.


Wireshark

Network Protocol Analyzer, really powerful and not for the absolute beguinner.
You need some knowledge about networks and WIFI.  Wireshark can open PCAP dump files from Kismac and read packets sent over airwaves.
Video Tutorial   Introduction To Wireshark
Video Tutorial   Custom Wireshark Shortcuts
 




Others 


SeisMac

SeisMac allows you to check if your co-workers have gain a lot of weight over the Week-End,  Show to your Dad that the Mustang can really pull 1.5G in acceleration and scientifically prove to your girlfriend that your flatulences are not making the bed "shake" as she pretends.
It also allows you, on the side, to conduct scientific tests of no real importance:  it's a seismograph. It uses the Motion Sensors and works on Axes X, Y,  Z ; If you already have Seismac installed, you have a grade of 70 on the Geek scale of 100. If you wish to reach 90, look out for "Liquid Mac".






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If you want to splurge a little .... Small fee App 

Duplicate Annihilator


For $7.95, it's worth it.  (Trial Version removes up to 20 duplicates)

"Duplicate Annihilator takes on the time consuming task comparing the images in your iPhoto library using effective algorithms to make sure that no duplicates escapes. When found the duplicate will either be marked with a description of your choice to make it searchable or simply moved to iPhotos trashcan."
Be aware that the demo on the website is done with a small library.  If you have a large iPhoto library, you may want to make some coffee.



RAR Machine

$8  (Trial version works 10 times for free)
RAR Machine can de-concatenate (split) large file while compressing and reassemble them later.  Very useful to send large files via email (split 100MB into 20MB segments), or if you are using GSpace, to send a movie to a friend.  (Not a DVD ripped with Handbrake, that would be illegal. Don't do it!)
Other nice features, check the Website
"RarMachine is a powerful RAR archive manager, surely the simplest and most integrated for Mac OS X.  You can use it to compress and extract all Rar files downloaded from the internet or compressed on a PC with the power advantage of your Mac System." (I suspect RAR Machine to be a GUI based on the RARlab CLI )



Antivirus Notes

Mac do get malware, much much less than Win,  I must admit, but they do. (as of Nov 2009, 113 Threats for Mac, Over 1 million as of 2008 for Windows. Source BBC , and according to AVC 1.6 million "Crapware" as of August 09. (Source AVC)
- So, PLEASE, just in case,  install an Antivirus: They're free.  Did I mention free??
If you don't have one on hand, you are a sitting duck! and if you wait long enough, you can be sure to be shot.  
If you are like me, you'll have 2 Ready. Why?  Because the way they work is never 100% guaranteed:
An AV is composed of 2 main parts: Detection and Removal.  Each of of them important.
A Comprehensive testing made by in August revealed that NOT a single Antivirus performed "Very Good" with some of them "forgetting" about 10% of the threats.  So, the idea is to have more than one on hand, each of them doing a good job in one category, but none of them performed very well in all categories. You can read the complete results at : http://www.av-comparatives.org/

If I suspect some strange activity, I'll test the folder(s) with a double scan. Two opinions is better than one.   I also test every single downloads.  (Old Windows habits)
Am I freaking out? Well, In My Humble Opinion,  Backdoors and Keyloggers are the most serious threat, and I would not be surprised to see an increase in Mac Malware in the near future,  it's Niche Market but very lucrative.  You can either sit and wait, or take precautionary measures.
You can test your protection and your Antivirus with the EICAR test file.  (EICAR is NOT a Virus or Threat, it is a TEST file(s):  EICAR.org
I have tested mine with more serious threats, (Trojans and Al.) Avast! and iAntivirus both responded well at download and at scan. Seems to me that Avast! is slightly slower on scan. 
An other option is to use Web Of Trust, when you visit websites, it may warn you of possible threats (Phishing, Scamming, Exploits)  http://www.mywot.com/

With an EICAR test, You should see something like:
















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