It’s been a long time since I’ve wiped out my workstation and started with a fresh Operating System.  I’m starting to get a real solid grasp of OSx so a clean slate to work with sounds fantastic. Having a much better knowledge then I did a year ago about the apps I like, which apps to I definitely don’t like and in what combination I find them most useful.   So here’s a quick breakdown of the OSx Apps I use while things backup backup before I race down green-glass lane, nuke this MacBook & arrive at destination defaults.

Web Browsers

• Google
  • Chrome
  • Drive app
• Mozilla
  • Firefox
  • FileZilla
• Tor Browser Bundle
• Plugins – Chrome sync takes the thought n’ effort out of this.  These are all extensions I have loaded in chrome.  The ones in red I just keep disabled unless I need em in which case their two clicks away from bing functional.
  • LastPass
  • Evernote Web Clipper
  • Google Voice
  • SEO Quake
  • Mailvelope
  • Boomerang for Gmail
  • Feedly
  • Google Docs
  • Toggl Productivity Pack
  • Validity
  • Sitemap Generator
  • Mozbar
  • Auto Refresh Plus
  • Check My Links
  • User-Agent Switcher
  • Web Developer

Code Editors IDE’s & Support

• Netbeans – PHP/Java IDE
• TextMate $$
  • Simple GUI text editor
  • I rarely use it now however given that it’s paid for…  It’s still noteworthy to mention that I use VIM much more often.
• Github + Command Line Tools
• Arduino

DB Tools

• MySQL
  • Client/Server
  • Workbench

Video/Graphics

• GIMP - All my graphics editing needs under one easy to use roof.
• VLC - Have Video File… Will Play.
• Quicktime – pre-Bundled w/OSx
• Camtasia $$ – Everybody loves screencasts and video demo’s

Organization, Notes & non-code Text

• Evernote $$ – THE only notes app worth using on all platforms & architectures when logging all things noteworthy in any media type (txt,image,audio,etc)
• OmniGraffle $$
  • Flow charts, Wire Frames, Brain Storming, Network Maps, Visual website site maps…  and whatever else you can think of once you get good at using it, it’s hard not to.
• OfficeLibre – Offline office suite
• FreeMind – Offline Mind Mapping otherwise I use Mindmeister $$ w/an entry level paid subscription.

Communication

• Skype – I still use this every other day or so but it’s usefullness is fading extremely fast in the face of Google+ Hangouts.
• Adium – All-in-One Instant Messanger Client
• Rosetta Stone $$ – Learn to communicate
  • Arabic 1
  • Spanish 1

Misc

• Jing & Snagit – Screenshot + annotation & sharing tool.
• SEO Power Suite $$ –
• MarketSamuri – DEPRECIATED – Keyword research tool
  • This shouldn’t be listed here.  I can’t recall the last time I used this.
• VirtualBox – Virtual Machines for all!
• uTorrent – Leech

System Resources

• FUSE for OS X
  • MacFUSE
  • NTFS-3G
• TrueCrypt –  It’s all encrypted.  Everything.  Thumbdrives, backups, shared containers.  Everything.
• Little Snitch $$ – Amazingly simple firewall
• QuickSilver – Cutting shortcuts and mashing mashups for super quick access to everything.
• GPGTools – This stuff should be understood now.
• Homebrew – An OSx Packaging system that’s as useful as it is easy.
• oh-my-zsh – Useful & Pretty.
• Java – Necessary