My Favorite Shareware Applications

By Ted Bade, Edited by Harry doc_Babad

Harry, our Shareware Editory asked me “What shareware programs are the most important to you?” It didn’t take me long to choose several items, my FAVs, that I use almost daily, or that I would not be without. So here is my list with a short description and the reason why I like them.

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GraphicConverter X [http://www.lemkesoft.com/ - Shareware $30, now version 5.9.4]

GraphicConverter is a very powerful and robust graphics application that any Mac user who works with images should not be without. Over the years, this program have grown and improved in many ways from its start as a program that converts between various graphic formats. Today it rivals Adobe’s Photoshop Elements in power and abilities. It will open just about any graphic file and many video formats as well. Once the image is opened you can easily convert the image to just about any format you can imagine. But that’s not all this program does.

It also offers a wide variety of image enhancement features to let you tweak your image. Things like brightness, contrast, levels, colors, and so forth. There are also a variety of filters and image effects that you can modify your image with. The list is large and varied, I must admit, there are a number of them I have never used and have no idea what they do! If there is a particular feature you want, check out GraphicConverter before passing it by. It is now PCC/Intel comparable and there is an excellent manual and help files available from its developer as well as a low cost workshop to quickly turn you into an expert user.

If that isn’t enough, Graphics Converter also can put on a very nice slideshow of a folder of images offering several options for working your way through a folder of images. When the slide show is running there are some options for working with the images. It is a great way to sort through a camera download before bringing it into iPhoto.

I will typically download a set of images from my camera, and go through the image using GraphicConverter, tossing yucky images and manipulating those that I like, then take the completed folder and drop it into iPhoto for organization and storage. While there might be a few features of Photoshop Elements I like better, but I like using GraphicConverter better. It boots in half the time Elements does on my computer, and has a better feeling interface, IMHO. It’s a great all around useful program for dealing with images. I wouldn’t be without it!

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MacJanitor [http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html/ - Freeware, Now version 1.3]

When Apple decided to create MacOS X and to embrace a UNIX core it added a lot of power and maturity to MacOS. Along with this power there comes some responsibility (my apologies to Spiderman: the Movie.) that rests on the Mac user. A responsibility that many Mac users don’t even realize they have. A UNIX system needs regular maintenance, consisting of daily, weekly, and monthly routines. What? You didn’t know there were daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance chores involved with running a Macintosh? You are not alone. UNIX is robust and powerful, and stays this way because of the maintenance that is done.

Many of the people I work with, helping them to make the best of their Macs, do not know that it is a good idea to run these maintenance tasks. The good news is that UNIX will automatically run them when required. The bad news is, that the time spot for running these maintenance items is in the wee hours of the morning, when most home based Macs are shutdown. So the tasks are never run.

So, to run these important routines, you need a program like MacJanitor. To run these utilities, click on the MacJanitor mop bucket icon, log in to give permission, and select to run either Daily, Weekly, monthly, or even all the tasks at once. Your Unix core will thank you! If you are a geeky type, you might want to look at the output MacJanitor provides. (But it is up to you to figure out the meaning of this UNIX speak!)

MacJanitor is a must have for all Mac owners who don’t want to keep their Macs up all night and who don’t have the know how to force UNIX to reschedule these important tasks. And don’t forget to repair permissions at least monthly as well. The product is only available I n a PCC version.

TinkerTool [http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html/ - Freeware, Now version 3.61]

Apple, since the beginning of computer time, has always left some feature or another, turned off. I am sure the leaders of Apple have good reasons for doing this, but Mac users tend to like to experiment with new features and spend hours figuring out how to turn them on or off in some cases (when a feature is annoying).

TinkerTool provides an easy to use graphic front end that lets you turn on and off a variety of features in MacOS X, that might have been off or on by default. It’s not even that dangerous to do this, if there is a possible issue, TinkerTool generally points this out.

The TinkerTool window has tabs that organize modifications by type. For instance those related to the Finder, the Dock, Fonts, Safari, and more. Favorite items for me have been the ability to have scroll arrows together at both ends of a scroll window and to change the screen capture default image type.

Using TinkerTool is a breeze. You just click on a box to turn on or off a particular function. If you manage to really mess things up this way, TinkerTool also has a reset button which will put everything back the way Apple wants it.

This is one of those cool applications that you need to try if you already haven’t.

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Mail Factory – [http://www.belightsoft.com/products/mailfactory/overview.php/ - Shareware $40, Now version 2.4.7, PPC/Intel]

A really great piece of shareware is one that you find yourself using every time you perform a particular task. I have to say that, without exception, every time I need to create an envelope or a set of mailing labels, I use Mail Factory. Truthfully, I mostly use it to create envelopes. This is so much easier to do than in MS Word.

This terrific piece of software simplifies the task of creating and printing an envelope, either in as a group or individually. There are a lot of cool features this program offers, such as grabbing graphics to use with your labels or envelopes and pulling addresses directly from Apple’s Address book or Microsoft’s Entourage. A creative person could make a stationary package for their business that would print each time they needed an envelope or a set of labels.

What I really like about Mail Factory is that it is simple and very easy to use. When I need to create an envelope, all I need to do is open the envelope blank, which already contains my return address, type or cut-and-paste in the addressee, and send the finished product to the printer. While printing envelopes might not seem like a big task to many people, it can be for a person who only does them on occasion. I can remember a time spending almost an hour trying to get Microsoft Word to print an envelope the way I wanted! I killed a small pile of envelopes, each time something different and unwanted had occurred. I can honestly say that I have never spent more then a few minutes creating and printing an envelope with Mail Factory.

It is a terrific Application. It is easy to use. What more can anyone ask?

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Flip4Mac WMV Player - (http://www.flip4mac.com/- Freeware, Now version 2.1)

Microsoft Media Player was never a really great program on the Macintosh. It didn’t offer a lot of features; the player was never anywhere as nice as the Window’s versions. Microsoft was always “Ho-Hum” about their MacOS support. But Mac users need access to these files. Lets face it, there are basically three major multimedia formats used on computers, QuickTime, Real. Media, and Windows Media. There is always going to be a video you want to play on your Macintosh that requires Microsoft Media Player. But Microsoft decided not to continue supporting MacOS X with their Media Player. Oh no!

To the rescue comes Telestream, Inc. They came up with a very interesting angle on this. Why not license Windows Media features and create a product that would work on any Macintosh? Which is what became Flip4Mac.

Flip4Mac provides access to almost all Windows Media files. The only thing their codec doesn’t do is support Microsoft’s Digital Right Management protocol, but then, Microsoft’s Zune doesn’t either, so don’t feel bad!

What is cool about this product is that it uses Apple’s QuickTime player as the host for playing Windows Media files. Which means that once you install this product, playing any Window Media file means just double clicking on it if it is a file or clicking on a web link to get the file to play inside of Safari. When you do, familiar QuickTime controls pop up to give you access to this file, along with all the abilities QuickTime offers.

The other terrific aspect of this product is that Telestream, Inc continues to update the codec when Microsoft does, so Mac users aren’t left behind when Microsoft makes a change or improvement.

The basis program is free and any Mac user that doesn’t have this program installed is really missing out. If you are into working with video, there are also pay for levels that provide more and more capabilities for working with and saving Windows Media files. Check out their web site for exact details on this.

Flip4Mac is a must have application for anyone who has Windows friends, like to surf the Internet, or who enjoys watching all those corny videos people like to make.