Best Free Utilities in 2022 (Part 2 - Mac OS)
Part 2 is here! If you missed part 1 be sure to check that out by clicking the link - Best Free Utilities in 2022 (Part 1 - Windows)
Another list of free utilities but this time for Mac. This is a list of some of my personal favourites which I use all the time, I am not claiming these to be the best utilities ever for everyone. Hopefully, you do find something of use though.
As always use this list to jump straight to a utility:
App Cleaner "Click the headers to visit the sites"
Part 2 is here! If you missed oroughly uninstall applications from your Mac. Installing an app can add unwanted files across your device and can be missed when just deleting the app. Using a utility like App Cleaner can help maintain your disk space by finding those pesky files throughout your system.
A utility that sits up in the menu bar which with a click can keep your Mac awake, preventing the display from turning off or letting your Mac have a snooze. Ideal for following recipes or if you want to keep an eye on a process that is running while you get on with other things. It’s also pretty feature-rich, allowing you to set timers and define exactly which parts of your Mac you want to control.
Simple window management on your Mac. Like many other window managers, this enables you to easily position and resize the apps you have running, either via a keyboard shortcut or by simply dragging a window to the edge or corner of your display.
Bitwarden is an open-source password manager. It is freely available, feature-rich and is also cross-platform, which means you can run it on pretty much all of your devices including Windows, iPhones, iPad and Android.
Dropzone allows you to quickly copy and move files from one place to another on your Mac. It provides a dedicated location, to which you can add files and have them easily accessible from anywhere. I guess you can think of it as a desktop in the menu bar which means you can keep your actual desktop clutter-free. Dropzone also has some extra capabilities that allow you to upload to Imgur and shorten URLs on the fly.
I often use gifs in my posts to help illustrate instructions that I am giving to my readers. I use Gifski to convert screen recordings into Gifs for these posts. It is a very simple tool and enables me to set things like the frame rate, the quality of the gif, resolution and I can also trim the recordings to cut out unwanted sections.
Bartender is a popular tool for managing the items that are shown in the menu bar. It’s a great tool but at £16 I can’t really justify it. Hidden Bar is free and does just what is needed and that is to hide your chosen menu items behind a drop-down-esk menu. It’s simple to use and although it doesn’t have all the features Bartender has to offer I can’t fault it for what it does.
Karabiner-Elements is a "key modifier" and allows you to remap the keys on your keyboard. I only use it for one purpose and that is to turn my Caps Lock key into a new modifier key that is the same as pressing Shift, Control, Option & Command all at the same time. Hardly any apps use this as a shortcut key as it’s pretty hard to do without having them all assigned to one button. This means it frees up the entire keyboard for brand-new shortcuts.
Keycastr projects the keys you type onto the screen. Again, a bit of a niche utility but if you do screen recordings for tutorials it can help clarify to the user what and when you are pressing on the keyboard.
A really powerful system cleaner. This tool can free up gigabytes of space on your Mac and I highly recommend it. Just make sure you follow the guidance, I don’t want any of you wiping off anything you need!
An Alfred (App Launcher) alternative that has been doing the rounds lately. I switched to Raycast not so long ago and I have been really enjoying the experience. I recently did a post all about it where I go into the functionality in more detail for those that are interested.
SF Symbols is an Apple application that contains over 4,000 icons. All of the symbols are designed to integrate seamlessly with the native San Fransisco font and can be exported as PNGs or as vector files. Great for developers but also great for creators wanting symbols for cover photos!
I popped this one into the Windows utilities and so I had to put it in here too. TeamViewer allows you to take control of another computer remotely by connecting to it over the web. Great for when you have multiple devices in the house or you need to help out a family member when they are having an issue.
Hopefully, you have found something of use here, that is my aim after all!
Please do like and share the content if you feel it was worth it and don’t forget you can always subscribe to the blog at the bottom of the page so you don’t miss a post.
Comments