A Tribute to My Favorite Freeware
Jan. 16th, 2008 12:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishThe Day in Brief: did reading, hung out with Colleen at the public library, and then had dinner with her and her new American roomie.
So, I am not too technologically advanced a child- I love my Mac and I use him a lot, but I don't know how he works and I don't really care, so long *as* he works.
One of the things I truly love about my computer is finding *new* ways to use him. Such as, downloading freeware that makes my life easier, or that get around the evils of a world run by Microsoft. So, in tribute, I give you a list of Mac programs that have made my life easier. (I'm not going to do links, because it's getting late, I have to get up, and I found all of these suckers through Google in the past two years- you can do it yourself.)
Program: XJournal
What it does: It's just a freeware livejournal posting client that makes my lack of HTML experience livable so that I'm not always fussing with <'s. It sees my iTunes music without my lifting a finger, it posts automatically to my journal, allows me to go back in the History view and poke around my old entries and edit things really quickly.
Why that's awesome: It just makes my life easier, and means that I don't have to wait through slow internet connections when I just want to make a quick update to my lj.
Program: VLC
What it does:It plays just about any kind of video file that I can get my little grubby fingers on, including DVD's from all regions, and .avi files that send Quicktime into conniptions. It doesn't automatically disallow screenshots like DVDPlayer does. It also for some reason seems to be able to get more sound magnification from the same files that are very quiet in other programs. This is great for my wimpy computer speakers.
Why that's awesome: Without this, I would not be able to watch a lot of my movies without having to fuss with DVD region changing, or converting file formats, which is just a time-consuming pain.
Program: Adium
What it does: It's IM on steroids. It lets me use one program to chat with people through my separate AIM, Jabber, and MSN Messenger accounts.
Why that's awesome: I hate the way AIM looks, and I would never bother to log into most of the other accounts at all. But, honestly, this makes my screen much less crowded and lets me keep in contact with lots of people at once.
Program: FFView
What it does: Graphics display for the .cbr file-type. Das heisst, the .rar file type most frequently used for comics! It's significantly faster and an easier, more malleable interface than several others I have tried over the years.
Why that's awesome:It lets me read comics. On my computer. What's not to love? I honestly use this sucker so much that I find myself tapping out the keyboard shortcuts when I'm not thinking about it.
Program: Latin WORDS
What it does: It's a highly condensed, highly referenced English-Latin dictionary for your computer.
Why that's awesome:It saved my Latin grade, and reminds me of grammar long, long forgotten. I pull this baby out way more than I ever thought I would.
Program: UnRarX
What it does: It's a very fast, very efficient way to uncondense .rar formated files. Rar files are like .zip files, only smaller, and thus wonderful for transmitting or storing large files.
Why that's awesome: Makes me able to store large amounts of stuff that I can get at quickly, general better internet functionality.
and the newest and most lovely baby of the bunch...
Program: MacLit
What it does:It's a reader for .lit files. For those of you using Microsoft products, you know the MS Reader program that lets you read eBooks? That uses .lit files, which is a filetype Microsoft itself created. Das heisst, it's a real bitch to use, and you can't access the files on a Mac computer *at all* because there is no version of this Reader program for Mac. BUT, MacLit is just such a reader program, freely made and distributed for the poor Mac-lovers like me.
Why that's awesome: I can read eBooks on my own computer, despite the fact that everyone tells me it can't be done. It's not speedy, and it's not terribly pretty, but the job gets done, and I love that fact.
So, I am not too technologically advanced a child- I love my Mac and I use him a lot, but I don't know how he works and I don't really care, so long *as* he works.
One of the things I truly love about my computer is finding *new* ways to use him. Such as, downloading freeware that makes my life easier, or that get around the evils of a world run by Microsoft. So, in tribute, I give you a list of Mac programs that have made my life easier. (I'm not going to do links, because it's getting late, I have to get up, and I found all of these suckers through Google in the past two years- you can do it yourself.)
Program: XJournal
What it does: It's just a freeware livejournal posting client that makes my lack of HTML experience livable so that I'm not always fussing with <'s. It sees my iTunes music without my lifting a finger, it posts automatically to my journal, allows me to go back in the History view and poke around my old entries and edit things really quickly.
Why that's awesome: It just makes my life easier, and means that I don't have to wait through slow internet connections when I just want to make a quick update to my lj.
Program: VLC
What it does:It plays just about any kind of video file that I can get my little grubby fingers on, including DVD's from all regions, and .avi files that send Quicktime into conniptions. It doesn't automatically disallow screenshots like DVDPlayer does. It also for some reason seems to be able to get more sound magnification from the same files that are very quiet in other programs. This is great for my wimpy computer speakers.
Why that's awesome: Without this, I would not be able to watch a lot of my movies without having to fuss with DVD region changing, or converting file formats, which is just a time-consuming pain.
Program: Adium
What it does: It's IM on steroids. It lets me use one program to chat with people through my separate AIM, Jabber, and MSN Messenger accounts.
Why that's awesome: I hate the way AIM looks, and I would never bother to log into most of the other accounts at all. But, honestly, this makes my screen much less crowded and lets me keep in contact with lots of people at once.
Program: FFView
What it does: Graphics display for the .cbr file-type. Das heisst, the .rar file type most frequently used for comics! It's significantly faster and an easier, more malleable interface than several others I have tried over the years.
Why that's awesome:It lets me read comics. On my computer. What's not to love? I honestly use this sucker so much that I find myself tapping out the keyboard shortcuts when I'm not thinking about it.
Program: Latin WORDS
What it does: It's a highly condensed, highly referenced English-Latin dictionary for your computer.
Why that's awesome:It saved my Latin grade, and reminds me of grammar long, long forgotten. I pull this baby out way more than I ever thought I would.
Program: UnRarX
What it does: It's a very fast, very efficient way to uncondense .rar formated files. Rar files are like .zip files, only smaller, and thus wonderful for transmitting or storing large files.
Why that's awesome: Makes me able to store large amounts of stuff that I can get at quickly, general better internet functionality.
and the newest and most lovely baby of the bunch...
Program: MacLit
What it does:It's a reader for .lit files. For those of you using Microsoft products, you know the MS Reader program that lets you read eBooks? That uses .lit files, which is a filetype Microsoft itself created. Das heisst, it's a real bitch to use, and you can't access the files on a Mac computer *at all* because there is no version of this Reader program for Mac. BUT, MacLit is just such a reader program, freely made and distributed for the poor Mac-lovers like me.
Why that's awesome: I can read eBooks on my own computer, despite the fact that everyone tells me it can't be done. It's not speedy, and it's not terribly pretty, but the job gets done, and I love that fact.
