OS X Starter Kit (Preference Panes)
I often explain my (relatively recent) preference for Macs with the statement that they occupy something of a sweet spot for me. Because the operating system is Unix-based, development environments are a snap and stability is baked right in. I also get a powerful command line environment. Because it’s Apple, I get some swell eye candy (hardware and software) and all of the “lifestyle” components (e.g. iTunes, video, upgrades, etc.) are also easy. Speaking very generally and with the understanding that nothing is perfect, Windows misses on the former, Linux on the latter.
This is the third post in a miniseries that defines my own personal OS X starter kit. In the first post, I covered configuration—those things (read: settings) I change before I add anything at all. Next was applications, the third party additions to the /Applications folder that have to be installed and configured before my system begins to feel like home. Today I’ll cover preference panes.
If you’re new to OS X, you may be thinking, “Preference panes? Didn’t we already cover those in the first part?”. Well, yes. But, no. In the first episode, we covered the preference panes that ship with OS X and make up its default System Preferences suite. Today we’ll cover third party preference panes that can be added to that same System Preferences panel. When you install the first, you’ll see a new section of panes in the main window that’s labeled Other. Let’s get to it.
AppTrap
Application Uninstaller
Apple made it damn easy to install apps (even if it takes a little getting used to coming from another operating system). They also made it damn easy to delete applications. The problem is, that’s all you’re doing. You’re only deleting the application. What you really want to do is uninstall the application. Apple installations are more consolidated than either Windows or Linux with almost every file contained within the .app bundle (you may not have realized that the .app file is really a collection of files—similar to a zip archive). There are still a few files, most notably preference files, laying about elsewhere that aren’t cleaned up when you move an application to the trash.
AppTrap takes care of that for you. There are other applications (e.g. AppDelete, AppZapper, etc.) out there that do the same thing, but every other one I’ve found requires an explicit thought. In order to use them, you have to first launch them and then tell them, using whatever metaphor they require, that you want to delete an application. Meh.
AppTrap requires no explicit forethought. Launched via a preference pane, it runs in the background and automatically detects when you drag an application to the trash. It then asks whether you want to move those related files to the trash or leave them where they are. Some balk at having external applications running in the background, but I’m not one of them. I like things I don’t have to think about and, in years of using AppTrap, I’ve never noticed any adverse effect.
Growl
System Notifier
Growl is an unobtrusive system notifier that provides applications with a means of letting you know when “things” happen. What those “things” are is dependent on the application, of course. It’s a bit difficult to describe, so maybe a page full of screenshots will help. In my opinion, no OS X system is complete without Growl.
iStat Menus
System Monitor
iStat Menus packs a lot of powerful tools for monitoring your system status. It can show you the temperature, network usage, memory usage, CPU usage and more. I’ll be honest with you, though, and tell you that what I love most about it is its date/time menubar replacement. It does everything the native date/time preferences do, but includes a world clock and a calendar that drops down like a menu when you click on the date & time display.
iStat menus used to be a free preference pane that I would’ve happily paid for, but has become a full blown application that costs. I find the preference pane less intrusive and have stuck with that. The application isn’t expensive, though, and I’m sure it’s worth it.
SizzlingKeys
iTunes Controller
I have iTunes running all day every day, but frequently pause, skip or perform other actions to control what’s playing or how it’s being played. It always drove me crazy that in order to, say, pause the music, I had to make the iTunes window active before I could affect it in whatever way. In my mind, iTunes is ambiance (i.e. background entertainment or even white noise) and it felt intrusive to have to explicitly activate it before I could alter that ambience. With SizzlingKeys, I can assign hot keys that operate on iTunes while the application is inactive or even hidden. Now iTunes is exactly what I want it to be.
Note: If you’re a Quicksilver (another application launcher) user, its iTunes module offers the same functionality.
Startup Sound
Sanity Enhancer
Sure, it’s better than the Windows startup sound, but that damn Mac chime gets me every time if I’ve had the volume turned up. This preference pane provides a way to specify and normalize the volume of the Mac startup sound.
Other preference panes (BetterTouchTool is rapidly becoming a favorite) come and go on my machine, but these are the essentials.
