TechTool Pro 10.1.1 - Hard drive and system repair-and-maintenance tool. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update TechTool Pro for Mac from MacUpdate.
Techtool Pro 11 now takes advantage of the latest technologies introduced with the release of macOS 10.14, Mojave. |
macOS Mojave introduces a number of new security features to keep you safe. In order for applications like Techtool Pro to have access to perform tests and repairs of certain disks, they must be granted 'Full Disk Access.' Techtool Pro 11 now supports this security feature helping to keep your Mac secure. |
If you are being asked to enter your password to move files in your home folder, if apps that store documents in your home folder quit unexpectedly, or your Mac continues to run slowly after extensive troubleshooting, you may have permissions problems in your home folder. Techtool Pro 11 introduces a new tool to reset the permissions in your home folder to restore home folder performance. |
Previous versions of Techtool Pro had to make certain compromises to support earlier versions of macOS. With Techtool Pro 11, we have been able to take advantage of more advanced methods to perform many of the tasks that make up the functionality in Techtool Pro. We have updated many of the tests and tools to use these technologies to keep your Mac running smoothly. |
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To learn more about TechTool Pro's other features, read on. To order a new copy or upgrade from your current version, click here.
Techtool Pro supports iCloud Drive. Simply download the new Techtool Remote iOS app (free on the App Store), and open it. Techtool Pro will then send test results to any iOS device logged in to the same iCloud account. So if you have a long test (or tests) running that you want to know the results of, but you need to hit the road, you can now get notified of your results anywhere you have an internet connection. |
Your Mac's hard drive, even if it is a Solid State Drive, is more likely to experience problems than any other component on your Mac. Because data changes so frequently, it can sometimes get scrambled. So, it's important to be able to test drives for problems and then repair them. Sadly, if something is physically wrong with the drive, it will need to be backed up and replaced, but the sooner this type of damage is detected, the fewer files - like cherished memories and important personal documents - will be lost. Most drive problems, however, result from data being in the wrong place, and can be repaired using TechTool Pro’s Volume Rebuild tool. In addition to native Mac drive formats, Mac OS Extended and APFS, Techtool Pro supports testing and repair of MS-DOS (FAT32) and ExFAT formatted volumes. |
If your startup disk stops working, and you need another startup disk, TechTool Pro’s eDrive steps in to help. The eDrive is what you’ll use to test, rebuild or defragment your main hard drive, but it is really helpful if your main startup disk goes missing. Instead of fumbling for your install DVD, or relying on the Recovery HD’s limited functionality, the eDrive gives you quick access to TechTool Pro along with several handy Apple utilities. You can even add other programs if you like. Customize the size of your eDrive, up to 128 GB. |
The best way to prevent data loss is to be prepared. In addition to a backup, TechTool Pro includes TechTool Protection, which keeps an eye on your trash, allowing you to undelete that file you didn’t mean to delete. You can also back up your directory structures, the ‘map’ of where your data lives, so that if you need to recover data from a corrupt drive, TechTool Pro’s Data Recovery tool will know exactly where to look. Better yet, use TechTool Pro’s Volume Cloning tool to create an additional backup. |
The portability of TechTool Protogo is included with every copy of TechTool Pro. TechTool Protogo allows you to create a bootable diagnostic device that contains TechTool Pro and all of its most powerful tools as well as any of your own utilities you may wish to install. You can then use this device to boot, check, maintain, and repair Macintosh computers as needed. Simply launch Protogo, choose Protogo from the Mode menu, and use it to set up a diagnostic disk. |
TechTool Pro includes the most comprehensive hardware testing in the industry. On some machines there are more than 100 electrical and temperature sensors that TechTool Pro will check. If any of those sensors report values outside of their acceptable operating range, the new Sensors test will let you know. TechTool Pro also tests your Mac's cooling system, and can test laptop batteries as well, so you can catch small problems before they become big ones. In addition, test networking ports, WiFi and more using the Network and Bluetooth tests. |
TechTool Pro's memory testing suite is the most comprehensive among general hardware utilities. TechTool Pro, takes advantage advancements used by ATOMIC, our dedicated Memory Tester, and integrates them into testing your memory. Now, memory is 'cleaned' before testing, reclaimed from macOS, maximizing the amount of RAM that can be tested. |
Techtool Pro has been able to test your Mac's battery for quite a while. But, recent reports have shown that battery condition can affect the performance of your iPhone and iPad. If your iOS device is connected to your Mac, Techtool Pro can now test your device's battery, and give you a host of other important battery data as well. Find out if your iPhone or iPad is running at its full potential. |
Utilize a suite of maintenance routines to keep your Mac running smoothly. Manually run your Mac's daily, weekly, or monthly maintenance routines, as well as rebuild key system caches. |
Diagnostics and Repair Start with Check Computer to perform a complete diagnostic check of your Mac and hard drives. A single click of your mouse runs a SMART Check of your hard drive to detect impending drive failure, a RAM test, analysis of disk directories and more. If problems are found, advice is provided on how to proceed to repair the problem. Use Check Computer regularly as a part of your preventive maintenance program. Customize testing using built-in preferences. | |
Drive Testing and Repair Techtool Pro will test, rebuild, and repair damaged directories on corrupted Mac OS Extended hard drives, and optimize the data directories when they are repaired. Techtool Pro can also repair Apple's new APFS file system, standard Mac OS Extended volumes, as well as MS-DOS (FAT32) and ExFAT formatted volumes. When rebuilding Mac OS Extended volumes, Volume Rebuild will display a comparison chart before directory data is replaced. Use Volume Rebuild to keep your drives operating at their peak performance. | |
Smarter SMART Check Hard drives include a technology called SMART (Self Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) which can inform a computer about the health of its hard drives. In most utilities, just the overall results - passed or failed - are reported to the user. In the failed state, often there is little or no time to back up data before the drive fails entirely. Previous versions of TechTool Pro reported the overall status of each attribute, but some attributes don't contribute to the failure of a drive. Now, the SMART Check has gotten smarter. TechTool Pro now knows which attributes contribute to drive failure, and will report a failing result before the drive fails completely. Giving you time to rescue your data. | |
Partition Map TechTool Pro will test and repair hard drive partition maps. The Partition Map test will verify the health of the partition map and the Partition Repair tool will repair any errors found in the partition map. | |
Memory Test RAM problems are quite prevalent and can cause a variety of crashes, program errors and even data loss. We've seen many cases where a user will be chasing down a disk or extension problem when their issue was simply a faulty and inexpensively replaced memory module. As part of the RAM test, we've also added an SPD report that shows you an enormous amount of technical and other interesting information about your computer's memory. | |
eDrive Using TechTool Pro, you can easily create an eDrive, an extra startup partition based on the active system volume, which can be used as an emergency startup partition or to perform regular maintenance on your Mac. The eDrive is based on your specific Macs system and includes TechTool Pro's tools for Mac repair. Using the eDrive, there's no need to reformat or to boot from a DVD or secondary hard drive. If needed, the eDrive's size can be expanded to fit your needs. | |
Volume Cloning Volume Cloning creates exact duplicates of your volumes for trouble-free archiving to backup your data and applications. Cloning volumes can also be helpful if you are upgrading from a smaller size hard drive to a larger drive. You have the options of creating a duplicate of an entire disk, file syncing by adding only the changed files to a clone, or cloning to numerous disc image formats. If you have an available drive, you can even use the tool to optimize disks that are especially fragmented. | |
Volume and File Optimization TechTool Pro performs both file and volume optimization. File optimization defragments individual files on the hard drive. Volume optimization consolidates the free space on a hard drive. For full optimization, perform Volume Optimization after File Optimization. The resulting optimization simplifies the file storage layout and may enhance the overall performance of your drive.** | |
Data Recovery TechTool Pro helps you recover your data from corrupted drives or volumes that don't mount on the desktop to save the data to another location.† Use the Trash History feature to track the location of deleted files and increase the chance of their recovery in the case of an accidental deletion. | |
Processor Benchmarking Get an objective measurement of your Mac's processor performance. The Processor Benchmark too uses industry-standard measurement algorithms to test processor performance. Using this tool, you can get metrics that can be used to compare processor speeds apples-to-apples. Avoids the confusion of comparison using Megahertz. | |
Network and Connectivity Testing TechTool can test your Bluetooth, Wifi, Ethernet and any other network network interface. Troubleshoot problems staying connected to wifi, or problems connecting to Bluetooth peripherals such as speakers, keyboards, and more. | |
Network Monitoring and Connectivity TechTool Pro will monitor the configuration of your local area network (LAN) by revealing the active services and ports on each selected machine or Bonjour supported device on your LAN. This information is important for strengthening security on a specific machine, Bonjour supported device or your overall LAN, and is also helpful in tracking what devices have been in use in the past that are no longer available since the last time monitoring was performed. | |
Protection Preferences TechTool Pro includes the option to install the TechTool Protection system preference, where you configure automatic functions that operate in the background. In particular, you can configure Protection to track deleted files, monitor the free space on your hard drives, save backups of critical directory data to help with recovery in the event of drive corruption, and to monitor the SMART routines of your hard drives. Checks include scanning for i/o errors, power on self-test alerts, battery problems and RAID errors. If problems are found, Protection delivers onscreen and email alerts. | |
TechTool Pro is feature-packed with benefits that all Mac users need for comprehensive diagnostics, repair, and maintenance. To ensure your Mac stays optimized and trouble-free, make sure you use TechTool Pro regularly and keep your Mac running at peak performance. |
System Requirements:
- Intel-based Macs
- OS X 10.10 up to macOS 10.14 'Mojave'
- 2 GB RAM or higher
Need an older version of TechTool Pro?
†Note: Data Recovery may not recover data in all circumstances. For best results, enable TechTool Protection before data loss.
In most cases, data recovery is not possible on Solid State Drives (SSDs).
In most cases, data recovery is not possible on Solid State Drives (SSDs).
**Note: Defragmenting (Optimizing) is not suppoted for APFS volumes, and is not advised for any drive with a Solid State component. Solid state drives do not benefit from defragmentation, which only serves to wear out those drives sooner. Optimization for APFS rotational drives is not yet possible with the current amount of APFS documentation provided by Apple, which currently provides insufficieant documentation for defragmenting a disk.
There are a bunch of great apps you can install on your Mac—no question there. Separating amazing apps from must-have apps is the hard part, and we don’t want you to spend hours analyzing the Mac App Store (or scouring the web) to find the very best and most useful apps. We’ve made a list of champions across four categories: productivity; Internet and communications; music, photos, and video; and utilities.
The Lifehacker Pack is an annual snapshot of our favorite, essential applications for each of our favorite platforms. For our always-updating directory of all the best apps, be sure to bookmark our App Directory, where we profile amazing apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS each week—browser extensions, too.
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Alfred (free-ish)
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You can do a lot with Spotlight in macOS, but Alfred is still our favorite application launcher for yourMac. This easy-to-use tool can do so much more than pull up apps, files, and and keyword-driven automation. Plunk down £19 for the Powerpack, and you’ll get a clipboard history, access to workflows (that you can use to combine different actions, hotkeys, and keywords to do even more), hotkeys, 1Password integration, and even text expansion. In other words, paying for Alfred covers a number of activities that you’d have to download separate apps for—some featured in this very Lifehacker Pack. If you’re a new Alfred buyer and feeling little overwhelmed, be sure to check out our beginner’s guide to the app to get a handle on all the amazing things you can do with it.
If you don’t want to pay anything for an app launcher that has similar (but fewer) features under the hood, check out LaunchBar 6: free, if you don’t mind a little bother here and there. That, or consider tricking out Spotlight.
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Bear (free-ish)
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This cutely named app is one of the best note-taking apps you can get, with one small caveat—to synchronize notes between your devices or use custom themes, you’ll need to pony up $15/year for the app’s subscription. Otherwise, Bear is completely free to use (and looks great).
Within the app, you organize your notes by hashtags rather than unwieldy folders. You can also link notes to one another, which makes it a lot easier to chain together related thoughts instead of having to dump everything into one giant Super Note or remember that you had a few things to say, split into different notes, about a particular topic. Install Bear’s browser extension for Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, and you’ll be able to create new notes from whatever portion of a webpage you select. Also, Bear makes it easy to import notes from other services, including Apple Notes, so you really have no reason to not give it a spin.
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If you need to sync notes and don’t feel like paying for it, consider apps like OneNote, Google Keep, or Simplenote—all good choices, but none that can beat our Bear for usability and looks.
aText ($5)
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Who would have thought that text expansion, otherwise known as typing shortcuts, would be so expensive? While it’s true that you can create these kinds of shortcuts yourself directly within macOS, a full-fledged text expansion app is going to save you a lot of time and trouble. We like aText if for nothing else than its price—$5—given that much-loved alternatives like Textexpander ($3.33/mo on an annual plan; $45 for an older standalone) and TypeIt4Me 6 ($20) are anywhere from a bit to a lot more expensive.
As for aText, using it is simple. You set it up so that whenever you enter little words or phrases, the app drops in something else. So, you can finally correct that annoying “ducking” issue forevermore,
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Text expansion, also known as typing shortcuts, can save you hours of typing each day. You type a small word or combination of characters and it’ll expand into full, complex sentences that you often use. We love aText because it offers so many great features and only costs $5. If you haven’t yet jumped on the text expansion train, it’s time.
Todoist (free-ish)
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For simple note-taking and note-organizing, you can’t go wrong with Todoist. The app is completely free—unless you want to pay $39/yearly for more advanced features like automatic reminders, backups, themes, and an activity overview, to name a few features. Otherwise, the basics are great. It’s easy to create and synchronize tasks (and subtasks) across all of your Todoist-using devices, and browser extensions (including a Gmail addon) will help you make Todoist, and your growing task list, an ever-present part of your daily life. You won’t have that same kind of experience with plain ol’ Notes, especially if you’re trying to access your items on multiple platforms.
If you’re a big Google fan, we also love Google Tasks, which you’ll find directly integrated into the latest version of Gmail (and as a direct app for iOS and Android). You can also add to-do items into our note-taking app, Bear. The app Things 3 is a super-comprehensive task manager, but it costs quite a bit: $50 for Mac, $10 for iPhone, and $20 for your iPad. If the first item on your to-do list is “rob a bank,” however, it’s a gorgeous, fully featured app. And if you want to harass yourself about things you have to get done on your Mac, consider giving the quicky Effortless a try—which drops a countdown timer for your tasks directly into your Mac’s menu bar.
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Google Drive and Office Online (free)
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We don’t really have to introduce Google Drive, because Google’s offerings should be pretty well-known by everyone at this point. Docs and Sheets are great, free tools for creating and collaborating on documents and spreadsheets (of course), so much so, that a number of businesses solely rely on Google’s offerings instead of anything fancier or pricier.
If you’re a Microsoft convert, or you really love Word and Excel, you can access basic, online versions of both programs directly from Microsoft—no Office 365 subscription needed. If you’d rather work offline, Apple’s Pages and Numbers are the obvious, free choices, and LibreOffice is still the best open-source office app around.
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Airmail ($5)
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If you really don’t feel like fussing around with Mail, which is fine enough for most macOS users, consider giving Airmail a try. It’s been our favorite third-party mail app for some time given its low price and ample customization. It also hooks into a ton of other third-party apps and services, including Trello, Evernote, your favorite cloud storage service, and Apple’s mighty Workflow app (on iOS, that is).
If you don’t need power options and want easy, simple email, the free Spark is definitely worth checking out—especially since it can help you automatically sort your inbox to make it feel less like an ever-growing pile of things you’ll never read. Boxy 2 is great if you’re a Gmail user who wants the powers of its Inbox app on your desktop (and don’t mind paying $5 for it), and Mailplane 4 ($30) is a solid app if you prefer an interface that looks like the regular ol’ Gmail. Power users might want to investigate Wavebox ($20/year), which lets you access Gmail, Inbox, Outlook, and all sorts of other amazing web apps directly from one, easy-to-use interface.
![Best laptop for pro tools Best laptop for pro tools](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126280050/732643480.jpg)
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Internet and Communications
Google Chrome and Firefox Quantum (free)
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The browser you use is likely going to be dictated by the browser you’ve been using. In other words, if you’re a Google Chrome loyalist, it’ll probably take a lot to get you to switch over to Firefox Quantum (if you’re at all intrigued). And if you’ve been with Firefox from day one, you’re probably a lot less likely to want to move all of your bookmarks, extensions, and other settings over to Chrome.
So, which browser is best? It’s not so much that one excels over the other; it’s more important to say that both, finally, are pretty competitive. Depending on the benchmarks you look at—here are a bunch from ZDNet, for example—the browsers appear evenly matched for speed. I haven’t gone through and assessed the most-recent version of each, but I have used both Firefox Quantum and Google Chrome, and they both feel, well, fast. That said, Chrome still feels a bit like a hog when you’re trying to load a ton of tabs at once, but it’s pretty good about using less of your CPU and memory than other browsers.
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If you don’t like either, Opera is a viable alternative that’s actually pretty speedy in its own right—and we can’t complain about its built-in VPN, either, nor its awesome integration of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram directly into an easy-to-launch sidebar.
Goofy and Franz (free)
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Years ago, it felt like everyone used one chat client to cover a bunch of services (ICQ, AIM, IRC, Jabber, et cetera). Most people nowadays probably have their favorites locked in: Messages for texting, Facebook Messenger for everything else, WhatsApp for sending government secrets or expiring pictures of your booty, Discord for any and all things gaming, Slack for all things not-gaming, et cetera. So, rather than go into detail with all the more obvious apps, we’ll highlight two unique ones.
Facebook Messenger, as you know, requires you to be on Facebook to use it. If I’m correct, you used to be able to essentially connect Facebook’s service to Messages itself, so you could send and receive your Facebook chats without having to have your browser open all the time. And if I’m right (again), you can no longer do that. Instead, you’ll want an app like Goofy, which basically drops the Facebook Messenger interface into a simple application that you can access from your desktop.
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We’re also fans of Franz, which offers the same treatment for a variety of other services (as well as Facebook Messenger). If you don’t want to keep 20 programs open to chat with people, Franz lets you access apps like Slack, WeChat, WhatsApp, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Facebook Messenger all from one, single interface.
Skype (free)
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Everyone also probably has a video chat app they love to use. And there are plenty to pick from: FaceTime, which comes baked into macOS by default; the aforementioned WhatsApp; Google Hangouts; Houseparty; and even good ol’ Facebook Messenger itself.
If you’re looking for a standalone messaging app that can do it all—for personal and business use, too—we still recommend Skype, which Microsoft recently overhauled. Its interface feels cleaner (and comes with a dark mode), it’s still as easy as ever to send text messages, video messages, and files to contacts, and you can even @ message your friends to get their attention.
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That said, we live in an time where most messaging apps have some kind of video or calling component—or so it feels. So if you need that human contact beyond simple texting and emoji, odds are good that you can already do it in the chat app you love.
Music, Photos, and Video
VLC (free)
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VLC is the best media player you can put on your Mac, period. It works perfectly with minimal fuss once you install it, and it can play almost any file you throw at it. If you’re a power user, it has a sea of options that would take the entire rest of this article to describe to you.
We enjoy all the improvements VideoLAN tosses VLC’s way, including its new support for 10-bit color depth and HDR, 360 videos, and improved decoding that allows less-powerful systems to play full 4K videos—even if that’s overkill for your Mac’s display resolution. You can drop a number of plug-ins and extensions into VLC to extend its functionality, and you can even use the app to stream videos to your Chromecast, if you’ve allowed Google to get a foothold into your Apple-only household.
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HandBrake (free)
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HandBrake is a free video conversion tool that, when coupled with an app like MakeMKV, will turn you into a ripping and converting powerhouse. HandBrake is pretty easy to use, but there are still plenty of settings that might give you a little anxiety when you first load the app. We have a guide to help out with that. Once you’ve mastered the basics, queuing up multiple videos and converting them to all kinds of different formats will feel second-nature. Also, don’t forget to grab VLC, mentioned above, so you can actually watch all of your creations.
Adobe Bridge CC, digiKam, and Google Backup and Sync (free)
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Apple’s standard Photos app does a pretty decent job organizing your sprawling photo, thanks to collections, tags, and the ability to view photos by when (and where) they were taken. You can even do a little light editing, too.
If you need a little more organizational oomph, consider Adobe Bridge CC—completely free to use, even though you might have assumed it was a paid app. You can’t do a lot of editing in Bridge (well, any retouching, really), but what it lacks in tools, it makes up for in data. You can easily see all sorts of compelling metadata about the images you’ve taken, and organizing them via ratings, keywords, and labels is easy. Well, setting it up is easy. Actually organizing your sprawling photo library might take a little time, but it’ll be worth it in the end, trust me.
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The open-source app digiKam has organizing, editing, and a UI that’s fairly similar to what you’d find in Adobe Bridge CC. If you’re not used apps like Adobe’s Lightroom, digiKam might feel a bit advanced—possibly even overkill for your needs—but it’s a powerful app for pro users that would rather spend their cash on camera hardware than more software.
Google Backup and Sync isn’t a photo organizing app itself, but it’s what you’ll want to use to get your photos uploaded into Google Photos—a great online tool and compelling alternative to iCloud as a result of the unlimited storage space you get for photos. It’s easy to create collections and share photos with others (Google will even make suggestions for you based around where and when you’ve taken your shots). And we also like that you can get pretty creative with your searches when sorting and organizing your sprawling photo library.
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Spotify ($10) and Amazon Music Unlimited ($8)
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Which music streaming service you pick is largely a matter of preference: one might carry your favorite band, one might have an app interface you greatly prefer, one might have all your friends on it. If you aren’t into Apple Music for these, or any other valid reasons, Spotify is the next obvious choice (sorry Tidal). It has a huge library, its social features are great, and we love the thought it puts into its playlists—human-curated and automatically generated.
If you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber, you should also consider checking out the company’s Amazon Music Unlimited service. You’ll have to pay $8 on top of your Prime subscription, but that still makes it slightly cheaper than an Apple Music ($10) or Spotify Premium ($10).
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Pixelmator ($30) and Affinity Photo ($50)
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Pixelmator is one of the best image editors on the Mac, but it’s no longer the only game in town. Though its $30 asking price might seem high, it’s a bargain considering all the incredible editing tools you get to play with—rivaling more comprehensive apps like Adobe’s Photoshop CC for a fraction of the price. (And if you want features like Touch Bar support, automatic color adjustments, and advanced compression—as well as HEIF exporting—you’ll want to pick up the pricier Pixelmator Pro for $60)
Affinity Photo is a compelling, albeit costlier alternative to Pixelmator that’ll set you back $50 for a professional-grade suite of tools, including full RAW editing and a UI that looks a lot like the Photoshop you might prefer (but don’t want to pay a subscription to get). That includes support for “Personas,” which mimics Photoshop’s Workspaces feature by allowing you to set your screen’s many options and buttons based on whatever it is you’re working on—if you prefer one set of tools for a simple editing and another set of tools for something more complex, like pre-processing images for print.
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If you’re looking for basic image editing and your Mac’s built-in Photos app isn’t enough, you can always give the open-source app GIMP a try. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for in price.
Utilities
Dropbox, Google Drive, and Mega (free-ish)
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These cloud storage services should all be household names at this point. We’ve covered their costs, and their peers’ pricing models, pretty extensively. Which one you go with depends on your budget, preferences, and needs. Dropbox is a great, all-encompassing solution for cloud storage, but you’ll need to get creative to get more than 2GB of free space with the service. Google Drive is a no-brainer, since you get 15GB of space and can easily synchronize files to your laptop or desktop to work on them offline.
With Mega, you get 50GB of free cloud storage to play with and a handy app (MEGAsync) that you can use across your Windows and Mac computers. Mega does have an annoying transfer quota of around 1GB or so in a 24-hour time span, but that’s a small price to pay for a free 50 gigs. Take that, thumbdrives
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qBittorrent or Deluge (free)
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Ever since Transmission had all those malware issues some time ago, and uTorrent filled its installer full of crap and cryptocurrency miners, we’ve been on the hunt for a simple BitTorrent app, and we’ve settled on qBittorrent. It’s an open-source downloading tool that should look pretty familiar for anyone who has used an app like uTorrent or Transmission previously. No big surprises with qBittorrent’s UI or features. We like that the app is ad- and crap-free, is completely open source, and can automatically quit or shut down your PC when your download is done. Deluge is a good BitTorrent app alternative, but the app hasn’t been updated since May of 2017 (when we wrote this), and we prefer something with more active development.
Backblaze ($5/mo)
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If you want to keep your important files on the cloud, rather than a Time Machine backup, that’s fine—you might not have spare storage sitting around, after all. Backblaze is our new top pick for backup services, since it costs half the price of Crashplan (previously great) and does all the same things. Install the app, pick the files and folders you want to back up (encrypted, no less), and hope you never have to use the service’s restoration features.
The Unarchiver (free)
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If you have file archives that your Mac can’t open, give The Unarchiver a shot at them. It’s free, it’s quick, and it does a good job of opening that which your Mac cannot open itself. It also works directly out of Finder, so you won’t have to (annoyingly) open up a separate app before you take a crack at your archives.
A good alternative is Keka, which is also free, also opens a bunch of different archive formats, and can even be faster than The Unarchiver depending on the archive format and size. If you have issues with one app, try the other, and you might find that it does a better job extracting your files.
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(This story originally ran in July 2016, written by Alan Henry. It was updated in July 2018 by David Murphy.)