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Software Utilities

General Use Tools

1Password If you’re not using 1Password, or a program like it, do so immediately. 1Password is a tool that you use to track all your password and login information. You just need to know the primary password and have the secret key on hand somewhere for initial setup. I use 1Password across multiple devices, systems, and OS’ to track all my passwords. It’ll change your life. Worth every penny. DropBox offers a similar service for free (with a Pro account or higher), but I’ve never bothered. I’m sure it’s fine, but don’t know anyone who uses it!
DaisyDisk Mac OS application that indexes drives / folders so that utilization can be better analyzed through visualization. If you’re trying to free up some space, or you have some unknown bloat, this is a good tool to find out why and where (see also Grand Perspective). 
Czkawka Duplicate file finder and more! Requires some homebrew commands to be able to use the GUI version. 
FreeFileSync Free, donation ware. Very similar to Sync Folders Pro, but available across different operating systems and more widely used. Have seen the fastest possible web transfers using this program. Thanks to Dylan Steenkamp for this gem. 
Grand Perspective Mac OS application that does exactly the same thing as DaisyDisk except it’s way less sexy. The block format, however, may be preferred over DD, which has files represented circularly. I thought they stopped developing a while ago, but they are still going as of summer 2023. Happy to see that!
Jump Desktop

Enterprise screenshare tool with really low latency used for Post Production work (and good for almost everything else, too). 
Magnet

Mac OS level shortcut that allows you to use hotkeys to arrange application windows. Very good, but some Magnet shortcuts have conflicts with specific software, like After Effects. This automatically disables Magnet shortcuts when that is the active app. This is rare! I believe conflicts can be avoided, but it is a manual process of cross checking between apps. I’ll update here if/when I figure out a smarter way to fix that.  

 

Another bug is that Adobe Illustrator will work dumb slow in some cases with Magnet enabled. 
MonitorControl Gives you control of Audio and Brightness settings for external monitors. You know when you plug in a display and you can’t mute or use the Mac volume buttons to change the levels? This allows you to use your OS volume and brightness keys to control an external monitor – just make sure to allow it to work in Privacy & Security → Accessibility
Parallels A way to run Windows OS on an Apple ARM Silicone. On older devices (MacIntel), BootCamp is preferable. On ARM, you can’t run contemporary AAA games, but you can run Star Wars Battlefront II (the OG one from 2005). 
Parsec A screenshare software that is very reliable and has a good frame rate. Developed originally by Unity for cloud gaming. Good for remote management, but has a very annoying setup protocol that I’ll breakout here at some point. Can hit servers with tons of screens, but not Mosaic. Windows/Mac. 
Restart on Crash Windows utility that you can set to automatically launch a crashed program. Be warned: increase the timeout so you don’t launch tons of application instances. Also, doesn’t work if theres a system dialog that hangs the program… 
ScreenConnect A nicely priced screenshare software with tons of iT features, tiered access levels, managed accounts, the ability to brand the application to your company. Can hit servers with up to 8ish screens, including Mosaic. Windows/Mac. Latency aggressive for post-production work but good for IT. 
Sync Folders Pro Great auto-sync, backup, merge tool. Build and save actions. Recommended.
Velja

Mac OS level shortcut application that allows you prompt for browser selection for any link clicked on the OS level, or to set rules to open specific browsers, or do specific actions based on a link type. 

 

Here’s some rules I set up so that all things google happen in Firefox. This means that I can be logged into G-Suite in Firefox, but not use it for anything except for G-Suite (except google.com for searching). If logged out of Google in Safari, this prevents Google from tracking my searches against my email data. I originally created this information with Google Docs and I’m surprised I haven’t got a DDS agfp9jadgm’;dgz aefdsii ///// shutdown /s / 

Velja.png
VLC (Video Lan Client) A utilitarian AV player for Mac/Windows that’s been around since forever. It can play most, but not all, things. It’s free. You can playlist assets. A very good swiss army knife. Has command line controls, too!  
WebKiosk A lockdown app for Mac OS by xproline.io to turn a Mac into a locked kiosk running a WebApp. Paid version. Used it in 2024 for a bunch of webapp demos and it works real good. Link. 
WiFi Explorer Mac OS application that allows you to see all the available wifi networks around you. This can help you narrow down channel usage to prevent congestion. It's also helpful to determine WAP placement. Some pro-tips here. 
WinDirStat A Windows application that does the same thing as DaisyDisk or Grandperspective: visually indexes hard drive utilization to help manage computer storage. 






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