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[Mac] Top 10 Free Mac File Management Apps

June 26th, 2009

File management applications are essential to keep your Mac running stable. I know the commercials, and the marketing BS claim Macs never crash, and are bulletproof, but c’mon. Any computer is vulnerable to crashes and lag if not properly maintained. By utilizing the below apps- it will greatly help keep your Mac in top shape.

1. AppCleaner

A nice application that makes thorough uninstalls easy. When application are installed- small files are spread out onto your Mac’s directories. App cleaner seeks out these small files, and removes them.

Just drag and drop an application icon into AppCleaner, and it will search for all references to the application, and allow you to choose the files you want to delete.

Download AppCleaner

2. AppFresh

A lot of applications don’t include their own update checker. AppFresh checks your favorite apps for updates for you.  So you never have to miss an update for your favorite app- one of my favs.

AppFresh provides a central place to control the software updates available to your Mac, integrating most popular and most common update checking technologies such as Apple Software Update, Sparkle, Microsoft AutoUpdate, Adobe Updater, osx.iusethis.com and more.

Download AppFresh

3. Set Icon

Set Icon is a small application that lets you quickly and easily set a custom icon for one your drives either from an ICNS file or any old image file that Mac OS supports. To get started all you have to do is select your drive, drag an image file to the image box and click ‘Set Icon’, when you want to remove the custom icon just select the drive, check the ‘Remove Custom Icon’ box and click ‘Remove Icon’.

Set Icon applies custom icons in such a way that they appear correctly both in Leopard’s side bar and in the Boot Camp chooser. Occasionally Set Icon will fail to apply the icon to the drive on the first try, in the event of this problem occurring just click the “Set Icon” button again and everything should work fine.

Download Set Icon

4. NameChanger

This is the easiest way to rename a big list of files on the Mac.

Add the files through the GUI or drag and drop files directly onto the App. These original filenames show up in the Original Filename column. Grayed out rows indicate files that you do not have permissions to change. Next select how to change the file names:

• Replace First Occurrence
• Replace Last Occurrence
• Replace All Occurrences
• Wildcare
• Append
• Prepend
• Date
• Sequence
• Character Removal

As text is entered into the appropriate text fields the resulting filenames appear in the Renamed Filename column. As you type each row is updated to reflect the changes you will make. Finally click the Rename button, and all your files will be renamed as displayed. You will be informed of any files that could not be modified.

Download NameChanger

5. SpotLook

SpotLook is a graphical interface to Mac OS X Leopard’s Spotlight desktop search engine which features timelines showing results according to their date. These Tracks can be created, edited and customized include a search scope and attributes to search for. In addition to that found items can be viewed with Quick Look or revealed in the Finder. Give a Graphical Interface to Mac OS X Leopard’s Spotlight with SpotLook.

Download Spotlook

6. Carbon Copy Cloner

Carbon Copy Cloner is an excellent application to clone, synchronize and backup your files. CCC 3 features an interface designed to make the cloning and backup procedure very intuitive. In addition to general backup, CCC can also clone one hard drive to another, copying every single block or file to create an exact replica of your source hard drive. CCC’s block-level copy offers the absolute best fidelity in the industry.

Key features include

• Complete, bootable backups
• Simple interface for indicating exactly what you want to back up
• Restore using the same process used for backup
• Backups are non-proprietary, so you can browse them or use them with Migration Assistant
• Fast, incremental backups copy only the items that have changed since the last backup
• Archival backup archives items that have been deleted from the source
• Support for block-level disk-to-disk clones
• Support for backing up across the network to another Macintosh
• Back up to hard drives or to disk images
• Schedule backup tasks on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis, or you can indicate that a backup task should run when the backup device is attached (e.g. an iPod). You don’t even need to be logged in for your backups to occur!
• CCC recognizes iPods specifically, allowing time for the iPod:iTunes synchronization to complete
• Built-in software update feature notifies you when updates are available

Download Carbon Copy Cloner

7. Monolingual

A program for removing unnecessary language resources from Mac OS X, in order to reclaim several hundred megabytes of disk space. Monolingual runs on at least Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Panther) and also works on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).

Download Monolingual

8. Punakea

Punakea is a small Mac application that helps you cope with the day-to-day struggle of managing your files. It is specially designed to complement Spotlight and allows you to tag your files and bookmarks, freeing you of the strict hierarchy of the Finder’s folder structure.

Download Punakea

9. SpotInside

SpotInside searches documents and shows previews of their content by highlighting keywords . This program will multiply the power of Spotlight and make your searches more precise.

Download SpotInside

10. SketchBox

SketchBox is the perfect application for your Mac Desktop. It works as your sticky notes manager and allows you to not only enter text but also make drawings and set individual reminders for each sticky to use them as a visual alarm clock.

Unlike other applications it lets you arrange all your notes in thumbnail view and create short storyboards/comics or simply store your daily thoughts as searchable text. SketchBox is 100% free for you to use and if you feel like donating, you can do that by visiting their website.

Download Sketchbox for Mac

Entry Filed under: Apple,Downloads,Lists,Mac OS X