something STRANGE

Like most people, I tweak and tune my computers so that they’re easier and more enjoyable to use. In the process, I often download tons of software and apps, many of which I never get around to installing. It’s great fun attempting to identify their purpose months later.

This is a list of some of the apps that I frequently use. It contains both free and commercial apps, and its contents will likely change over time.

If you have any comments regarding a particular app, or have suggestions for alternatives, you know what to do. The comment box is at the bottom of this page.

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BetterZip Quick Look Generator

Quick Look is one of the more useful features of OS X. While a file is selected in Finder, just press space to activate it. The BetterZip Quick Look Generator is a free Quick Look plugin that allows you to examine the contents of archives without having to unpack them. According to the developer’s site, it currently supports the following archive formats: ZIP, TAR, GZip, BZip2, ARJ, LZH, ISO, CHM, CAB, CPIO, RAR, 7-Zip, DEB, RPM, StuffIt’s SIT, DiskDoubler, BinHex, and MacBinary.

SimplyRAR

On Windows, I prefer the RAR compression format. It doesn’t seem as popular on OS X, but it tends to generate smaller archives. Unlike UnRarX, you can open archives and view their contents, but also create new archives. I really like being able to look at the archive without having to decompress it first. SimplyRAR appears to be the best WinRAR alternative on the Mac. It’s not as feature-packed, but it gets the job done.