Every few days, I hook up one of my external hard drives and transfer over the offsite backups so they’re not cluttering up my working space.

The Bleepin’ Leadin’ Asterik

Yesterday was one of those days. After syncing my laptop’s backup folder to my external backup folder (via rsync), I wanted to drop the files from my laptop. Already being on the command line and knowing I wanted to drop everything inside my local offsite backups folder, I naturally ran this command:

rm -rf * /Users/Adam/offsitebackups/*

Usually this cleanup runs in under ten seconds, since it only contains a few days worth of backups.

After fifteen seconds I started wondering what was going on. After twenty seconds, I noticed the leading asterik and started pounding on

control+c

as fast as humanly possible.

After swearing very loudly, I ran:

pwd

to show me my working directory:

/Users/Adam

flashed on the screen and again I swore very loudly. To anyone not familiar with Unix, here’s a quick introduction. The rm command stands for remove. the -rf after rm stands for “recursive” and “force” and the * stands for “all”. In short, I issued a command from my home folder that would go through and delete any files, folders, and sub-directories inside that folder. Since I keep almost all of my files inside /Users/Adam, you can understand the frustration.

My next step was crucial and brings us to our first lesson.

Don’t Panic!

After realizing what I did, I walked away from my computer. If I had remained at the console, I probably would have furiously done some things that may or may not have made the situation worse. The damage had already been done so my next step was to calm down. After pouring myself a glass of water, I returned to the computer with a calm, clear mind ready to rationally recover as much as possible.

Internet Syncing is Wonderfully Convenient…

After sitting back down, I stared at the screen blankly for a few moments. Knowing that I periodically run Time Machine and that the damage had been contained to /Users/Adam gave me some relief, since at worst I would have to rebuild my home directory from a recent backup. But at least the core system would be intact.

Also knowing I sync some of my files with Dropbox and run version control on the important sites, left me with some peace of mind. With services like Dropbox and Subversion getting easier and easier to install and run, there’s really no excuse for not having wonderfully convenient backups of your important stuff up on the internet or your local network.

… and Deceptively Dangerous

Then I noticed Spanning Sync spinning up. Unsure if my local Address Book files were intact, I immediately shut off my wireless connection and yanked out my ethernet cord. No need to start updating my cloud files and deleting what shouldn’t be deleted. Of course Spanning Sync would ask me before syncing up the deleted entries, but without knowing off the top of my head what else might be planning a sync at any moment, I felt turning off access to the internet was the best way to ensure the damage stayed localized.

I also shut down Time Machine, since there was no need to run a massive backup to save my newly shrunken down system.

Get a Base Reading

After regaining my composure and severing my laptop’s connection to the network and other devices, it was time to start checking what was gone.

My first instinct was to:

ls -la

which would show me all the files in /Users/Adam and provide a timestamp of the last modification date.

A sigh of relief at this point, as I noticed most of the structure was still intact and untouched. The only folder with a recent modification date was my Desktop. I have a very particular organization for my Desktop, which means I only keep two folders on the desktop.

• Projects

My projects folder contains anything I’m currently working on. For instance any graphic files or copy for sites is stored inside Projects. Needless to say, it’s a crucial folder.

• Stuff

A catch all folder for anything else. I like to keep my desktop nice and tidy so anytime I go on a downloading spree or have random files cluttering up my desktop that don’t relate to any of the projects I’m working on, they get dropped into Stuff. Not as crucial as Projects, but because the nature of this folder means I really have no clue what was or wasn’t in here, I was hoping it wasn’t too badly damaged.

Well, a quick glance at my actual desktop showed me that Projects was completely gone.

At least I had double backups of the Projects folder to Time Machine and to Dropbox, but unfortunately both were a bit out of date.

Keep Timely Updates

For some reason, I’d shut down Dropbox at some point. Now, I let it start when my computer starts and leave it running at all times. This way, when I make changes to the Projects folder or any other folder synced to Dropbox, it gets updated automagically. All you have to do to get the same auto-magic is link the folder with dropbox.

ln -s ~/Desktop/Projects ~/Dropbox/Projects

That little trick will make sure there’s always a recent backup. Since Dropbox takes a little time to sync up, it might’ve started deleting some files but at least it’s another backup. The other key to keeping timely backups is to let Time Machine run off the network, rather than a hard drive I have to remember to plug in every few days.

Script it!

Finally, the biggest and most important lesson is to take human error out of the equation. Now, instead of manually moving files over to my external, I’ve set up a script to automatically sync them over and then clean up the laptop hard drive after its done. It’s one of those things I should’ve done a while ago but kept putting off. Foolish indeed as scripting it the first time would’ve saved me time and files.

Photo credit: Larry Miller | CC-NC-ND 2.0

And the problem is certainly not confined to my Mac, as OS X Daily recently got Safari to use up 7,909.9 % of its CPU. No, that’s not a typo, they caught Safari using up almost 8,000 % of CPU in what they call an “epic freakout”. Check out the proof below:

More often than not, the culprit is not actually Apple’s Safari browser, but actually Adobe’s Flash plug-in. Oh Flash, can’t browse with you, can’t browse without you. Or can you?

Frack Flash

Sure, many would say just ditch Flash and be done with it, but then you’re also shutting off videos, siFR fonts, and web applications that rely on Flash.

The solution?

ClickToFlash.

Like many Apple applications and plug-ins, ClickToFlash is simple, elegant, and damn useful. Since installing it, Safari loads within 1-2 bounces and doesn’t crash and doesn’t throw up more beach-balls than a rock concert, baseball game and 4th of July party combined.

So, what is ClickToFlash?

Good question. CTF is a plug-in for Safari that prevents any and all Flash from loading. You’d be surprised how often Flash pops up on a site, until you download and install CTF and see that it literally litters the web.

But CTF doesn’t stop there. As it’s name shows, the beauty of CTF is that it enables Flash by clicking on the graphic it uses to mark Flash zones. One click, and your YouTube video, siFR fonts or what have you load up and play like normal. You can spot Flash areas with this nice, pleasant placeholder image:

More than just a Flash blocker

But, ClickToFlash doesn’t stop there. It goes a step further and allows you to load .h264 videos on YouTube instead of Flash, which leads to higher quality. Other features allows you to whitelist sites and load Flash for an entire page, all with one click.

If you don’t have ClickToFlash, do yourself and your web browser a favor and install it now. Seriously. It’s free and has zero downsides and plenty of up.

Productivity

1. Check off

Very simple to-do checklist that sits in your menu bar.

2. OpenOffice.org

In addition to telling everyone about the awesomeness of Apple computers and the Mac OS X Leopard operating system I also evangelize the heck out of OpenOffice.org. In my eight years of using OpenOffice.org on Windows, Ubuntu, and Mac OS X I’ve found it to be super stable and packed with nearly all the functionality of the much more expensive (e.g. not free) Microsoft Office. So far I’ve had no need to use MS Office as OpenOffice.org provides enough applications to get the job done.

3. TextWrangler

When I got my Macbook Pro three years ago I installed and used Aquamacs Emacs but after installing a fresh Leopard system I took another look at my applications and fell in love with TextWrangler. I especially love that it integrates with my SFTP browser, CyberDuck, for easy editing right on my server.

4. Quicksilver

The new spotlight in Leopard is awesome but still lacks the extensive features of Quicksilver. Launching a terminal window with my first command line already inputted in just two or three key taps is a beautiful thing. You can also control iTunes directly from Quicksilver and a whole host of other sweet commands.

5. The Unarchiver

For the few compressed file formats Leopard doesn’t recognize out of the box, The Unarchiver will uncompress them and even has options to automatically delete the zipped file after its opened up.

6. EventSync

Sync your facebook events with iCal.

7. Anxiety

Another to do check list application. Anxiety is more versatile than Check-Off but for me Check-Off does the job fine but if you need something more robust check out Anxiety.

8. Aquamacs Emacs

I used Aquamacs Emacs for the longest time when I first got my Mac but am now loving TextWrangler. Both are solid text editing programs with their own pros and cons.

9. Tiny Alarm

I prefer using my iPhone as my alarm, but for those who are inclined to use their laptop, Tiny Alarm is a great little app that sites in your menu bar.

10. Cashbox

A great personal finance manager. A while back I picked up Cha-Ching via a Macheist giveaway, but if I didn’t I’d be using Cashbox. Both are great personal finance applications, one is free the other isn’t but both should treat you right.

Communication

11. Adium

iChat is cool but Adium is much, much better. This open source application allows to connect to nearly every messaging system on the planet. The list includes AIM, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook Chat, Myspace IM, Bonjour, LiveJournal Chat, Gadu Gadu and more!

12. TweetDeck

The best way to interact with Twitter. Runs off Adobe Air and is fast and easy to use. I didn’t really get Twitter until I downloaded and installed TweetDeck and now I’m tweeting all the time!

13. Skype

Great for making cheap international calls. I also use Skype to set up a business line so my cell phone doesn’t get jammed with calls. You can also instant message, call and video chat with others over the internet for free.

14. Growl

Unobtrusive application/system notification. A great way to explain Growl is to provide an example. It integrates with Adium and will show a small temporary popup window whenever a contact signs on/off or sends you a message.

Audio

15. iPodDisk

Allows you to move music off your iPod without dealing with iTunes. In other words, it turns your iPod into a regular disk drive.

16. Audacity

Great alternative to Garageband for recording audio.

17. GimmeSomeTune

GimmeSomeTune is an iTunes extension that adds a lot of functionality to iTunes, but chief among them is the ability to import missing artwork and fetch song lyrics. It also integrates with Last.fm thus allowing you to have one less application running on your Mac.

Video

18. Burn

Expands on Mac OS X’s built in disc recording and adds a ton more file formats and options while still keeping the interface simple and speedy.

19. Handbrake

This open-source, multi-threaded video converter accepts DVD, DVD-esque (images and some .VOB files), and multimedia files and converts them to MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM / MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora formats quickly and easily.

20. iSquint

    A video converter to make your videos suitable for viewing on an iPod/iPhone.

21. VLC

The best media player on the planet. VLC will play nearly every video and audio format out there.

22. Miro

Another media player but it’s hook is that Miro allows you to setup RSS feeds for torrents and other media files for automated downloading of videos. The list of legally free videos out there is extensive and will keep you entertained for a long, long time.

23. Caffeine

Caffeine is a light weight application that sits in your menu bar. A simple click turns off the screen saver or delays it for a set amount of time. A great time saver for when you want to watch a video without getting interrupted by your screen saver. I reviewed Caffeine at Only The Internet’s Best Reviews in September ’08 and it still remains one of the highest rated items on OTIBR (scored it a 38/42).

24. Flip4Mac WMV

Plugin for Quicktime letting you play Windows Media Video files on your Mac. The best of both worlds!

Images

25. GIMP

Not as good as Adobe Photoshop CS4 but it’s free (while Photoshop is $600). The GIMP should be just good enough for the majority of users out there and will at least tide you over until you save up for a copy of Photoshop.

26. PhotoBook

A photo browser for facebook. Quick and very easy to use, PhotoBook will display all your friend’s facebook photos in a convenient album format for quick browsing.

27. Inkscape

A sweet vector graphics application.

28. Flickr Uploadr

Drag and drop interface for quickly and easily uploading your pics to Flickr.

29. DeskLickr

DeskLickr will go out to Flickr and import photos and automatically change your desktop background every so often. Nice for those of us who get bored of our backgrounds quite easily.

Mac Maintenance

30. Disk Inventory X

A graphical outline of your hard drive showing what’s using up space and how much of it. Handy for when you’re running low and need to find files to delete.

31. SuperDuper

Sure the new Leopard operating system comes with Time Machine, but Super Duper is great for making bootable clones of your drive. It’s super handy for when you need to bring your Mac in for repairs as it lets you keep working with your files and setup. I’ve used Super Duper extensively over the past two weeks while bringing my Macbook Pro in for repairs and had almost no loss in productivity thanks to Super Duper and a generous friend who loaned me his brand new Macbook!

32. smcFanControl

Control your Mac’s fans from a simple graphical interface. Very handy for diagnosing if your Mac’s fans are busted, as one of mine recently was. Also useful for cranking up the RPMs when you think your Mac is getting a tad too hot for comfort.

33. Clix

A Command Line Interface for OS X/Terminal! Clix stores literally hundreds and hundreds of commands, allowing you to click through and run them through Terminal. It’s handy even for command line experts who can’t remember all the commands or syntax.

34. iStat Pro

Perhaps the most useful Dashboard widget out there. iStat Pro will display your CPU temperatures, hard drive space, network stats, fan speed, running processes (and how much CPU power they take up). All in real time from the convenience of your dashboard.

35. AppFresh

Mac OS X’s built in Software Update is great but only works for Mac OS X and other Apple applications. AppFresh will notify you when all your other applications have updates available by periodically checking osx.iusethis.com.

36. OnyX

A Graphical User Interface for all your Mac’s maintenance needs. You can perform most of these processes from the command line, but if you just got a Mac you’re probably terrified of Terminal right now.

37. AppCleaner

Dragging your applications to the trash can is a very simple way to delete old or unwanted applications but usually leaves files scattered about your hard drive. Using AppCleaner will ensure all those pesky files are gone, freeing up hard drive space and lowering the chance for any conflicts.

Web

38. Cyberduck

The best FTP/SFTP/Amazon S3 browser/uploader/downloader on the planet. Drag n drop interface that is integrated with your Mac’s keychain for a no hassle upload/download experience.

39. MAMP

Easy to setup and use local server for developing and testing your web-sites before they go live. Needless to say this gets a lot of use on my Macbook Pro.

40. NetNewsWire

The best RSS reader on the planet. With a free account at NewsGator.com you can sync your feeds between different locations. I love this app as it allows me to read my feeds on my iPhone knowing that whatever I read or clip (bookmark) will sync back to my Macbook Pro at home.

41. Firefox

I love the speedy Safari, and in fact spend most of my day within its friendly confines, but Firefox has an immense library of extensions and plugins that Safari has yet to match. Besides, it’s free, what’ve you got to lose? Besides a little bit of hard drive space of course.

42. DeepVacuum

DeepVacuum is a graphical interface for the unix command wget, which allows you to download entire web-sites. Useful for developers who want to take a peak at a site’s code or people who wish to browse a site offline.

43. Transmission

Simple but powerful bittorrent client.

44. Dropbox

A great way to store files in a cloud for easy access from any internet connection.

45. Vidalia

A graphical interface for TOR, the safest and easiest way to browse the web anonymously. Very useful for users who live in a country with a strict firewall or for accessing sites you don’t want associated with you. Though, I must state that if a government agency wants to find you they will, so don’t go doing something stupid or dangerous just because you’re behind a TOR connection.

There you have it, 45 free applications I recommend every new Mac user try it. Did I miss a great application? Let me know in the comments below!