Macsimum News - Freshly Squeezed Reviews: Small Gems

Freshly Squeezed Reviews: Small Gems

Posted by Frank Petrie Apple ico Apr 4, 2006 at 5:03am

Apple owner-only decisions: One button mouse or two-button mouse? Not even a choice when it comes to trackpads (‘cept for one or two third party hardware options.). Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have two button capability on any machine that you had?

Or how about, “I really don’t like this demo, where’s the uninstaller?”

If you like to test drive, you’re in luck. If you’re a laptop owner, it’s Christmas all over again. Here’s why.

AppZapper

After all these years, I can truly say that there is one thing that I was envious of in Windows – an uninstaller. I wanted one, but one that works. And now…

“AppZapper is for people who want to confidently try new apps while knowing they can uninstall them easily. Drag one or more unwanted apps onto AppZapper and watch as it finds all the extra files and lets you delete them with a single click. A slick safety system remembers which apps you want to keep safe, and the log tracks all the files you’ve zapped.”

Constructed entirely in Cocoa, AppZapper is a prayer answered to someone like me. With all the third-party software I test drive, there are orphans in my .plist folder. Tons of ‘em.

This app is so simple to use that it’s embarrassing. But I’m willing to be embarrassed. (I plead with the authors, please create an orphan detector—PLEASE!) Now you can test drive the software in these reviews and not worry if you’re screwing up your system.

AppZapper costs US$12.95, and is a Universal Binary, so runs on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.

Macsimum rating: 11 out of 10.

One Finger Snap

Before my 12-inch PowerBook fell victim to The Pepsi Syndrome (I’m still in grief, but denial’s coming up I was using One Finger Snap ($6.85) on a daily basis. It made my workflow on the laptop so much faster and efficient. Eventually, when I get my MacBook Pro in the fall, this is the first piece of shareware that’s being installed.

As for my tower, I may return to using Apple’s pseudo tow-button mouse. I find that usin OFS with my original Apple mouse akward, at best. Particularly when I’m trying to correct spelling.

So, for your laptop, you have to have it. For your desktop the choice is up to you.

Macsimum rating: 7 out of 10

These are two more in the ever increasing list of one-trick ponies that are no brainers. Go to the sites, download the demos, and try them for a few days. I’ll bet they become indispensable within 24 hours.