Editor’s note: “Newbie Question Mark” is a brand new section of Minority. It is aimed at completely “zero basis” novice users, through the most simple and easy to understand, to help you quickly master about the system and hardware and software introduction knowledge.
The Minority has previously done two articles aimed at macOS novices, including:
- How to get started quickly after switching from Windows to macOS?
- Do these four things to keep your Mac safe from data theft and loss
This post is also aimed at newcomers to macOS and aims to help them find tools that are both free and useful. Next we will pay more attention to the content for beginners, and welcome all authors to contribute to us.
One of the most important things we can do with a new Mac, besides appreciating its fantastic industrial design, is to install the first software on the Mac. These first apps will always be with us in our daily lives, work, and entertainment, so having these great apps in the first place is a great way to boost happiness.
The Unarchive: decompression tool
MacOS doesn’t handle compressed files very well. If you don’t have any software installed, you can only choose to compress it into a.zip file or unzip it, which may sound a bit lame. The Unarchiver, as a conscionable decompression tool for Mac, supports decompression of RAR, 7-zip, Tar and other commonly used compression formats, and can also open ISO, EXE and other types of files. It is fully functional and free.
Download The Unarchiver
CheatSheet: Shortcut key prompt
If you want to do that kind of smooth operation on a computer, the use of shortcut keys must be the most important. But you probably don’t even know one or two of Safari’s own shortcuts, let alone those of other apps. If you’re still searching for “What’s the shortcut for XXX?” “Must have never met a CheatSheet. To ⌘ to use this software, you need to check the CheatSheet option in “System preferences – Security and Privacy – Privacy – Accessibility”. You can press command-⌘ to directly invoke all shortcut keys of the software in most App interfaces, which is very convenient.
CheatSheet
IINA: video player
The first video player most people would recommend to you would be MplayerX, but MplayerX is mostly full of “junk software” when installed, and it hasn’t been updated for too long. But without a video player on your Mac, your movie-watching days may be over. As an open source video player, IINA has achieved many key points such as “clean, smooth and beautiful”. Highly customizable keyboard shortcuts make for a more comfortable operating environment, and the support for video formats is also perfect. This is the best modern video player on macOS: IINA.
Download address: IINA
AppCleaner: Uninstall tool
There are many ways to uninstall software on a Mac. Software installed on MAS can be deleted by going to Launchpad with a long press. If the software is installed from another source, you can use Command + Delete in the Applications section of the Finder to Delete it. However, some people may be concerned about the remaining files in other places, in this case, you can choose an uninstaller to uninstall all your software. AppCleaner for everyone to recommend a lightweight uninstall software, only need to uninstall software to drag to the AppCleaner blank that can automatically check all the relevant files and remove.
Download it from AppCleaner
Jietu: Screenshot tool
Screenshots are common operations on both mobile and PC terminals. However, the screenshots provided by Mac can only capture part of the screen or the whole window, which is not complete in terms of functions. Jietu is a convenient screenshot software produced by Tencent. In addition to the basic functions of window screenshot, timing screenshot and full-screen screenshot, Jietu can also perform secondary operations such as marking and coding on screenshots. Jietu can also record Windows, crop videos, select sharpness and export GIFs.
After scoring, try Tencent’s free Mac screenshot app: screenshot Jietu
Download address: Jietu
Spark: indicates an email client
The Mac’s native mail app may not be that friendly to new users, but I, a longtime user, didn’t choose to use native mail. Native client often according to their own mood, the implementation of server disconnection, mail slow delivery and other touching operations, so I have to recommend a third-party mail client. Spark email client is a free email client developed by Readdle. In addition to prompt messages, Spark has a high degree of freedom to configure functions and a good appearance.
Download it at Spark
Franz: All-in-one chat application
Computers are used in every part of your life, and social communication must be an essential element. Every day, you may use many chat apps, such as wechat, Telegram, Slack and so on. Switching from one software to another may waste too much time. Franz collected a variety of instant messaging web version, so that you can log in to all your chat accounts in one software, but unfortunately there is no QQ in it. If you are simply chatting without any additional features, try Franz. It may give you a different experience.
Linked reading: Chat wechat, Telegram, Slack in one app, instant messaging aggregation: Franz
Download address: Franz
Aria2GUI: Download tool
In fact, the use of Thunder on the Mac experience is still fairly good, especially in the application for certain processing to remove advertising. But thunder download file time will appear speed up, no resources or can not download the problem, it is better to try to use Aria2 as your downloader, not only can download general files, combined with relevant plug-ins can also directly download the content of Baidu network disk. Aria2 configuration in the minority on the Mac using Baidu web disk very agitated? Aria2GUI is a software with a separate interface. In addition to integrating multi-threaded download and Aria2c, it can also automatically save tasks that have not been downloaded and send prompts when related tasks are completed. It’s much more user-friendly than the web version.
Download address: Aria2GUI
Youdao dictionary
Download address: Youdao Dictionary
If you have other great tools that are both free and useful, feel free to discuss them in the comments section.