zenspire

I found a post on LifeHack, titled The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a Windows PC.

It was an informative post, but what about us Mac users?

According to his post, setting up a new PC has five stages:

1. Denial: I’ve got a new computer. Nothing can go wrong now!
2. Anger: No, I don’t want to subscribe to AOL. No, I don’t want Norton updates. No, I don’t want a 60-day trial of Office 2007. There are HOW MANY security updates?!
3. Bargaining: I’d do anything to be able to use this thing!
4. Depression: I’ve been uninstalling Norton components for 17 hours now. If I have to restart the PC one more time, I swear I’ll kill myself… All I want to do is update Twitter!
5. Acceptance: OK, let’s install some good stuff now!

In My Opinion, setting up a Mac also has five stages (especially if you’ve just switched from a PC):

1. Excitement: There’s nothing quite like opening the box of a brand new gadget, especially if that is a brand new Mac.
2. Anticipation: As you set up the initial bit, you anticipate actually getting to use the computer.
3. Awe: Once you finally get to the Mac Desktop, you can’t help but feel a bit of cool factor come on, as you play around with different bits.
4. Tinker: Getting all the basics of the OS set up to your liking.
5. Use: Includes not only installing the software, but using it as well.

Once you’ve installed updates, set up your password, account, networks, etc. You can finally start using your mac.

Here is the list of free apps I would recommend you put on a new mac:

1. Google Quick Search Box
   Dustin start’s off his list with anti-virus. Let me congratulate you by saying, you have a Mac now. You don’t need antivirus. That’s right, I know it’s a lot to take in. But anyway, something many Mac users use is some type of launcher basically they allow you to launch programs, documents, etc quickly. Some perfer Quicksilver, some prefer Launchbar (Not Free) (I formerly used it), but Google’s Quick Search Box does the trick for me. It’s fast, non-intrusive, and does what I need. I would recommend any Mac user (or even PC user) start using a launcher.
2. Firefox
   Although many people choose to stay with Safari, Safari 4 has been buggy and slow to load for me. Also, Firefox allows you to install add-ons (I would recommend Adblock Plus). And themes (I would recommend GrApple Themes).
3. The Unarchiver
   This may not apply to everybody. But archives come in all shapes and sizes. The Unarchiver is a great tool for extracting just about anything you download.
4. Burn
   An awesome free software to Burn just about everything. Take advantage of that shiny SuperDrive in your new Mac.
5. Perian
   This is an awesome little set of plugins that will allow you to play just about any media file in QuickTime.
6. VLC
   IF Perian can’t play it, this can. It’s a great free media player, and can also perform encoding and conversion.
7. OpenOffice.org
   An awesome free Office Suite. It runs faster than Office on Mac, and costs 100% less.
8. Chax or Adium
   Adium is an awesome Multi-Protocol IM software. If you want to stick with iChat however, I would recommend installing Chax. It customizes iChat to be a lot better. With features such as a unified buddy list, Chax is great.
9. Smultron
   An awesome text editor, you’ll never run out of uses for it.
10. AppCleaner
    Although moving an app to the trash does delete the app, it doesn’t delete its settings, cache files, etc. AppCleaner takes care of that. A quick and easy way to fully uninstall apps on the mac.

Once you have these apps set up, you’ll have a pretty good base on which to get started working. What free apps do you like? Let us know in the comments!