Mac Utilities: Very Useful Software!

I suspect that the average Mac user will use at most one or two Mac Utilities. It is even possible that some of you have never used them and might not know where to find them even if you wanted to use them!

But thats ok because we all know that Mac OS X is a very stable operating system and that for most of us we just never have the need to use them.

But in reality there are some very powerful software tools available to us. Some of them might even be useful if we just knew that they existed.

So below is an overview of each of the Mac utilities available with OS X Lion.

Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor is a handy utility for determining how well you system is performing. The window is shown below and you can see a number of tabs towards the bottom of the picture.

Activity Monitor

Just in case you can't see the words on the tabs I have listed them below.

• CPU
• System Memory
• Disk Activity
• Disk Usage
• Network

Clicking on one of the tabs listed above will display a new section showing the activity for that activity. For example the 'CPU' tab will display the load on the processor and Disk usage will display the size of both the used and the free space on your Macs hard disk.

AirPort Utility

The AirPort Utility is one of those Mac utilities that is only useful if you have either the Apple AirPort Extreme or the AirPort Express. Both are Apple accessories that allow you to connect a Mac or some other computer to a network via wireless networking (WiFi).

AirPort Utility

The Airport Utility will display any AirPort devices that are in the vicinity and will allow you to update the software if any updates are available from Apple.

AppleScript Editor

The AppleScript Editor is not really aimed at the beginner. AppleScript is a scripting language that allows you to automate tasks on your Mac. It is very powerful but takes a bit of time to get into.

AppleScript Editor

The AppleScript Editor is basically an editor that allows you to create and run the scripts that you have created.

Audio MIDI Setup

Audio MIDI Setup is another one of those Mac utilities that is only of interest if you use your Mac to interface to MIDI devices.

Audio MIDI Setup

MIDI devices are usually related to musical instruments e.g. a keyboard. If you are into GarageBand and wish to connect an external instrument then this utility will probably be of help to you.

Bluetooth File Exchange

Bluetooth File Exchange is very useful if you have a Bluetooth enabled phone and want to send or receive files from your Mac computer.

Bluetooth File Exchange

When you first launch this utility it will do a scan for any 'discoverable' devices in the immediate vicinity. As you can see in the picture below the utility has detected my iPhone.

Boot Camp Assistant

The OS X Lion Boot Camp Assistant is a utility that helps you install Microsoft Windows 7 on your Mac computer.

Boot Camp Assistant

The Boot Camp Assistant will guide you through the process of partitioning your Macs hard disk to make room for Windows, once the installation is complete it will handle installing the drivers needed to use your Macs hardware. Finally, it will help configure dual-booting if you need it.

Have a look at our Boot Camp Assistant tutorial which explains in detail how to install Windows 7 on your Mac.

ColorSync Utility

The ColorSync utility is intended to be used by the user who is really keen on the accurate representation of colour.

If you use cameras, scanners, monitors and printers to produce documents or photographs where it is vital that the colour representation across all devices is accurate then this utility is for you.

ColorSync Utility

I am no expert at this, so it is possible that you know much more than me! But, this utility allows you to create colour profiles for use across devices. These profiles allow you to calibrate all of the different devices.

Console

The Mac utilities are good for all sorts of tasks, like the Console, which is very useful if you are a system administrator or software developer and want to see the errors generated while Mac OS X Lion is running.

Console

The console allows you to view the system logs. It provides in-depth information at a very low level, that can be used to debug problems.

DigitalColor Meter

The DigialColor Meter is very simple to use, but very useful. If you run this utility and have it in view on your desktop, then move your mouse around.

You will see that the colour information changes in-line with the colour under your mouse pointer.

DigitalColor Meter

Disk Utility

The Disk Utility is probably the most powerful of the Mac utilities, but the most under used. The Disk Utility allows you to repair, partition, and verify the hard disks on your Mac computer. But it also allows you to burn disk image files to a CD or DVD.

If your Mac won't boot for example, the culprit could be an error on your hard disk. The Disk Utility is one of the tools available to you if you boot from the recovery partition or install DVD.

Mac OS X Disk Utility

Grab

My favourite of the Mac utilities is called 'Grab'. It is a very simple, but a very handy utility. I use it literally everyday for getting screenshots for this website.

Grab basically allows you to take four different types of screenshot. They are 'Selection', 'Window', 'Screen', and 'Timed Screen'.

Taking each option in turn. Selecting 'Selection' from the Capture menu displays a message asking you to drag over the area of the screen that you want to capture. Once you release the drag the area is captured and displayed in a window, ready to save.

The next option, 'Window', I suspect is obvious. Once you select this option you are prompted to click on the Window that you want to capture. Doing so captures the Window as an image.

Finally, we come to the two screen capture options. The first called 'Screen' immediately captures the full screen.

The second called 'Timed Screen' gives you ten seconds to prepare the screen you want captured. The screenshot below shows the 'Timed Screen' dialog box during the ten second count down, this is off course not included in the final screenshot!

Grab Utility - Timed Screen

Grapher

This is one of those Mac utilities that makes you wonder exactly why it was included, or whose idea it was! If you are into plotting mathematical graphs, then this one is for you.

You first get to pick the type of graph you want, with options including both 2D and 3D. You can chose from Frame, Gradient, White, Cylindrical System, Spherical System, Black and White, or blank.

I think that the screenshot below sums up what Grapher is all about.

The Mac OS X Grapher Utility

Java Preferences

Java Preferences is not really a utility, it is a central point for Mac OS X Java settings to kept. You can determine what version of Java is installed and settings for security, network, and advanced settings governing how Java handles applets etc.

If you don't understand anything about Java, then you don't need to worry about this utility. If you do then I suspect you will understand what all the settings mean.

Java Preferences

Keychain Access

Keychain Access is a very important part of the security of your Mac. Keychain Access allows you to reduce the number of passwords that you have to give track of. Its capabilities are system wide allowing passwords for applications, servers, websites, and much more to be stored.

This utility allows you to monitor these keychains and there related information. In the real world you don't really need to access this utility, being more important to a sys admin who wants to administer various Macs where keychains need to be copied or shared.

Keychain Access

Migration Assistant

The Migration Assistant is another very powerful utility. If you have a Windows PC or a Mac computer and have just treated yourself to a new, gleaming, Mac then this utility is for you.

The Migration Assistant takes you through the process of moving all of your data and files across from your old computer, to your new Mac.

Visit our Migrate PC to Mac section for more information on the different migration options.

The Migration Assistant

Network Utility

This another one of those Mac utilities that is aimed at technical users who will instantly understand what the utility is for. It is a powerful tool if you have an environment with many Macs or Windows PCs networked together.

The tab headings listed below will only mean anything if you are into servers, networks, routers, and the Internet.

• Netstat
• Ping
• Lookup
• Traceroute
• Whois
• Finger
• Port Scan

Network Utility

Podcast Capture

The Podcast Capture utility allows you to capture audio and video from a camera or your computer screen, and then send it to Apples Podcast Producer Server for processing.

The screenshot of the utility shown below, shows the introduction which explains better than I could what is happening. Once again I suspect that you will know if this is of use to you!

Podcast Capture Utility

Podcast Publisher

The Podcast Publisher is all about publishing your podcast. This again is for those who understand the process of creating and publishing podcasts.

Podcast Publisher

RAID Utility

Because Mac OS X runs across all of the various Mac models, the Mac utilities might sometimes be suited to a particular Mac. The RAID Utility is more appropriate to Mac users with the Mac Pro, and you will see the warning message shown below if you don't have a compatible Mac computer.

The Mac Pro is a powerful tower computer system, with the capability of housing four SATA hard disks. When you have multiple hard disks you can configure them as a RAID array in a number of different configurations giving you either greater access speeds or greater data integrity.

The RAID Utility allows you to configure the hard disks on your Mac Pro into whatever configuration you desire. You can also perform maintenance on arrays that have failed.

System Information

The System Information is another very useful tool. its job is to tell you everything that you need to know about your Mac. Anything from memory, processor type, software, user profiles are displayed.

System Information

Terminal

The Terminal gives you access to the joys of the Mac OS X Command Line. A world of commands, directories and files that are usually the domain of the System Administrator or Mac Power User.

If you are interested in learning more about the command line have a read of our section about Mac Unix and the Command Line.

If you are interested in learning more about the command line have a read of our section about Mac Unix section for more information on Unix and the command line.

The Mac OS X Terminal Utility

VoiceOver Utility

The VoiceOver Utility is probably aimed more at the visually impaired Mac user, but it is also fun to use for the rest of us. As the name suggests it adds a voice over to a number of system actions.

The Voice Over can be a simple welcome, or telling the time on the hour, to some other system response all configurable using this utility.

VoiceOver Utility