Utilities

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates for a couple of maintenance tools, and a great option for managing launch daemon and launch agent files, as well as a couple of hardware monitoring tools.

Maintenance The popular maintenance tool Cocktail has been updated … Read more

NirSoft's RegScanner is an enhanced Registry scan and search tool. When it finds the specified values, you can open them in RegEdit for modifying. RegScanner can also save and export .reg files that RegEdit can open. This simple but effective tool is portable freeware.

RegScanner opens with its Registry Scan Options dialog displayed, and we had to enter at least one character in the Find String field to proceed. We could select a Matching method from a drop-down list as well as choose to have the program look at Values, Data, Keys, and Unicode strings. We could also choose … Read more

Cocktail is both useful and fun for inveterate Mac tinkerers and would-be power users (that is, power users who aren't hard-core enough to use the command line).

This multipurpose utility can help you keep your computer happy and healthy, giving you access to scores of tweaks and optimizations pulled together from various utilities, preferences, third-party hacks, and command-line tools. Cocktail can help you with routine maintenance and customization across your disks, system, files, network, and interface. Cocktail is organized around these five areas, with highly customizable options for everything from clearing caches and repairing permissions to changing the appearance … Read more

The bottom line: One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation has been well-justified. The latest version adroitly addresses some user concerns, yet performance-based annoyances remain.

Review:

Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review for Ad-Aware 9.5 Free.

Ad-Aware 9.5 Pro Internet Security continues the development progress that publisher Lavasoft began in the previous version. No longer content with offering only malware protection, Ad-Aware now includes antivirus protections licensed from Sunbelt, the makers of Vipre, as well as interesting in-house improvements.

Lavasoft first started changing … Read more

The bottom line: One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation has been well-justified. The latest version adroitly addresses some user concerns, yet performance-based annoyances remain.

Review:

Ad-Aware 9.5 continues the development progress that publisher Lavasoft began in version 8. No longer content with offering only malware protection, Ad-Aware now includes antivirus protections licensed from Sunbelt, the makers of Vipre, as well as interesting in-house improvements.

Lavasoft first started changing Ad-Aware's protection engine more than a year ago in version 8.1, when it introduced Genotype. This heuristics-based technology identified … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week we had questions on how the iTunes Home Sharing feature works, different approaches for upgrading to OS X Lion, how to list open network ports in OS X, and how to identify whether you installed the Adobe Flash Trojan. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Options for reinstalling OS X MacFixIt reader "Eric" asks:

Whether you're in the market for a simple conversion utility, or you happen to be a full-fledged media junkie, Media Converter for Android should have you covered. It's easy to use, performs well, and converts pictures, videos, music, and other files into just about any compatible format.

One of the things that makes Media Converter work well is that it actually offloads its duties to a remote server rather than performing them on your device. This means a much more lightweight app and increased support for file formats. On the downside, this also means that you must have … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates for maintenance tools and file handling tools (primarily to address Lion compatibility problems), in addition to a couple of system monitoring tools.

MaintenanceIn maintenance tools this week, the robust hardware diagnostics tool TechTool Pro has been … Read more

Microsoft Office is a large and expensive software package. If you buy it, it's wise to save your Product ID and CD Key codes, preferably in a secure yet accessible place. The same goes for SQL Server and Exchange Server, and throw Windows in while you're at it. Failure to do so can result in elevated stress levels, should you need to repair or reinstall the software. If you didn't jump through all the hoops in the proper order, you're probably going to have to telephone Microsoft, and we know how you feel about that.

That'… Read more