Recently my PowerBook hard drive died on me. I keep getting error messages telling me that my disk is full, then it starts making the click of death clicking noise. Disk utility reports a fatal error, you know it’s serious when your Mac actually says ‘fatal error’. Finally my PowerBook suddenly decides to stop booting.

Got myself a new 120GB hard drive, which is twice the original capacity. Installed Tiger, everything is up and running. Not quite, there are some essential OSX apps that I need to make it feel like ‘just like normal’.

These are the list of essential apps that I just got to have: -

#1 QuickSilver

First on the list is QuickSilver. I actually thought that there is something wrong with OSX as I keep pressing ctrl + space and nothing happens. For those who doesn’t know what QuickSilver is, there is a little nice screencast on myMacBUZZ. We are all nuts about QuickSilver here.

#2 Uno

Next on my download queue is Uno the Sunken Unified GUI. I just can’t stand the brush metal look, it’s so 2006. I hope they get rid of ‘brush metal’ from Leopard.

Uno, which I’ve mentioned once here on myMacBUZZ, tries to get a more unified OSX UI theme. Uno doesn’t add any extra functionality in the UI it just change the looks.

#3 Textmate

Textmate the missing text editor on OSX. I can’t work with out Textmate. If you haven’t heard of Textmate check out the screencast and you’ll see why I must have Textmate.

#4 Transmit

Transmit, the only way I prefer to transfer my files. I push files from servers to servers all the time. Transmit helps me keep everything in sync.

#5 Image Well

It’s small, it’s nifty and it does the job well. Whenever I need to do a simple photo editing which involved cropping, or resizing, I’ll launch ImageWell instead of using the bulky Adobe Photoshop for simple editing task. The new version adds some nice functionality, check out our download of the day post on ImageWell.

#6 Instant Shot

Yes I do know the short-cut combo key for taking screenshot on a mac, but I prefer this little app that sits on the menu bar. It also has an option to display a flat color background and hides you desktop and all it’s icons. You wouldn’t want a messy desktop when taking snapshot of your screen. Check out InstantShot.

#7 SpiritedAway

Suggested by Merlin Mann from 43Folders on MacBreak, this little app sits on your menu bar and hides inactive window, as a result will let you focus on whatever you are working on at the moment. I use to have a gazillion window open when I’m working on my Mac, it can get really distracting.

#8 VLC Player

To play all the DVIX shows / movies. I won’t get into details of what and how one gets hold of such shows. But if you are looking for a player that plays almost any format, VLC has always been my choice.

#9 Transmission

My choice for all my bittorrent choice. Transmission basic, simple and not bulky, just how I like my apps.

Well there you have is 10 must have apps in in my Mac. If you have an app that you just must have on your Mac by all means, please feel free to flesh out my selections with your own favorite MacOSX apps. Share with us on the comment section.