9/10/20
9:00 am

10 Things You Don't Need To Install On Your Mac

Many people online claim that there are certain third-party apps that you need on your Mac. But usually this isn't true, or only applies if you use your Mac in a specific way. As a super user, I often see these lists and notice I don't use any of these "must-have" apps.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today let me show you ten things you don't need to install on your Mac.
MacMost is brought to you thanks to a great group of more than 750 supporters. Go to MacMost.com/patreon. There you can read more about the Patreon Campaign. Join us and get exclusive content and course discounts.
So if you just got a new Mac or you've had a Mac for awhile you may run into somebody that tells you, Here's some software you absolutely have to install on your Mac. It's the missing software. The stuff Apple doesn't include. You can't possibly use your Mac without this. Most of the time when people say this it's just not true. As a matter of fact you can look online and see tons of articles that list software that you must have on your Mac and you don't need those. I use my Mac all day long. I create these videos. I research these videos. I write books. I make apps and I make websites. I maintain websites. I do all the normal stuff people do. I organize my photos, edit my photos, work on little projects, play games. Everything! I'm definitely a Mac superuser. I'm telling you that there's no piece of software that you need to get. A lot of the things people recommend, most people don't need at all.
I think the biggest example of this is a Window Management Tool. So the idea is that managing windows on your Mac can be a little hard. Right. Let's say you want to have this window up here on the upper left. You want to have this one down here and then you want to have this one fill up the rest of the space. Well, you could see how quickly I did that. Now it may be nice to have a little shortcut that automatically snaps these into place. I rarely want to get my windows back to exactly the same way I had them because maybe after working for awhile I don't want this window any more and I want this one to be bigger. I'm always changing how I use my windows.
Now for some people they may really like a window management tool and they may have set ways that they want their windows to appear. That's not for everybody.  That's not the way I work. It may or may not be the way you work. Don't let anybody tell you that you absolutely need a window management tool because I think most Mac users don't.
Another thing people talk about is a Spotlight Replacement  tool. So when you bring up Spotlight with Command Space you get to do a bunch of different things. You can search for apps and launch them with just a couple of keys. You can search for files. You can do all sorts of different things. Some people swear by extensions of Spotlight or replacements of Spotlight that have more functions in them. Those tools can be useful for the right person. But they are definitely something that most people don't need. I don't use one. I find Spotlight does a lot and a lot of what it does I don't even bother to use most of the time. So I certainly don't need more functions. So don't let anybody tell you you need to get an app that's like Spotlight or replaces Spotlight. You don't need to.
Another tool people talk about is an Uninstaller. Something to uninstall software. Now when you buy stuff from the Mac App Store you can easily uninstall it by clicking and holding and then any apps that you have installed you can hit the X button and uninstall it very easily. But people will say, well that's not good enough. I want to uninstall preference files and things like that. But in most cases you don't. Those files are tiny and there are tons of tiny files on your Mac that you probably don't need. If you're installing so many third party apps from outside of the Mac App Store that don't have an official way to uninstall them, well then you probably have bigger problems than an uninstaller. Even I rarely install more than a handful of new apps every month and that's because I have to look at some to see if they're useful or not. You know for this show. If you install so many apps that you need an uninstaller then you may want to consider that the problem is that you're installing too many apps that you ultimately don't need. You should be more careful about installing apps. After all installing things that you don't need, that you don't know about from websites that you're not sure about, that's how you get malware.
That brings me to my next one which is, of course, anti-malware software. Also known as anti-virus software although viruses are just one type of malware. Now if you really feel that you need to have some sort of anti-malware software on your Mac because maybe you came from windows and you just can't operate a computer without one you can take comfort in the fact that already have some. Apple doesn't like to talk about it much but macOS comes with a set of three features that comprise an anti-malware tool. Gatekeeper, XProtect, and the Malware Removal Tool or MRT. These are built into the system and they protect it from malware just like an anti-malware tool. You just don't see them. They work invisibly in the background. 
So now you can relax knowing that you do actually have something on your Mac. You don't need to install a third party app. Third party apps really aren't needed as long as you take care in what you download and don't just download anything you find on the internet without researching it first. There can be a downside too. As often I hear from people that have slow Macs and it turns out that it's a malware tool that's actually slowing down the Mac. Sometimes it's even disabling legitimate functions of your Mac and you find that you can't do things that others can do.
Kind of related to that are Cleaner Tools. People talk about these cleaner tools that do things like system maintenance. You don't need any of those. macOS takes care of itself. It does all the system maintenance that you need in the background. You don't need a special tool for that and those tools could often slow things down, cost you money, and sometimes they can cause other problems as well. I definitely don't use any cleaner tools, anti-malware tools, or uninstallers. Don't let anybody tell you that you absolutely need to have one of these.  You don't!
Here are some other things that I don't use and you don't need to use either. A lot of people will tell you, oh forget about the built-in mail app. You need to get this mail app or that mail app. I get tons of email. Email is a big part of my day. It's the main way I communicate with other people. I just use the built-in mail app. It works fine. Is it the best mail app ever? No, but it works fine and I don't need any other app. If I don't need any other mail app most people out there certainly don't need any other mail app.
Another thing people most certainly don't need is something to replace the Reminders app. So sort of to do list app. There are a ton of great ones out there and a lot of people use them in really interesting ways. But for most Mac users the Reminders app, that comes with your Mac, works just fine. In fact it's what I use. I don't use one of those other tools. I find them to be a little cumbersome, overly complex, and maybe specializing in something that doesn't quite fit with the way I work. So I just use the regular Reminders tool just to keep lists of things. To Do lists and also Ideas List, things like that. 
Another thing I don't do is I don't have any special tool to manage my Menu Bar icons. I don't really find the need for that. A lot of people like to have tons of icons up here and have little things that expand them and manage them and all. I just simply turn off the ones I don't need and I never seem to have a problem. Most Mac users don't need anything special here. Yet there are those that insist you have to get one of these or your Mac is unusable in some way.
Another thing I don't use is some sort of text expansion tool. I've used those in the past and they are really cool but most Mac users don't need one. If you need some text expansion you can use the built-in system function in System Preferences, Keyboard, under Text and you can set text replacements here. This gets you basic text replacement. Now sure some tools can do a lot more than that but most Mac users don't need them. Yet people still insist that it's some sort tool that you need to get on your Mac.
Another one that I hear recommended all the time for first time Mac users is to get something called Homebrew. I get people asking me about it. What is Homebrew? What does it do? Well, 99% of Mac users don't need Homebrew. It basically adds all sorts of really cool tools that you can use in Terminal and in your System but they're best for coders, IT professionals, system administrators, people like that. Most people do not need Homebrew or don't need to worry about what it is. But yet I still find Homebrew listed a lot of times of things you must get when you get a new Mac.
Now I know this video is going to upset some people. Maybe I've listed something that you absolutely think is necessary and you can't live without. That's fine on an individual basis. The problem that I have is with telling people that you must get this even when you don't even know what that person does with their Mac. They could be a writer, they could be a coder, they could be a photographer. You don't know what they use their Mac for. Yet online people jump in with suggestions when somebody says they got a new Mac. 
Also keep in mind I listed ten things here. Statistically one of these ten things might be something that you use and really like. But realize that somebody else might not have a need for that at all but may really need one of the other ten things. So while this is a list of things that you don't need on your Mac, it's also kind of a list of some things that you may want to look at and see whether or not it could be useful to you.

Comments: 33 Responses to “10 Things You Don't Need To Install On Your Mac”

Daniel Dick

4 years ago

I hope to learn what I am wasting time on. Thank

John Russell

4 years ago

"Guilty" as charged :-) but some are just plain fun. Alfred together with its PowerPack, for example can do so much and I really like the things it can do - - just for fun. Capto offerings duplicate MacOS screen captures, of course, but so many audio, image, and video features are all together in one place and it's cool. Your points are well taken, though.

Robert Rutledge

4 years ago

Is KeyBoard Maestro one of the things you find to be not useful or just limited to a specific group of folks?

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Robert: Yes. I don't use it.

Nicole

4 years ago

The one point I want to make is, Macs are vulnerable to malware, and not only due to user error. I love Apple products but people need to accept the evolving nature of malware. It’s rare and there are obvious risks to avoid, but malware comes through email, texts, and even the AppStore got tricked. Always investigate suspicious activity, even when you are diligent about safety.

Akos

4 years ago

Can you remove the menubar icon for apps that do not have such setting? Option+drag? Or any other trick?

laverne lachapelle

4 years ago

"Another thing people talk about is a Spotlight Replacement tool." I rarely disagree with anything you post but I find Find Any File.app so much easier to use and set up searches on that I happily paid $5? for the app. It's just great. I still use Spotlight, but often I find that Find Any File is the better choice.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Akos: If you Command+drag an icon down to the bottom of the screen it should remove it. But I'm not sure if some apps forbid that.

Lindy

4 years ago

Gary, you are so right. We love gadgets. I'm going to do some belated spring cleaning of apps I am not using.
But I feel compelled to put a shout out to my 2 favorite 3rd party utility apps that I use every single day.
"FindAnyFile" is way more adaptable and faster than Spotlight, and NameMangler which is amazing.
I know OS X has the ability to rename but not to the control this application allows.
Stay safe everyone and wash your hands after using the internet!!!🤣

John Thomas

4 years ago

Well said. I've been telling old and new Mac users this for years.

Karen Brown

4 years ago

Ah, you didn't mention the most common thing Mac users don't need—Adobe Reader! I tell our Mac Users group often to dump it—it causes problems. Preview is much better.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Karen: You are right!

Will

4 years ago

I used to use Dragon Dictate every day but the new dictate functions built into IOS and into Word for Mac have made Dragon Dictate redundant. Admittedly, DD has some features IOS doesn't have but I suspect there will be a catching up process over the years.

Douglas Brace

4 years ago

There are sometimes that you need Adobe Reader. Some features (e.g. commenting, filling out a form, and signatures) are in Preview are not compatible with Adobe Reader on Windows.

Douglas Brace

4 years ago

I use a uninstaller app, as an easy way to easily reset a program to defaults.

Douglas Brace

4 years ago

I use a cleaner tool because I want system and user cache and temp directories to be deleted. Does that potentially slow things down? Yes but I do not do it for speed reasons, I do it because I want a consistent "beginning" experience for applications I use. I do the same for my web browsers and I delete their data deleted. I understand the intention of the video but other experts that do just as much or more work as you do not agree with your philosophy. Thank you for all of your posts.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Douglas: You can comment, fill out forms, and add signatures in Preview. You don't need Adobe Reader for those things. FYI.

Douglas Brace

4 years ago

Gary, I am aware of that but I have come across PDF files where those features were used in Preview but they did not retain the information that was typed in the field, or the appearance/formatting was different, or the comments were not visible when viewing them in Adobe Acrobat Reader in Windows or Mac.

Jean-Paul Pinnel

4 years ago

Hi Gary, I would suggest to delete your „Adjusting Photos On Your Mac With Affinity Photo“ video tutorial, before telling people not to install every app suggested by others. Is the Photos app not good enough to deal with photos? Affinity Photo surely has more features, so as Mosaic as window manager or Alfred as spotlight replacememt.
Don‘t get me wrong, 99,9% of your video tutorials are awesome and educating, but not this one!

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Jean-Paul: What I'm saying here is that you don't NEED to install anything. That doesn't mean you may not WANT to install something because you have a use for it. I say that several times in this video. What I'm warning against is people telling you that you NEED to install something. There is nothing you NEED to install. Every user is different and no one should make a blanket statement that because they like an app, that you should have it on your Mac too.

Russ

4 years ago

Thanks Gary. It's nice to re-visit this topic now and again. What's your view on Adobe Flash Player. Of course, we all use it on websites to view videos. My issue is how the updates are delivered. I get a pop-up saying you have an update click here. How do you know it's not bogus? Is there a correct way to update Adobe Flash? Thanks for all your posts.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Russ: Flash Player is gone at the end of the year, so it doesn't matter. Rarely is it used anymore to view videos. Usually now it is just games, and some old sites that still use it for fancy interactive things. The correct way to update the Flash Player is by using its System Preferences pane. Or, by going directly to Adobe's site.

Gail

4 years ago

Gary, tysm. My Mac was slow & did stupid things. I deleted CCleaner for Mac (which took longer and longer to load over time), and Malwarebytes which Apple recommends. My computer is now running great. I did look up how to manually delete cookies, i.e. Preferences, Privacy, & Manage Website Data, & Empty Cache. I would like to do this twice a day. Can let me know if this is okay? Also, Malwarebytes caught things that the built-in programs didn't. How can we catch and rid the puter of malware? ty

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Gail: Don't delete your cookies and cache that often, or at all. In fact, deleting your cache will slow things down (the whole point of a cache is to speed things up).
What did Malwarebytes catch, specifically? Just don't install things you don't completely trust from now on and you won't need it.

Ramon

4 years ago

I use Preview a lot, but have found the PDF Pen Pro has saved my life a few times because Preview will not fill out forms properly or have some fields turn out with a white font or black background and illegible. Thanks for the great posts, Gary.

Derek Hackett

4 years ago

Do you use a database? I've enjoyed using them for years but since moving to a Mac (with no Windows) I am having trouble finding one that suits my basic needs (Since the demise of Bento).

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Derek: What do you use a database tool for? It is one of the primary tools of a computer, but in most cases you don't need a raw database, but an app (or service) that has a database as a part of it. All computer users use databases, but few know they are even doing so. (Examples: Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Mail, games, etc)

betty

4 years ago

Main thing I disagree with is keeping the Apple Mail app. It's one of the worst...pathetic. It's one of the worst I've ever used. I like Thunderbird, since I have multiple email addresses and many filters. Since most people don't, then Mail might work for them. I like Mozilla apps since I can edit them in mostly plain text, search emails in Text Wrangler or BBEdit, even Terminal. I'm looking for a command to switch from plain text to HTML on the fly.

Douglas Brace

4 years ago

I agree with Betty mostly because Apple Mail is proprietary. Mozilla Thunderbird is open source and cross platform which is important for something is local computer storage of email. This means that you could backup your email and easily transfer it to another computer that runs either Windows or Linux.

Gary Rosenzweig

4 years ago

Douglas: Modern email uses IMAP and your email is stored on the server. So transferring email from one computer to another isn't something you ever have to do. You just sign into your account.

Ibby Ruttle

4 years ago

Thank you, thank you! I hope I am commenting on this topic! I read that one could print pdf files on Reader or Preview. I had no idea about Preview! I had documents I had to sign today! they would not print on Reader. I saved the document, opened it in Preview and it printed! Wonderful!

Tom Abbott

4 years ago

Thanks Gary. I was watching one of my favorite productivity YouTubers, and he was going on about Alfred, so I downloaded it. I quickly found that there was a learning curve, and I would have had to put some time into learning this tool. I also couldn't launch one of my favorite apps, while Spotlight launched it in one second. You're right, there's probably some cool things Alrfred can do, but do I REALLY need it, is it worth the time to try and figure out? Probably not. I'm sticking with Spotlig

Ed Gould

4 years ago

I DO A *LOT* OF FILE NAME Manipulation, so I must HAVE A BETTER FINDER RENAMER (I do at times 1000's of file name changes). Also, I review 1000's of JPG's, deleting as I go, so Graphic Converter is a must. Grammarly is another must as it catches spelling and Grammar.

Comments Closed.

10 Things You Don't Need To Install On Your Mac

Comments: 33 Responses to “10 Things You Don't Need To Install On Your Mac”

Welcome to MacMost

Free Weekly Newsletter

MacMost Online Courses

Keyboard Shortcuts PDF

Connect with MacMost

MacMost Sections

Popular Tutorials

Information