Quickies :-)

No, not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter :-) I a few pieces of software that I have used recently and they all work really well. But as one trick ponies, I am going to put them in one post as I have not been able to post on a regular schedule lately and I don't want to forget to tell you about them. So, with out further adieu ...

Spirited Away : Since I am always juggling lots of programs at one time, I fill my launcher bar up fast. Well, Spirited Away helps this. The program checks my minimized programs for use and if I haven't used them in a while it hides them making more room.... sweet :-)

Menu Shade : Menu Shade is pretty cool to get a clean desktop. It takes the bar at the top of the Mac screen and changes the color and sets a transparency level as well. The bar becomes full visible when you hover the pointer over it. This is good for taking screen shots or just for admiring your wallpaper in a more pristine environment :-)

Desktopple : Desktopple is a screenshoters best friend. This one trick pony hides everything on your desktop to take clean shots. This is great when you need takes shots for a work presentation but don't want them to see your Star Wars icons or funky wallpaper. This program will also hide everything before you hook up to a projector and show your prospects too much :-)

Dead.licious : If your like me you have a lot of bookmarks. In fact last time I checked I have over 1000 up at del.icio.us. Do I have the time to check them all for dead links? Heck no! Well, Dead.licious takes care of that for me now. Oh, and surprisingly on my last check, 1300 and all still good. Wow! lol

SnapNDrag - Screen Capture

Since I have started to even consider doing a reviews blog I have seen the need for a good screen capture tool. I have been playing with the Mac print screen key combo, but it is awkward and does not give me any control on what to capture or when by using a timed shot. I came across SnapNDrag via Google search. It looked simple, flexable and fast... just what I needed. This software delivers just what it says. I dropped the file into my Apps folder was up and running in about 30 seconds. There is a setup feature, but it's really not needed. This program just works. Just click and drag as the below image shows. There is support for multiple file formats PNG, TIFF & JPEG are included.

SnapNDrag is designed to be simple and intuitive. There are four buttons on the left side of the window. The buttons correspond to these four modes of capture: Selection - lets you select an area to capture Window - lets you select a window to capture Screen - capture the entire screen Timed - capture the entire screen after a delay

The above picture and verbage is from their website. After using this for two weeks doing hundreds of sample screen caps, I give this package 5 out of 5, honestly there is no way to improve. If they add more into it the program would slow down or become more difficult to use. Truly a great program and I highly recommend that you go to Yellowmug and get a copy for yourself!