IStat Menus adds menu extras to the menu bar. SpamSieve, a simple utility that works in the background to filter all my email as it arrives, and sort the wheat from the chaff.

I’ve tried using server-side spam filters, but there are too many false positives messages marked as spam that aren’t. I get lots of email, and much of it is spam. TextExpander 5 watches for and suggests ranges of text you type repeatedly. TextExpander also reminds me when I type something frequently and suggests that I create a snippet to save even more time. I have dozens of “snippets” set up in TextExpander, for quick replies to email (“Please remove me from your list,” for example, for all the junk I get from PR people), app names I type often (iTunes, iTunes Match), my address, my phone number, bits of HTML code, and more. TextExpander saves me a lot of time by allowing me to set up abbreviations that the app, working in the background, expands to longer bits of text. When you write a lot, anything you can do to save keystrokes saves time. The app’s integration into web browsers, using an extension to quickly fill in your login and password on websites, makes life much simpler and more secure. I also keep a number of secure notes in 1Password, containing essential banking information, and and other personal information.

It’s a repository for software serial numbers, so it allows me to install other apps, those not purchased from the Mac App Store.

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