Ten free apps to install on every new Mac

Stuffit Expander

Stuffit Expander has been the Mac file compression and decompression tool for decades. These days, its proprietary .SIT format is less popular than the open .ZIP system - which Mac OS X supports natively - but SE is still handy to decode a raft of widely used compression formats: .TAR, .RAR, .CBZ and .CBR, for example. Only an unnecessarily tiresome register-to-download acquisition process stops us rating this handy tool more highly.

Carbon Copy Cloner

Mac OS X's Time Machine feature is a great automated back-up system that will meet most users' needs. If your Mac's hard drive goes tits up - God forbid - it will restore your data on to a new machine or rebuilt system. But you will have to reinstall all your apps and, if you're rebuilding, the OS too. Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner allows you to copy everything - the entire HDD bit for bit - making restorations much more straightforward. It has plenty of back-up options too, including back-up to another Mac across a network, all useful if you have very specific back-up needs Time Machine won't meet. Even if TM does, CCC is the best way of migrating from Mac to Mac.