Feek's macOS useful tools, utilities and applications thread

Soldato
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Stats
Lightweight menubar system monitor.

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Price - FREE.

https://github.com/exelban/stats

Very good software, gets updated very regularly and is free and open source.
 
Soldato
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I'm on the hunt for a SCP app for file transfers that's similar to WinSCP (under Windows). Have already tried Cyberduck (they removed SCP a few versions back) and Fugo (can't get it to work under Monterey with homebrew), so has anyone got any recommendations that isn't "use CLI"?

Last resort would be get Wine going as WinSCP supposedly works under that but that seems a faff at this point.
 
Man of Honour
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I'm on the hunt for a SCP app for file transfers that's similar to WinSCP (under Windows). Have already tried Cyberduck (they removed SCP a few versions back) and Fugo (can't get it to work under Monterey with homebrew), so has anyone got any recommendations that isn't "use CLI"?

Last resort would be get Wine going as WinSCP supposedly works under that but that seems a faff at this point.
https://filezilla-project.org/ but it doesn't support SCP, it will however do SFTP.
 
Soldato
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I'm on the hunt for a SCP app for file transfers that's similar to WinSCP (under Windows). Have already tried Cyberduck (they removed SCP a few versions back) and Fugo (can't get it to work under Monterey with homebrew), so has anyone got any recommendations that isn't "use CLI"?

Last resort would be get Wine going as WinSCP supposedly works under that but that seems a faff at this point.

SCP is a non-interactive command line tool, to want to use it within GUI apps makes no sense, in that sense WinSCP is the anomaly. You should use SFTP if you want that functionality.

As long as you can do SFTP you have many options like Filezilla or you can also try Forklift or Transmit if you want something better looking and more refined.
 
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Soldato
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...it will however do SFTP.
As long as you can do SFTP...
Wish i could but can't unfortunately. Just a shame there isn't a port as it saves me a load of time over keyboard bashing in terminal; might give Wine ago when i get a spare few minutes.

Cheers though.

Edit - Just for future reference in case someone else gets stuck, managed to get WinSCP working (works really well too) under an unofficial updated version of Wineskin (issues with Wine due to Monterey being 64bit only) - https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer.
 
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Soldato
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Commissario
OP
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as it seems like such a helpful tool.
It seems like it.

Little Snitch was very popular about fifteen years ago because people used it to stop dodgy copies of software ‘phoning home’ for activation. It was quite basic back then and relatively easy to use. It grew, it grew massively and now it’s seriously overcomplicated for what it is.

I used to use it. I stopped using it when it became bloated. I think it probably causes more issues than it solves now.
 
Man of Honour
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I used to use it. I stopped using it when it became bloated. I think it probably causes more issues than it solves now.
Agree with this. Nearly every friend or family member that has asked me to fix their mac uses little snitch or clean my mac and it breaks things.

LS is great, if you know what you’re going with it, which most people don’t. You're better off using network wide DNS software such as Adguard Home which can block tracking, malware etc.
 
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Soldato
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It seems like it.

Little Snitch was very popular about fifteen years ago because people used it to stop dodgy copies of software ‘phoning home’ for activation. It was quite basic back then and relatively easy to use. It grew, it grew massively and now it’s seriously overcomplicated for what it is.

I used to use it. I stopped using it when it became bloated. I think it probably causes more issues than it solves now.

Agree with this. Nearly every friend or family member that has asked me to fix their mac uses little snitch or clean my mac and it breaks things.

LS is great, if you know what you’re going with it, which most people don’t. You're better off using network wide DNS software such as Adguard Home which can block tracking, malware etc.
Thank you both.

I don't use it to block stuff but more as a way of seeing what is accessing the network in either direction. I'll think about removing it after I have given it a chance.

I have a VPN (ProtonVPN) that blocks malware and other malicious things that I could use more often. Maybe I should get into the habit of always having my VPN turned on.
 
Soldato
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If you want a no nonsense firewall that's a lot simpler and cheaper than Little Snitch, try Scudo. It'a only £4.50 on the Mac App Store.


It's only a user interface for the built-in PF and ALF firewalls for package filter and application layer firewalls. So you're not actually bloating your Mac with additional background software, it just helps you configure the firewall that's already in place.
 
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Soldato
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If you want a no nonsense firewall that's a lot simpler and cheaper than Little Snitch, try Scudo. It'a only £4.50 on the Mac App Store.


It's only a user interface for the built-in PF and ALF firewalls for package filter and application layer firewalls. So you're not actually bloating your Mac with additional background software, it just helps you configure the firewall that's already in place.
I'll have a look at that. Thanks. PF is from BSD-based UNIX? I only have experience doing firewall stuff on Linux.
 
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Soldato
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Little Snitch....You can get both for 47.25 Euros.
Like others have said, Little Snitch used to be a decent firewall but it's massively overpriced and bloaty for what it does now.

Personally, i use...

LuLu
Lightweight firewall based on Apple's Network Extensions framework created by Objective-See (Patrick Wardle).

adAlert.png


Price - FREE.

https://objective-see.org/products/lulu.html

Given Wardle's background in Apple security research, he has a handful of other security related apps that are worth a look as well as a decent blog where he writes about his research into past and current Apple related exploits and malware - Mac Malware of 2021.
 
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Soldato
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SilentKnight
One for the admins, a small app from Eclectic Light Company (Howard Oakley), that shows the current status of your Mac's firmware and security (Gatekeeper - MRT, XProtect etc) updates.
There's also a CLI version that's handy for reporting and/or integrating with your MDM.

sk204.jpg


Price - FREE.

https://eclecticlight.co/lockrattler-systhist/

Howard has also created a handful of other decent apps relating to security as well as a decent blog where he writes on security and other issues relating to Mac/MacOS.
 
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