My must-have tools and setup on a (new) Mac!

Dock

Set the dock to automatically hide & show. Then speed up the animation to have a super smooth experience:

defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide" -bool "true"
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
killall Dock

 

Homebrew

Some tools I really need and I just install via Homebrew.
Bitwarden is maybe better to install via the App Store as this is the only way to get TouchID support in the browser extensions.

### external monitor brightness control
brew install --cask monitorcontrol

### don't let the mac go to sleep
brew install --cask keepingyouawake

### clean the menu bar
brew install jordanbaird-ice

### alt tab like under Windows
brew install --cask alt-tab

### Window Manager
brew install --cask rectangle

### bittorrent
brew install --cask transmission

### password manager
brew install --cask bitwarden

### Browser
brew install --cask google-chrome

### only if you have a Touch Bar
brew install --cask mtmr

### virtual monitor
brew install deskpad

### alternative Dropbox Sync Client
brew install --cask maestral

### NTFS Filesystem Write support
brew install --cask macfuse
brew install gromgit/fuse/ntfs-3g-mac
brew install --cask mounty


brew install yt-dlp
brew install vlc
brew install mediathekview

sudo via Touch ID

Create a sudo_local file and uncomment the pam_tid.so line:

sudo cp /etc/pam.d/sudo_local.template /etc/pam.d/sudo_local
sudo nano /etc/pam.d/sudo_local

--> uncomment the pam_tid.so line

set timezone manually

sudo systemsetup -settimezone Europe/Berlin

Screenshot Tool

I am using Snipaste since years and I am very happy with it. You have an editor built-in, I configured to save the screenshot right ahead and I can copy to clipboard when I am done with editing to use the screenshot right ahead.

Limit Charging (Apple Silicon Mac)

Limit Charging to 80% to increase battery life.
CLI Tool, works great: https://github.com/charlie0129/batt 
If you look for a GUI: https://github.com/actuallymentor/battery

charge limit: 80%
lower limit: 78%
prevent idle-sleep when charging: false
disable charging before sleep if charge limit is enabled: false
allow non-root users to assess the daemon: true

state: UNKNOWN
full capacity: 106.5 Wh
charge rate: 0.0 W
voltage: 12.2 V

power adapter: enabled
charging: disabled

 

Disable Auto Boot (Apple Silicon Mac)

Disable Auto Boot – disable automatic booting when opening the lid on your MacBook.

sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00

 

Enable keyboard brightness controls with F5 / F6 (Apple Silicon Mac)

Create a new file

nano ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.local.KeyRemapping.plist

with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.local.KeyRemapping</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
<string>property</string>
<string>--set</string>
<string>{"UserKeyMapping":[
{
"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0xC000000CF,
"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000009
},
{
"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0x10000009B,
"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000008
}
]}</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Reboot!

 

Downloads Alias / Link in Mac Dock

I like to have a direct link to the Downloads Folder in the Dock. You can easily just create an Alias as shown below. Just name it “Download” or whatever name you like. Then drag the Alias to the dock.
Note: If you don’t have an Icon on the Alias, here is a how to get it: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254355057?sortBy=rank

 

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