Product earned five mice or three

Whether a product earned five mice or three and a half, these are the ones that I felt in point of fact stood out, either because they did something new and innovative; because they offered exceptional value; or simply because I found myself using them over and over. From managing windows to opening apps, from tweaking Lion to perfecting photos, these inexpensive applications and add-ons will help you get the most out of your Mac without blowing your budget.

Alfred 0.8: We're big fans of launcher utilities, which let you launch apps, open files, and perform other Mac tasks with a few quick keystrokes. The top dogs have long been LaunchBar, Butler, and Quicksilver, nevertheless Alfred joined the pack this year and quickly became the favorite of a few of my colleagues. Spontaneously, Alfred doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the other three, yet it's easier to use, and if you add the optional Powerpack, it gains many of the most popular features of those veterans. It's as well extensible, so other users can create and distribute Alfred add-ons that run AppleScripts, shell scripts, Automator workflows, and custom file filters.

Moom 2.3.1: This handy utility offers a slew of features for moving and resizing windows, especially if you frequently use particular window sizes and locations. For starters, Moom makes every window's little green Zoom button useful: Move the cursor over that button and you can instantly reposition and resize the current window, either by choosing one of the preset window layouts or by drawing, on a grid representing your screen, the desired window position and size. Alternatively, you can press a keyboard shortcut to bring up Moom's keyboard-control overlay, which offers the same options for keyboard jockeys. You can as well create your own custom window layouts and activate them with a click or a key press, and Moom can even take a snapshot of your screen and later restore all windows to that layout--either on your command or automatically when it senses a different display configuration.

iNet 1.2.1 and NetSpot 1.1.284: OK, I'm cheating here by counting these two utilities as a single entry. Nevertheless the two apps, each designed to help you get the most out of your network, complement each other so then and cost a whopping $6 at the same time. iNet is a beautiful app that offers an easy-to-use summary of information about your network and the devices on it. NetSpot, in the meantime, is an amazing little utility that uses your MacBook to map out your Wi-Fi network, helping you optimize your coverage area and minimize dead spots.

Lion Tweaks 1.3: This catch-all utility for tweaking the behavior of Lion isn't something the typical person would use frequently--to tell the truth, you may use it only once per Mac--nevertheless it was for all that one of the most popular Gems of 2011 among readers. Interestingly, Lion Tweaks was as well among the most disliked Gems of the year, as many Lion fans seemed to feel Lion Tweaks shouldn't exist. Love it or hate it, Lion Tweaks makes it simple to alter near two dozen interface and behavioral settings that are more often than not inaccessible. Since I reviewed it back in September, the utility has gained several additional options, making it furthermore useful.

Piezo 1.1: Every year, one of the most-frequent requests we receive is for ways to record audio playing in particular apps. For instance, to record sound that's playing in a browser window, in DVD Player, in a streaming-audio client, or in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) app just as iChat, Skype, or FaceTime. Piezo makes this list at the wire--it was released in December--by offering dead-simple recording of audio from any app or input, and doing it with a charming interface that's fun to use.

Reeder for Mac 1.1.2: When it comes to RSS reading, I'm nevertheless a devoted NetNewsWire user--meanwhile on the Mac. Nevertheless I can appreciate the appeal of Reeder for Mac, as it's the desktop version of my favorite iOS news reader. During Reeder can't match the advanced features of NetNewsWire, what it offers is an iOS-inspired interface and nifty gesture controls that make it a natural fit for Lion and Apple's Magic Trackpad, along with enough features and options to satisfy all yet the worst news-feed junkies. And it bests NetNewsWire when it comes to social-media support, letting you share stories to Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Pinboard, Zootool, Instapaper, and Readability.

Undock 1.0: Designed primarily for laptop users, this simple utility makes it easy to pack up and go by automatically unmounting all mounted volumes--removable, network, or both--with a single click or key press. It even safely cancels in-progress Time Machine backups previously unmounting Time Machine drives. Once you see Undock's Growl notification, you know it's safe to disconnect and depart. Advanced users can have Undock run Applescripts while the undock action. As with Isolator, once I installed this little utility I never thought I needed, it earned a permanent place on my laptop.