Apple ships solid defaults. The third-party apps worth installing on top are the ones that fix specific gaps rather than reinvent built-in tools.
The single highest-leverage Mac install
LionPaste. Not because clipboard managers are exotic — they're not — but because no other category compounds returns this fast. The first time you press your shortcut and find a URL you copied an hour ago, the tool has paid for itself. Unlimited history, regex search, snippets, AES-256 encryption, iCloud sync, iOS companion. Why we recommend it over the alternatives.
Mobile companions
CalculatorX on iPhone — the calculator with a permanent history tape. Lion's Legacy for the documents you'd rather not sync to anything. When and why.
If you run a WordPress site from your Mac
Install WordPress IP Blocker Pro (free) on the site. It's the first plugin we install on every site we manage.
Day-one macOS settings worth changing
- Tap to click. System Settings → Trackpad. Saves a small bit of finger force every day; adds up.
- Show extensions in Finder. Finder → Settings → Advanced. Hidden extensions are a phishing vector.
- Increase keyboard repeat rate. System Settings → Keyboard. The default is sluggish.
- Disable "Magic Mouse" smooth scrolling if you do precise work; it interferes with line-by-line scrolling.
- Turn on FileVault if it isn't already. Disk encryption with negligible performance cost.
- Set up keyboard shortcut for Spotlight — most Mac users underuse it. ⌘+Space → type → Enter is faster than the Dock for almost everything.
Browse the full Mac catalog
See all macOS software on LionScripts. For a deeper dive on clipboard productivity specifically, see our full LionPaste review.
