Utilities & Operating Systems for Mac

From driver downloads to registry cleaners, CNET Download.com features all the latest utilities and drivers. Whether you're looking for FTP clients, compression utilities, or software to back up your hard drive, CNET Download.com has you covered. See all 3,102 in this category.

Most Popular

New Release

Editors' Picks

for the week of: May 27, 2012

TitleDownloads
  1. 1.
    Disk Drill

    System Utilities

    7,171
  2. 2.
    Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard

    Operating Systems & Updates

    5,167
  3. 3.
    Dropbox

    Data Transfer & Sync Software

    4,392
  4. 4.
    StuffIt Expander

    File Compression

    3,315
  6. 5.
    MacZip

    File Compression

    3,173
  7. 6.
    SyncMate

    Data Transfer & Sync Software

    3,138
  8. 7.
    CNET TechTracker

    Operating Systems & Updates

    3,047
  10. 8.
    Apple Mac OS X Lion

    Operating Systems & Updates

    2,913
  11. 9.
    Apple Boot Camp

    Operating Systems & Updates

    2,608
  12. 10.
    OnyX (Lion)

    Maintenance & Optimization

    2,187

See all most popular software

for the week of: May 27, 2012

Title Release date
  1. 1. QRecall Jun 01

    Backup Software

  2. 2. dupeGuru Jun 01

    File Management

  3. 3. Hazel Jun 01

    File Management

  4. 4. Maintenance (Lion) Jun 01

    Maintenance & Optimization

  5. 5. properVOLUME May 31

    System Utilities

  6. 6. The Missing Sync for Android May 31

    Data Transfer & Sync Software

  7. 7. Bodega May 31

    Other

  8. 8. Scrapbook May 31

    System Utilities

  9. 9. Punakea May 31

    File Management

  10. 10. JellyVNC May 31

    System Utilities

See all new releases

for the week of: May 27, 2012

Title
  1. 1.
    Dropbox

    Cross-platform file storage, sync, sharing solution.

  2. 2.
    SuperDuper

    Backup, clone, and restore your information.

  3. 3.
    FontAgent Pro

    Organize your fonts and maintain their integrity.

  4. 4.
    Butler

    Bring up files and information using keyboard and keyword shortcuts.

  5. 5.
    CrashPlan

    Automatic backup to local drives, friends' drives, or the cloud.

  6. 6.
    Apple Mac OS X Lion

    Mac operating system for Intel based Macs.

  7. 7.
    Carbon Copy Cloner

    Clone, synchronize, backup files.

  8. 8.
    Yasu

    Run system shell scripts to perform maintenance routines and clear cache files.

  9. 9.
    VMware Fusion

    Run Windows & other x86 operating systems side-by-side with Mac OS X.

  10. 10.
    Mactracker

    Database of every Mac model and other Apple hardware.

See all editor's picks

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An introduction to Utilities & Operating Systems

Have you ever added a TV tuner card to your computer, only to have the DVD drive stop working? Maybe you've tried to install software and gotten an error message such as "The file foofah.dll is missing or damaged." The only time most people will need to deal with a driver is when something goes awry. Essentially, a driver is a piece of software that communicates the special needs of a hardware device or software application to an operating system. Windows comes with most of the drivers you need, but sometimes plugging in a new device--such as a digital camera or printer--will trigger a search for drivers. If the maker of your device doesn't offer drivers on its Web site, try searching our library for the name of the device or corrupted DLL.

This category is also the home of popular programs such as the top-rated SmartFTP Client, which made our list of the best free utilities. Installing and uninstalling software, deleting files, and other daily tasks can take a toll on your computer's performance. To test how well your PC is running, try a benchmarking program such as SANDRA Lite. Cleaning out the dead wood with a system optimizer such as Ace Utilities or System Mechanic will straighten out some Registry problems, improve system speed, and free up disk space. Don't forget to back up your data regularly with something like Second Copy so you can replace any files you regret erasing, such as the driver for your nVidia ForceWare Graphics card.

File-compression tools include the classic WinZip and the newcomer WinRAR, which are both excellent shareware products that provide lots of free functionality. Among the wide variety of software within Tools & Utilities, you'll find bookmark managers such as Bookmark Buddy, download managers such as Download Accelerator Plus, file-sharing tools such as LimeWire or Morpheus, and search tools such as Google Desktop.

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