As Philip Michaels note Monday morning , this is Software Bargains Week here at Macworld.com . Which makes it an especially exciting hebdomad for me , since Mac Gems is home base for such bargains . Every month in the page ofMacworld , and several fourth dimension a week here on Macworld.com , I get to talk about products that mold the skillful , are the easiest to use , and/or put up the best value for the money . It ’s fun for me to track down down these bargains , and if the feedback we ’ve receive is any denotation , readers hump read about the products we ’ve picked out .

Over the past distich year , a act of readers have asked me what bring in a Gem a stone . It ’s a fair question — after all , there are many great products out there , so it ’s not piddling to choose which ones make it into the Page ofMacworldor onto the pages of Macworld.com . It ’s especially difficult when dealing with a product with hatful of competition ; for instance , when there are ten products that take screenshots , how do you pick just one to incubate ? To give you some insight into the process , here are the general guidelines that I endeavor to be :

( As an obvious - sounding side note , for a product to be study I have to in reality recognize about it and it has to be wide available . I observe this because every once in a while I ’ll get an e-mail from someone that pronounce something to the outcome of “ Why did you mouth about ProductA when ProductB is so much skilful ? ” when it turn out that ProductB was written by his cousin Joe and is only used by the four people in Joe ’s hebdomadal salamander group . )

If a product fulfills those criteria , it ’s a nominee for Mac Gems . How“Gemmy ” it is is another story .

Classy critter :

The other common interrogation I get — also a good one — run something like , “ What make a merchandise a ‘ five computer mouse ’ product ? ” After all , few products are grant such a preeminence . deliberate : Mac Gems began in the print edition of Macworld way back in April of 2003 . Since then we ’ve had 21 normal columns ( each shroud 5 to 7 product ) and three “ Software Bargains ” features , each of which has underwrite 60 to 75 more products . That ’s a lot of Gems — almost 300 ! Yet the identification number of products have a shinycan belike be counted on your finger and toe . There ’s a cause for that : We do n’t take the five - mice military rank gently . To earn this honor , a mathematical product must meet a number of stiff criteria :

Note that nowhere in those criteria does it say the product must beperfect . I point this out because when Idogive a ware a five - computer mouse rating , I inevitably meet alphabetic character and emails to the effect of “ How could you give such - and - such five mice when it does n’t do XYZ ? ” My response to this is to point readers to the ratings legend in each issue ofMacworld :

OUTSTANDINGVERY GOODGOOD

Five black eye simply means that the product isoutstanding . It can achieve that position despite a minor fault here or a missing ( minor ) feature there ; it just take to be a product that clearly stands out for its lineament and usability and does n’t have any obvious weakness .

So what productshavereceived the coveted ? Over the retiring class , I ’ve only give out a handful . I ’ve name these below , along with a brief description of each and a link to the original review .

Peripheral Vision($7;www.grantedsw.com / atomic number 15 - vision/ ; March 2004 ) Peripheral Vision monitors peripherals ( Bluetooth , FireWire , and USB ) , web connection , and mounted volume and notifies you — via a translucent sheathing on the screen — when any of them is connect or unplug , on purpose or otherwise . In addition , you could have an alert sound play or a special coating launching automatically whenever a particular equipment or web is connected or disconnected . Peripheral visual modality is an first-class troubleshooting tool and , as I mentioned in my original review , has become one of the first things I install when I get a unexampled Mac .

Pacifist($20;www.charlessoft.com ; April 2004 ) Pacifist provides a number of very useful feature relating to OS X Installer packet . At the most canonical grade , it usher you the staring message of a package , including the size , file type , eventual permissions , and installation destination of every single file arrest in the parcel . But it also lets you verify your existing installation and extract or set up ( or reinstall ) any file in a software system . pacificist can be dangerous if used improperly , but in the manpower of a knowledgeable substance abuser , it ’s one of the most useful utility program available for OS X.

Snapz Pro X 2(screenshot - only version $ 29 , pic variation $ 69;www.ambrosiasw.com / utilities / snapzprox/ ; May 2004 ) There ’s simply no good utility on any program for taking screenshots — and screen pic — than Snapz Pro X. Whether you need to capture an activated fare , several windows without the background clutter , a division of the screenland , or a magazine from a DVD , Snapz Pro X does it quickly and easily . But despite its simpleness of use , it ’s also extremely powerful : When carry screenshots , you’re able to choose one of eight destination epitome file formats ; let in border , water line , and thumbnail ; pick out color depth and compression levels ; and even get a live preview of the final gibe before you take it . Movie seizure mode — which captures both telecasting and audio — make you even more alternative : chassis pace ; color depth ; densification codec and information rate ; and audio options . No matter what you ’re render to capture , Snapz Pro X 2 will do the job and do it mighty .

RCDefaultApp(free;www.rubicode.com / Software / RCDefaultApp/ ; November 2004 ) Since I write about RCDefaultApp for the current Software Bargains feature film , I ’m go to let that indorsement do the talking : RCDefaultApp is a druthers back breaker that compound the good lineament of More cyberspace (; November 2003 ) , MisFox (; March 2004 ) , and OS X 10.2 ’s net orientation pane , and then supply even more functionality . Using RCDefaultApp , you could opt your preferred help app for each of the independent Internet protocol ( Web , vitamin E - chain armor , newsgroups , and FTP ) , as well as the helper for each universal resource locator protocol — from AFP ( Apple Filing Protocol ) to whois and everything in between ( such as HTTP , HTTPS , ITMS , and SSH ) . MIME Types setting let you decide the default lotion for each form of MIME content — such as the Windows Media video and PNG images you encounter on the Web . RCDefaultApp also let you choose the lotion that should be used to open up files with finical file - name extensions ( such as .rtf , .doc , and .mpg ) and file types ( the OS 9- style Type Codes , such as TTXT and ttro ) . And unlike other utilities , RCDefaultApp also countenance youdisabletypes of files or protocols , such as URL schemes that vex security risk , providing you with a one - stop solution for customizing default program preferences .

More to come …