Skip to content

Who runs TorentMac

I'm Ben Harris. During the week I look after about 120 Macs at a secondary school in Bristol, and at home I run a Mac mini M2. TorentMac is where I write up the software I actually reach for when a Mac needs cleaning up, fixing or setting up from scratch. It started as a set of notes for myself. It is now a catalogue of around 800 programs, games and plugins.

What's in the catalogue

Most of it is practical. Utilities, Mac Cleaners and Data Recovery are the sections I lean on hardest, because those are the jobs that land on my desk: a full disk, a sluggish login, a deleted folder somebody needed for a deadline. Office, Antivirus and VPN cover the everyday side. There's a macOS section for installers and system builds, VST Plugins for anyone recording music, plus Games and a general Mac Apps shelf for whatever doesn't fit elsewhere.

Every program page gives the version, file size, compatibility and install notes. When a newer build drops support for older hardware, the older build stays listed. Plenty of Macs in schools and homes are a few macOS releases behind, and they still need software.

What you won't find

No reviews rewritten from a press release. No star ratings out of ten. No "top 10" lists padded out to reach a round number. No Windows software and no iPhone apps either; this is a Mac catalogue and nothing else. If I can't say what a program is for and which Macs it runs on, it doesn't get a page.

The name and the tagline

The name is plain on purpose. It says Mac, it's short, and it's easy to type into an address bar. The tagline, "Mac utilities and apps, sorted by someone who maintains Macs", is the part that matters to me. Sorted in both senses: the list is organised into sections you can browse, and the problem behind each entry has usually been sorted on a real machine first. I'm not a developer and I'm not a reviewer. I'm the person who gets called when the Mac in the music room won't boot.

How a program gets listed

Most entries come from my own toolkit or from a problem I've had to solve. Before something goes on, I check a few things:

  • it does one job clearly, and the job is worth doing;
  • the version number and file size match what's actually on offer;
  • compatibility is clear enough to write down honestly;
  • the install steps are known, including any macOS security prompts you'll meet.

What keeps a program off: abandoned projects with no working build, tools that copy something already listed without doing it better, and anything that behaves badly once installed. Background processes you didn't ask for, settings changed behind your back, uninstallers that leave half the app behind. If I wouldn't leave it on my own Mac mini, it doesn't go on the list.

Who it's for

People who look after Macs, mostly. Other technicians in schools and small offices. Parents who have quietly become the family IT department. Musicians keeping an older MacBook going for another few years. Anyone who would rather read three lines of install notes than a sales page.

You can browse everything without an account. A free account lets you save programs to favourites, get a notice on the site when one of them is updated, and leave comments. Comments are moderated before they go live; until then you'll see yours marked "awaiting moderation". If something on a page is wrong, tell me at [email protected].