TinkerTool 4.7

TinkerTool is a system optimization and customization tool. It can change a variety of settings on your Mac, ranging from Finder tweaks to Safari, QuickTime X and iTunes improvements.

All these features can probably be accessed without TinkerTool, but the application makes it absolutely easy to change different settings from a single window. Without TinkerTool, you would probably have to go into the Terminal and write a lot of commands to enable a single feature.

When you open TinkerTool, you will see a toolbar at the top with the different feature categories, and below that, all the features that you can enable or disable. The categories are Finder, Dock, General, Desktop, Applications, Fonts, Font Smoothing, Login Items, Safari, iTunes, QuickTime X, Resume and Reset. Each category includes multiple items.

Some of the most interesting things you can do with TinkerTool is use transparent dock icons for hidden applications, disable special effects in the dock and Finder, lock the dock, so that you can't change the size or modify its content, and turn single application mode on, which hides all the non-active applications.

Most of the features that you enable or disable will require a relaunch to take effect. For example, if you enable single application mode, you will have to relaunch the dock. This can be done from within TinkerTool, and it is almost instantaneous.

In short, TinkerTool gives you access to features that are hidden on Mac OS X, or that are harder to activate or deactivate without TinkerTool. The app is free and it doesn't hurt having it installed for that moment when you do need it.