Mac utilities which claim to fix this or enhance that are a dime a dozen. Well, there are a few dozen, but they’re not all a dime.
Most decent utilities which claim to fix something on your Mac, or unlock hidden features, or clean this or that are available with a trial option; perhaps some limited features to try out. Why the trial? For any app beyond a few dollars, try-before-you-buy makes good sense.
You Can’t Try These Tools
Terry’s Tools is a compilation of 11 fixes that have been created and maintained through the years by a Mac developer and support technician. These are all fix-it tools that may help you out when your Mac gets wonky.
For example, within the 11 modules, are options to fix both hardware and system issues– Fix Browsing, Fix Spotlight, Fix Trash, Fix Fonts, Fix Mail, Fix Icons, Fix Wi-Fi, Fix iSight, Fix Audio, Fix Bluetooth, and a special one called Fix Reboot.
The developer, an experienced Mac user, says each of these so-called fixes will help repair common issues within each category– browser, Spotlight, Trash, Mail, Wi-Fi, etc.
What problems?
In essence, the developer is saying, “Trust me. I know best. Give me money and my tools may help solve whatever problem your Mac has at the moment.”
What problems?
Only the developer knows for sure.
On the surface, Terry’s Tools sounds great. Quick fixes to common Mac problems. Here’s the real problem. The tools have a hefty price tag and the developer doesn’t disclose what each module does other than fix something. What? And why? And how?
There’s no try-before-you-buy option. There’s no description of what each module does. From time to time we see a Mac app on the Mac App Store which has a hefty price tag and no trial or try-before-you-buy option from the developer. Most of those apps have few reviews because Mac users don’t want to fork over hard-earned dollars for an unknown.
Terry’s Tools is not a Mac App Store app. Smart developers describe in some semblance of detail what their applications do, and provide a limited trial version for customers to try before the purchase. This fix-it utility is different. You may not need to use it often. You may only need a single module from the 11. I understand that. But a Mac user needs to be pretty desperate to fork over $20 to try a utility that may not be used often, and may not even fix the problem.
Terry Harmer says
Hi Wil,
First of all, thanks for taking some time to look at my app. I appreciate your concerns, and you are correct, I should highlight a bit more on my site about exactly what it does and how it works, that is something that I will look to address.
In an attempt to justify the app and its pricing let me share my thinking when putting it together. First off , it is aimed more at the mac user (graphic designers, artists, authors, account managers, students, etc.) who loves their mac when its working, but don’t know where to begin when things stop working. They typically aren’t comfortable poking around plists or the terminal when things aren’t working quite right.
I have many friends and colleagues that fall into this category, many of whom will drive an hour to my house to get me to run some troubleshooting commands rather than do it themselves with guidance over the phone. These are the people that this app is for. As for the pricing, well, its all relative.
If someone has an interview via skype in 5 mins and their iSight camera is suddenly not working, then $20 is a no brainer, the same goes for the photographer whos spotlight is wonky and cant find the pictures they took for a client a year ago. These are the people that I have helped in person on many occasions, and these are the same people who will often gladly offer pay $50-$100 for a one time “im in a jam” please help me fix.
And as far as the App Store goes, the only reason its not there is because Apples sandboxing means that most of the functions of the app will simply not work. Most mac problems require system level access to fix, which is part of the reason why the genius bar always asks for your root password when you leave your mac in.
Hopefully this helps to show the developers perspective for Terrys Tools and hopefully the thinking seems at least reasonable
As a thank you for taking some time to look at my app, I would also like to offer a 50% discount code for you and your readers: ED8645FE
Happy Mac-ing
🙂