Best Classic Mac Software

This page lists some of the best software for the Classic Mac OS – System 6 through Mac OS 9.2.2 – in my admittedly biased opinion. Listings are alphabetical, and some programs have OS X versions as well as classic ones. Many links are to archived files in my Dropbox.

Best Classic Mac OS Prices

Although the Classic Mac OS remains useful, it’s getting hard to find at a reasonable price. We hope these links help you do so, whether for System 6, Mac OS 9.2.2, or something in between.

Classic Mac OS Downloads and Updates

Need a copy of System 6.0.8, 7.0.1, or a newer version of the Classic Mac OS for your vintage Mac? You can dig through apple.com and try to find them – or you can download them using the updated links on this page. (Apple does rearrange things, making it more difficult to find things.) All versions […]

When Is Your PowerPC Mac Too Old?

Charles W Moore raises a good point in Thoughts on Using Older Macs as Work Machines: As much as we may love our old Macs, some of them just don’t have what it takes to be productive in the wired and wireless world of the Internet today.

A Second Spring for PowerPC Macs

2011 – One of the advantages of using older Macintosh computers is that you can get a lot of great software for just a few bucks – or even for nothing, as abandonware. On the other hand, new software for old Macs is scarce, and the lack of updates for crucial software is the main […]

Flash, YouTube, and .docx File Conversion for Mac OS 9

2011 – I got lots of positive and encouraging feedback on my article about going back to OS 9, Back to Mac OS 9, Because It’s All I Need. The main point of my article was that I could go back to OS 9, because it provides me with everything I want to do with a […]

Back to Mac OS 9, Because It’s All I Need

2011 – I’ve done it. I’ve sold both my Intel iMac and my MacBook Pro (Late 2008). I took the money and spent it on a very nice trip with my girlfriend. Wonderful memories. That left me with my old configuration, a dual 1 GHz Power Mac G4 MDD maxed out with 2 GB of RAM. It […]

Picking Up a Used Power Mac G3 or G4: Is It Worth It?

One of my interesting jobs at Low End Mac is compiling our price trackers, which have evolved quite a bit over the years. We do price trackers for all Macs that are supported by some version of Mac OS X, from beige G3 Power Macs and WallStreet PowerBooks through today’s Intel-based Macs. We also track the […]

Creating Classic Mac Boot Floppies in OS X

It’s been almost two years since I last wrote for Low End Mac, but my love of all things Apple hasn’t waned. Most recently, I’ve become the proud owner of an iPhone 3G, which may finally stop me hunting for an elusive MessagePad 2100 on eBay.

2 Browsers, an Email Client, and a 68k Mac

2005 – Much has been made in recent weeks about the dearth of acceptable Web solutions for legacy Macs. To some extent, I agree with the position taken suggesting older Macs are in fact limited by their software in an increasingly connected, global community.

Good People, Good Software, Good Business

2001 – Gathering software for older Macs has become my latest Macintosh obsession. I am copying the installers onto hard drives and Zip disks for posterity’s sake. There is a lot of useful shareware, freeware, and commercial software available at little or no cost to the hordes of “vintage” Mac users. Some are distributed by […]

11 Things You Might Not Know Your Mac Can Do

2001 – I find that casual users of the Mac OS do not investigate the features of the operating system as thoroughly as necessary to achieve the greatest efficiency. Perhaps that is because Mac users tend not to read the manuals for their computers (if there is a manual to read), or maybe it is […]

Uncluttered Organization

Nothing is more annoying that a cluttered desktop. It is nice to create aliases to your favorite applications and files, but it is not very nice to have them all over your desktop. Just like for a real desk, a cluttered computer desktop can be less functional and can distract you from your work.

Setting Up a Personal Firewall

2001 – You are not very likely to face direct attacks from hackers because you use a computer, because those people mostly target businesses and large networks. On the other hand, the security of your files is never 100% guaranteed, even though you use a computer that less people know to hack than, say, Windows.

Writing and Editing with Microsoft Word

2001 – Everyone knows how to type, and many typists use Microsoft Word, since it is a standard for word processing. Word has plenty of unused and unknown features that facilitate the writer’s work. Whether they help to improve your writing, make word processing easy on the eye, or provide powerful editing techniques, those features […]

Make Your Classic Mac OS Machine Faster

2001 – Your Mac was so darn fast when you bought it. It was a top-of-the-line and state-of-the-art computer, but it suddenly seems older than you. You have the impression that with all its power, it could deliver the goods in much less time than it does now.