Xslimmer: Slim down your apps

Did you know that most of your applications contain unnecessary data? Most applications that are written for the Mac are installed with unnecessary language packs, code, and other bloat. All of this results in a larger application that takes up too much hard drive storage space. How do remove the pesky bloat? Your answer is, Xslimmer. It is a great application to help slim down your other applications.

So what is Xslimmer? Xslimmer is an application designed for the purpose of making applications smaller and less resource hungry. Removing components will give back hard drive space, which is always appreciated. So, how does Xslimmer work? Xslimmer will analyze a selected application on your Mac or with a Genie mode, scan your hard drive for all apps. If the app has extra languages or unneeded PowerPC / Intel code, Xslimmer will remove all of the data automatically. This results in much speedier load times, and greatly reduced application size.

The user interface for Xslimmer is very simple, enabling almost anyone to use this powerful tool. Most of the buttons you need are located in the top bar, giving the user instant access to Xslimmer’s functions. To slim a single application, simply drag the app’s icon into Xslimmer’s window. You can drag multiple apps into the window as well. However, I find it most convenient to use the Genie function, which scans your Mac’s disk for all applications and utilities. Once the slimming is done, Xslimmer gives out a plesent chime. All analyzed apps are displayed in the window by alphabetical order. Non-slimmed apps have an empty progress bar, awaiting slimming. Pre-slimmed apps have a grey progress bar, while Blacklisted apps (apps that could be harmed in the slimming progress) have a black bar. The potential amount of data savings is located on the bottom, next to the slim button. Simply press ‘Slim!’ and let Xslimmer do the rest!

Under preferences, there are many options that you can tweak. One of the most important options is, the selection of removed languages. By default, Xslimmer removes all languages except for English. However if you are more fluent in another language (for example, German), you can adjust accordingly. Another important section is the Blacklist. The Blacklist is a community maintained list of apps that become buggy when slimmed. Thanks to the Blacklist, you won’t have many problems slimming apps. However if you are more of a power user, you can turn off the Blacklist.

All in all, Xslimmer is a very useful application with a dead simple user interface. I have found from personal experience that after using this application, my Mac’s application launch times have been much faster, as well as boot times. For the user who wants a speedy system, this is the perfect app. I have to rate this application a perfect five out of five, due to it’s simplicity and lack of any real criticism.

Xslimmer can be purchased from LateNiteSoft and is currently retailed at $12.95. This is a very good deal if you are in need of cleaning up your hard disk space.