Your browser stores the control on your machine and uses it the next time you need it. Like plug-ins, helper applications also let you view files your browser normally cannot display. Well, that depends upon what you want to see and what you want to do. However, almost every user will benefit from certain basic add-ons that let you download files and view a wide variety of forms, manuals, and other preformatted documents. The following are the top plug-ins and helper applications currently available for Macintosh computers.
Most basic players are free, but some require a small fee to add additional features.
Since smaller files copy faster, most downloadable files are compressed. After downloading a compressed file, you must use a decompression program to decipher the archive and recreate the original file. The dominant Macintosh decompression program is StuffIt. Stuffit files end with the extension .sit. When confronted with a file ending with this extension, Stuffit must first be used to bring the file back to its original condition.