The Macintosh software information site MacUpdate has bundled 10 Mac applications together -- some of them very useful for SMBs -- and is selling the lot for $50, a nearly 90% discount.The bundle leads off with a product that's more than worth the $50 price by itself: Parallels Desktop 5, one of the top ways to run Windows and Windows software on a Mac. Parallels Desktop 5 normally costs $80.

Another part of the bundle is the security package MacScan from SecureMac. MacScan guards against spyware and other malware and also gets rid of tracking cookies from sites on SecureMac's blacklist. MacScan costs $30 by itself and is a good way for Mac shops to get started with malware protection if they haven't already.

The other packages in the bundle sound worthwhile, though most are not as obviously useful for business. Timeline 3D from Bee Docs, for example, creates 3D interactive timelines that can be incorporated into Keynote presentations -- it ordinarily costs $65. Back-in-Time from Tri-Edre supposedly adds a form of revision control to Time Machine backups, letting you step backwards not only by date but also by previous versions of your documents; it costs $29 on its own. Hyperspaces adds more features and functionality to OS X's Spaces virtual desktops feature: you can give each Space its own desktop image, snap back to your last space with one keystroke, and so on. Hyperspaces usually costs $13.

The bundle also includes ForeverSave, which automatically saves your documents in any program; SpellCatcher X, a universal spell checker that works across all programs; Hydra, a utility for combining multiple exposures into a High Dynamic Range image; WebSnapper, a Safari plugin for capturing Web pages; and MacDVDRipper Pro, which lets you copy DVDs to your hard disk.

Many Mac software bundles are collections of obscure utilities for rarely needed tasks. This one, by contrast, has some real practical business tools -- Parallels and MacScan by themselves would more than justify the $50 price. The bundle will be available for another two weeks -- find it and read more here.

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