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General discussion

Regular Maintenence for Mac OS ?

Jul 10, 2005 12:32AM PDT

I don't miss ...
all the adware/virus searches, hd defrag/registry reviews not to mention the added cost of software needed to keep my old winbox running...BUT...

Is there any regular maintenence routine that Panther (what I have) or Tiger requires to keep my system running smoothly ?

Thanks

Grim

Discussion is locked

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maintenance
Jul 10, 2005 2:56AM PDT

If you leave your machine running all the time, the system performs a number of routines for you. Usually in the small hours of the morning.
Yasu is a nice disk utility that does a bunch of stuff and also uses the built in Unix routines. There are a number of good disk utilities out there. Check the OS X software tab under the Apple Menu.
Disk Warrior is also a must have for every Mac owner, <9 or X, along with TechTool Pro.
Defrag is something that you can do but each time a program is installed, the system does a little defrag, optimizing the system, at the end of the install.
Repairing Permissions is also good to do before and after each large install, or about once a week if you are not the avid installer.

Hope this helps

P

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(NT) (NT) Thanks P
Jul 12, 2005 9:56PM PDT
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Good advice. let me add one more thing....
Jul 14, 2005 11:25PM PDT

Do that permission repair on your boot drive once a week. Also, clean up the PRAM by holding down the command, option, P & R keys on startup and listening for the Mac startup chimes twice and then releasing those keys and letting your mac boot normally.
These two steps will keep your mac very happy!

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mac defrag
Jul 15, 2005 5:52AM PDT

how do you perform defrag?

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You don't
Jul 15, 2005 10:55AM PDT

Macs doesn't need to be manually defragged as do PC's. OS X automatically defrags files under 20mb as you use the computer.

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Defrag
Jul 15, 2005 12:19PM PDT

As the antipodean poster says, defrag is an automatic thing. After each install, the system will defrag (optimize) the disk to a certain extent. There are defrag programs out there, TechTool Pro for one, but I have never really had a need for them.

P

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Backup?
Jul 14, 2005 10:40PM PDT

You might also consider getting a backup program and do regular backups. You can find many programs on www.macupdate.com or www.versiontracker.com (select MacOSX tab). In macupdate.com's Search box type in maintenance and you will get a good number of utilities that do maintenance.

I use sterMachine and Onyx and MainMenu for the regular maintenance chores. I usually set aside about 10 minutes and run these chores during a work session since I don't want to stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning for the OSX scheduled chores to run (I don't like to leave my laptop on all night). The maintenance routines don't take very long.

Hope this helps,

Frank

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Get Applejack - freeware, or if you like, donation ware
Jul 15, 2005 8:59AM PDT

Applejack does it all! Automatically. All you do is download the app from Versiontracker. Install and read the instructions. Simple. And it takes care of every problem I encountered. But, you should use it often if you are more than a casual user. I use it about twice a month, but I don't make my living on a computer.