System Cache

[McBgnr]

A number of tools are available for clearing the system cache in Mac OS. Any ideas what are the locations which are targeted by these kind of applications. I am just trying the understand how system cache is stored in Mac OS. Inputs are welcome.

Also let me know if there is any harm or any side effects of removing system cache?

[Satcomer]

Well two things in software maintenance are going on. first there is the Logs that OS X keeps (you can view these logs using /Applications/Utilities/Console). You can read about the history cleaning (rotating is more like it) by the web page Running the Mac OS X maintenance scripts. Plus clearing the cache involves the system startup/shutdown cache & web cache.

To run all the routines needed I use the freeware/donationware Yasu. Other people like the freeware/donationware application Onyx and use it's cleaning routines. Now once the cleaning is done and the program reboots your Mac then upon restart do another manual restart to completely rebuild the shutdown/startup cache.

Lastly doing the "cleaning" IMHO should only be done about every three months. This should keep OS x running fairly fresh (barring any hardware problems).

[Randy Singer]

Originally Posted by McBgnr

Also let me know if there is any harm or any side effects of removing system cache?

The system cache actually speeds up your Mac. You don't need to clear the cache unless your Mac is suddenly acting odd, or it has slowed down. These might indicate that the cache has become corrupted.

Clearing the system cache won't hurt anything. At first, until a new cache is created, functions that had been cached will be slower. But that will be very temporary.

You may want to have a look at the Routine Maintenance Web site in my sig.