# Onyx (English version)



## ayoosh (Jun 11, 2010)

Hi all,

I got to know that Onyx is good for mac. It can clean up our hard disk same like disk-defrag in windows. 

Anyone knows the link for Onyx but in English version? I only found french version.


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## DeltaMac (Jun 11, 2010)

It's the same site: http://www.titanium.free.fr/index_us.html
Choose your language in the upper right part of that page.


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## ayoosh (Jun 11, 2010)

Hi Delta,

Which one to choose? Snow Leapord or Panther or Tiger?
Seriously I don't know the difference.


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## MisterMe (Jun 11, 2010)

ayoosh said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I got to know that Onyx is good for mac. It can clean up our hard disk same like disk-defrag in windows.
> 
> ...


Um-m-m-m-m, no. *Onyx* does not defrag and does nothing even remotely related to defragging. The most useful thing that *Onyx* does is to run the periodic UNIX tasks. However, MacOS X runs these automatically. It prebinds applications to frameworks. This is _optimizing_ in MacOS X parlance. However, the application's installer should have done this during installation or OS updates. If not, then the application will bind to its frameworks during the first launch. It does need to be done again. *Onyx* can repair permissions, but so too does *Disk Utility*. *Onyx* does clean various caches. However, caches are intended to speed-up your system, not slow it down. So, cleaning caches can be counterproductive.

Back in the day, I used *Onyx*. It provided little benefit. On the flip side, it did no harm. The term of art for software like this is _placebo ware_.

The only utility that has ever provided measurable benefit to my system is the commandline utility, *File System Check*. Restart in Single User Mode. At the command prompt, type *fsck -fy*. It will run through various steps until it completes and returns to the command prompt. If it reports any repairs, then repeat *fsck -fy*. It it reports no repairs, then type *exit*. You will be taken to the MacOS X GUI.

And another thing--there is no benefit to your running any routine maintenance utility. Run *File System Check* in Single User Mode if you suspect a problem.

As for *Onyx*, it is free; it is harmless; but, it is also a waste of time.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 11, 2010)

Agreed.

Everything that Mac OS X needs to do to keep itself clean it does by itself, automatically.

There is no benefit to running these cleaning scripts and maintenance routines more often than they're supposed to be run, and they run automatically, so no user should ever need to do so manually (unless they're experiencing a problem they are 100% sure is tied to some maintenance routine).

"My computer seems slow" *is not* a valid reason to force Mac OS X to run maintenance scripts.

"I am a graphic designer and some of my OTF fonts' leading/spacing is incorrect, and some of my fonts are garbled when displayed in InDesign" *is* a valid reason to run the font cache clearing routine, and only the font cache clearing routine.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 11, 2010)

ayoosh said:


> Hi Delta,
> 
> Which one to choose? Snow Leapord or Panther or Tiger?
> Seriously I don't know the difference.



Choose the one that matches the version of OS X you're running. Snow Leopard is for Mac OS X 10.6, Leopard is for Mac OS X 10.5, Tiger is for Msc OS X 10.4, and Panther is for Mac OS X 10.3.


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## ayoosh (Jun 12, 2010)

Thanks all it helps a lot.


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