System Cleanup / Tune up

s.macneill

Registered
What do you guys recommend for apps that will do a nice system tune up / clean up? I'm running Tiger, on a mac mini. I'm a PC convert, so that's why i'm thinking of tune up type utils... maybe macs dont even need that? i definately do notice a bit more 'lag' on the machine since i first got it, which is understandable.

-S
 
The thing you have to remember is Mac OS X is based on BSD Unix. So some routine Maintenance schedules automatically run late at night if you keep your Mac running. These are log cleaning files called Cron. The problem arises if you let you Mac Sleep at at night or shut it off at night. Luckily there are more Freeware programs to force Cron to run then you can throw a trick at. I personally like one trick ponies that do one thing and one thing only. So to run Cron at my will, I use Macjanitor. There are other programs that are free, but you have to check to see if they can work in Tiger.

The other preventative maintenance tip is already built in. It is Disk Utility in Applications->Utilities. Just startup up the program, select your startup drive and Repair Permissions. This should be done around every two weeks or after any large software install (or a bunch of small program installs). Every software maker think they have the most important program and will mess with your Unix (Mac) permissions. Disk Utility compares the software receipt files (/Library/Receipts) to the actual file and sets the permissions to what they are suppose to be. So never delete the receipts.

These two steps are a good start to preventative maintenance in OS X.
 
cron, btw., is more than just "log cleaning". cron is a service that runs commands at specified times. You can use that for anything you want, really. But that just on the side.

Basically, if you do run those scripts manually once a week, repair permissions and volumes using Disk Utility, you should be fine. More maintenance would be too much hassle that doesn't really pay off.
 
Scottfab said:
isnt cocktail tiger compatible already? i'm using it...


rite you are

thanks for correcting me I didn't see it was already available
 
Back
Top