System utilities

M

Marsco

Registered
Hi,

I downloaded eval. version of System Optimizer X, seems pretty cool but upon first startup a warning appears stating something about the cach optimizing routines are not compatible with Apple's XXX.

Well I forgot what XXX is and how to make the change, anyone know what I am talking about? This is the best description I can give, seem's like this warning comes up on first run only.

Also, Using Clean App eval., is it safe to uninstall system item such as Mail, Address Book, iChat etc. that i wont need or use?

Can I free up system resources that may be used by networking stuff?

What other utilities are worth trying?
 
Marsco said:
Hi,

I downloaded eval. version of System Optimizer X, seems pretty cool but upon first startup a warning appears stating something about the cach optimizing routines are not compatible with Apple's XXX.

Well I forgot what XXX is and how to make the change, anyone know what I am talking about? This is the best description I can give, seem's like this warning comes up on first run only.

Also, Using Clean App eval., is it safe to uninstall system item such as Mail, Address Book, iChat etc. that i wont need or use?

Can I free up system resources that may be used by networking stuff?

What other utilities are worth trying?
Click to expand...
XXX? Do you mean X11?

You can delete system apps, as long as they aren't depended on by the system. You can re-install via a custom install or Pacifist. I'd look at the Onyx app, which may free up space and speed up performance.
 
I wouldn't bother with either System Optimiser X or Clean App. There is no reason why you should have to pay for utilities that are already handled automatically by Mac OS X, and also through freeware such as Onyx or Clix.

As for removing Mail, Address Book or iChat, I would not bother. The space they take up on your system is really minimal - less than that for a couple of photos or songs. They are useful applications to have there even if you don't use them on a regular basis. And they will not use any network resources if you don't use them.

My advice, ditch both of these utilities, and forget about them. They're more effort and money than they are worth. If you're running short of RAM, get some more - it'll be cheaper. If you're running out of hard-drive space, the only solution is to either get another hard-drive or start moving things off the existing one. And if network performance is slow, start looking at your network. These utility programs are, for the most part, not really useful at all.
 
That's probably true, Clean App is real cool how it finds dependant files and stuff, I'll probably end up getting one though.

Do file maintinance script's run automatically at a set time?
 
i would second symphonix's viewpoint, don't spend money on anything like these. it would be money a lot better spent on RAM or hard disk space. or new music, or a dvd. or anything.

if you want system utilities, try ONYX for the cron jobs and similar, try OMNI Disk Sweeper for file sorting and optimisation and that's really it. everything else can be done by either a log-out, or a simple disk check.
 
'Do file maintinance script's run automatically at a set time?' - yes.

MacOS X only performs the 'daily', 'weekly', and 'monthly' maintenance tasks.
Panther via 'crontab'; Tiger via 'LaunchDaemons': 'com.apple.periodic-daily.plist', 'com.apple.periodic-monthly.plist', and 'com.apple.periodic-weekly.plist'.

Unless modified by the user, 'daily' is performed every morning at 3.15 (local time), 'weekly' is performed every Saturday morning at 3.15 (local time), and 'monthly' is performed every first day of the month, in the morning, at 5.30 (local time). The listed day and time values were obtained from the respective 'LaunchDaemon' '.plist' files.
The day and times of the above tasks can be modified by the user.

Some Tiger user's prefer 'crontab' over the 'LaunchDaemons' (placing them into a 'LaunchDaemons_disabled' folder, and entering - as one example) ...

#minute hour mday month wday who command
# Run daily/weekly/monthly jobs.
01 3 * * * root /private/etc/periodic/daily/500.daily
02 3 * * * root /private/etc/periodic/monthly/500.monthly
03 3 * * * root /private/etc/periodic/weekly/500.weekly

... into a created '/etc/crontab' file. There are benefits in executing the 'daily', 'weekly', and 'monthly' tasks - on a daily basis. The 'daily' and 'monthly' tasks take less then 30 seconds to perform, and the 'weekly's tasks period is volume size dependent (which can take many minutes) - thus, the reason for the 'weekly' task performed last.

Any other system level task(s) can be performed via scripts, or other means, by the user. One 'crontab' example is shown below.

# Run bash files [modified 02 Sept 2006]
39 2 * * * root /usr/bin/_bh_diskutil_repair_permissions
20 5 * * * root /usr/bin/_bh_vm_deleter
00 5-23 * * * root /usr/bin/_bh_signature_deleter
30 3 * * * root /usr/bin/_bh_logs_deleter
21 5 * * * root /usr/bin/_bh_finder_preferences_replacer
 
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