Keeping Panther Clean...?

Hey.

I'm wondering some stuff before (if i do) switch. You know how on windows you have to delete temp interent files, delete cookies, defrag, and do a clean sweep? Well whats OS X have like this? I keep hearing repair permissions..... Wat is this? Do u have to open Terminal and type a command to start the repair? Or is there a icon in the Apps folder to just run a prgram to repair permissions? What are some equivalent programs that OS X comes with, that are similar to XP?

Thanks everyone!

there is no defragging neccessary on mac os x, you can delete cookies and browser caches, which will help it run more smoothly. Repair Permissions is performed using disk utility, located in the utilities folder inside the applications folder. permissions are basically part of the unix base system, telling apps what files they can have access to, and keeping things in order from the users perspective of telling the system/apps/you what files can be accessed/changed. Apple recommends booting from the os install disk 1 and using the built in disk utility, but repairing permissions using disk utility in the utilities folder is IMO
better, cause then it uses reciepts that contain previous settings already on your mac as opposed to creating new ones which can affect some apps.

Ok thanks for the reply. How would one go about deleting cahche/cookies/temp files? Is there a folder on the hard drive called temp like Xp or something? Maybe a screenshot would help? O well.... THanks alot, and anyone else have ways of keeping OS X clean and stable?

THANKS

If you leave your system on 24/7 then the system will take care of the system maintenance. If you don't, then go here to download MacJanitor. Use it to "clean" your system.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5856

I believe that you will have to delete the cookies via your browser.

Over time, the files on your hard drive will become fragmented to a point that it causes a slow down. Although the installer does some optimization after OS updates, it does not optimize the entire drive. Drive 10 or TechTool Pro 4 will optimize the drive for better performance.

does OnyX "clean" the cache folders, etc... like MacJanitor (what about MacSweeper)? I have OnyX now but shall I download MacJanitor as well to help "clean" up the directories, etc... When I look in the library folders there are tons of .plist files and other things I'm unsure of. Is it wise to delete some of these icons? I know we shouldn't delete things we don't know but what program can clean all these files up?

immdb said:

Over time, the files on your hard drive will become fragmented to a point that it causes a slow down.

Click to expand...

Because OS X is using journaling now you don't see fragmentation as much now.

rman said:

Because OS X is using journaling now you don't see fragmentation as much now.

Click to expand...

I need some education…what does journaling have to do file fragmentation? It seems that journaling is a safety net, not a system tuner.

If a file is broken into pieces then it will take that many reads to get the pieces. Thus, more pieces = more reads, more reads = you know. I've used Drive 10 to optimize my drives and have found a noticeable difference after defragmenting.

This is portion of article 107249 that I pulled from the Apple site. This article is dated 11/12/02, so maybe there has been additional functions/processes added to Apple's journaling process since then that eliminates the need for optimizing a badly fragmented volume.

About file system journaling.

"Journaling" is a feature that helps protect the file system against power outages or hardware component failures, reducing the need for repairs. Journaling was first introduced in Mac OS X Server 10.2.2, then to the non-server OS in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. This document explains some of the benefits of using this feature and how it works.

Journaling for the Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) file system enhances computer availability and fault resilience, which is especially noteworthy for servers. Journaling protects the integrity of the file system on Xserve and other computers using Mac OS X Server in the event of an unplanned shutdown or power failure. It also helps to maximize the uptime of servers and connected storage devices by expediting repairs to the affected volumes when the system restarts.

Journaling is a technique that helps protect the integrity of the Mac OS Extended file systems on Mac OS X volumes. It both prevents a disk from getting into an inconsistent state and expedites disk repair if the server fails.

When you enable journaling on a disk, a continuous record of changes to files on the disk is maintained in the journal. If your computer stops because of a power failure or some other issue, the journal is used to restore the disk to a known-good state when the server restarts.

With journaling turned on, the file system logs transactions as they occur. If the server fails in the middle of an operation, the file system can "replay" the information in its log and complete the operation when the server restarts.

What you have stated is true, but there is more to journaling. On most unix system that is using journaling, about once a week there a task that does a small scale defrag so to speak.

onyx is ok, but you can really screw up your mac if you dont know what youre doing, and those .plist files are preferences for individual apps and such, I suggest using cocktail, it runs the cron scripts and everything.

rman said:

What you have stated is true, but there is more to journaling. On most unix system that is using journaling, about once a week there a task that does a small scale defrag so to speak.

Click to expand...

What is that task?

Drive 10 analyzes the volume(s) and gives the number of file fragments and the number of disk fragments. I would like run the task to compare the number of fragmented files and the number of disk fragments before and after the task is executed to see what scale of defrag occurs.

If the "journaling task" defrags a small % of files and disk fragments, then what I say still stands, optimizing should be included in the maintenance of system tuning.

Ok... so you dont need to defrag that much? Maybe once a month? And the cookies you can delete within browser option? Well thats all i really needed to know and its been answered. Thanks alot to everyones reply!

oops.. accidentally posted the same thing twice.. THanks again!

if you really wanna defrag, I recommend xoptimize, or macosx speedtools, besides those already mentioned above, and do not attempt to defrag using norton utilities!

Whats wrong with norton ??? I think its a great program... atleast on windows...

exactly: on windows. on mac, norton has gone to crap over the last few years, norton utilities for example often does more harm than good, damaging parts of the bsd subsystem thinking its fixing a "problem" and the like. all I can say is: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Ive had many clients have problems with their macs(I also do mac consulting on the side) that started and were caused by norton utilities. Ive seen it cripple some systems, flat out destroy others.

...or get Macaroni(9 dollars USD) and never worry about any of this again!!!
(It automatically, and flexibly determines when it is best to run the tasks(Optimization, Crons, Permissions, Daily unix, weekly unix and monthly unix maintenance.

IMO, it's worth 9 dollars to never have to do any maintenance again!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16593

ApplejustWorks said:

...or get Macaroni(9 dollars USD) and never worry about any of this again!!!
(It automatically, and flexibly determines when it is best to run the tasks(Optimization, Crons, Permissions, Daily unix, weekly unix and monthly unix maintenance.

IMO, it's worth 9 dollars to never have to do any maintenance again!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16593

Click to expand...

From what I've read, Macaron will not optimize a volume. It appears to run the same tasks that MacJanitor (and the like) utilities, but on a regular basis.

rman said:

What you have stated is true, but there is more to journaling. On most unix system that is using journaling, about once a week there a task that does a small scale defrag so to speak.

Click to expand...

yea, but I think this task only runs automatically between 2 and 5 am, so if youre mac isnty on at this time, cron tasks arent perormed.

Here at my place of employment we have a G4 acting as a Mac Server for our
Graphics Dept. We have 3 other computers hooked to this "Server". All 3
computer including the "server" are running Panther oporation system.

Questions:
1- Our Mac Tech man says that we should all work off the "server". He
claims that it is the best and fastest way to work and keeps our computers
from getting fragmented. I disagree, however I am not a Mac Tech person.
Could someone please clairify?

2-Does anyone recogmend Disk Warrior for fixing macs? My understanding is that
Disk Warrior creates a whole new directory making the directory new again
where as Tech Tool and Norton Utilities only patch up the directory. Which
is true? My Mac Tech says we have no use for it.

3-Is it possible that the reason why my machine was running slow, is
because my computer could not find it's desk top picture? This seem bazzar
to me, but then again I am not a Mac Tech. What do you guys think?

4-Please correct me if I am wrong but isn't OS X (Jaguar and Panther) are
all based on Unix? My Tech Guy says the OS X is it's own operating system.

Thanks for eveyones help in advance and a have a great day,