Had MBP Over A Year - What Maintenance Would Keep It Running on Top Form??

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Hello,

I'd like to keep my Mac running sweet, but don't know what to do?
 
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Hello,

I'd like to keep my Mac running sweet, but don't know what to do?

not a whole lot. i'd probably format my machine and give it a fresh start every year.
 

pigoo3

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Four things I would recommend:

- repair permissions occasionally (at least monthly)
- don't let your hard drive get too full (more than 80% full)
- restart your computer every so often if you usually put it to "sleep" when finished (say at least every 3-4 weeks, or more often if you want)
- don't install too many "auto-launch" programs/utilities (programs that load when you first boot the computer). If you have too many of these, they just eat up available ram and "suck up" cpu resources

HTH,

- Nick
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
^^ and software updates, as they often address minor bugs and security.
 
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I open it and clean out the dust bunnies once a year. It is truly surprising how stuff much actually comes flying out with compressed air. Other than that, drain cycle your battery once a year or as needed (as explained on Apple's web site).
 
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Gotta be carful with that compressed air, my dad once blew several dust spots, and beard hairs behind his screen, never to come out again and infuriating him to the point of him selling the machine. Now he uses a vacuum with a small nozzle, modified so that the suction isn't to hard. :D
 
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This might sound extreme, but since 99% of what slows down a computer is in the Home folder this is what I do about once every 6 months or year...basically whenever I notice a slowdown...

1. Boot into root account.
2. Delete my user account, with the option to save the user folder.
3. Create a new user account, with the same name. (Its the name I like, dont want to change it)
4. Boot into the new account.
5. Copy my personal files, and the few plists for settings/bookmarks into my new account.
6. Delete the old user folder.

Sounds like alot but only takes about 5 minutes...and its like running a brand new install after that. Of course I also repair permissions and the normal stuff. This is saved for that "Wow my computer seems slower" moments...
 
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What I do:
1) Download and install Apple updates
2) Never use pirated software
3) Update "purchased" & freeware software
4) Repair permissions
5) Defrag with iDefrag (but that's just me)
 
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I have a question about formatting and restoring... Say my MBP is running slow because it has pieces of files here and there, the drives are fragmented and the registry has some wrong entries (do MACs suffer from this?). Now, before i format it I go ahead and use Time Machine to create a backup. I format everything and re-install OSX. Once it has finished I use time machine to restore all my Apps and files. Here's my question: If I backup a messed up file system, fragged HD and corrupt registries, does this mean that Time Machine will re-copy all the messed up settings one I restore?
Understand what I mean? If i make a photocopy of a scratched picture, the photocopied picture will also have scratches on it!

Thank you for you help!!!
 
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"Repair permissions"? What is this? I'm a Mac newbie so go light on me. If you simply want to point to some documentation, tell me to look it up, or point me to another post that's fine by me.

Thanks, Jim
 
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Surprised this hasn't been mentioned, but download OnyX (Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - OnyX) and run it periodically to keep the cleaned up.

Also do a complete battery calibration every now and then. I do it once a month.
(Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance)

"Repair permissions"? What is this? I'm a Mac newbie so go light on me. If you simply want to point to some documentation, tell me to look it up, or point me to another post that's fine by me.

Thanks, Jim

Repairing permissions is one of the things OnyX does, but you can do it without OnyX if you want. Just run search on google or yahoo for how to repair permissions on a macbook.
 
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Eh, I honestly don't think batter calibrations really matter in this day and age. And once a month is certainly a lot if you're going to do it at all.

Maybe with the newer ones it doesn't matter...I'm just speaking from my experience with my 4 year old battery! I cycled it about 10 times over the course of a week in January and finally got my battery back to where it'd hold a charge for 45 minutes to an hour. Now it's back to dying after about 20 minutes while the status bar still says it has 30 minutes of life left.

I know I need a knew battery...I just haven't heard good things about the replacement batteries and I'm reluctant to spend over $100 for a battery when I'm not sure how long I'll be using this computer. There's always an outlet wherever we use it anyway.
 
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First of all: There is NO REGISTRY in OS X, so don't even worry about that for half of a nanosecond. Secondly, Fragmentation in OS X doesn't really occur in the same way as it does in Windows. Check out this article for a pretty simple run down on the process and why using a defrag app is still useful: (read all the way through and don't skim)

Disk Fragmentation & OS X: When Does it Become a Problem?: Apple News, Tips and Reviews «

Onyx is a gem of a tool. Useful for several different things, and is a one stop shop for maintenance. (doesn't defragment though)

I've had my MacBook Pro for a bit over 3 years, and all I have ever done is run Onyx, keep all my photos and music on an external hard drive (keeps lots of disk space free) and once a month calibrate the battery. I have to do this though, since it's always plugged in as I use an external monitor for photo editing.

I'll admit, when I upgraded to Snow Leopard I did a fresh install and wiped the previous data with the ol' 7 x wipe. (writes over the data 7 times) Total overkill, but I'm anal like that.

Everybody here has given the same good advice. You really don't need to go overboard with maintenance as you would with Windows. Try keeping your home folder and download folders clean, don't store unnecessary data etc.. Sorry, I'm being a lot less detailed than usual. I'm really sleepy and am in fact... working on fixing my cousin's Windows laptop this very moment! haha.

Doug
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
Plenty of detail Doug :)
If you really want to fix your cousin's Windows laptop.... naah, I won't go there :p
 

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