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Switcher Hangout (Windows to Mac)
A couple of questions if anyone can help?
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<blockquote data-quote="chas_m" data-source="post: 1018727"><p>It's a throwback to the days of mainframes. Mac OS X is based on UNIX, which is an OS that has been around a very long time ... over 40 years now, and there are still things in it that have been with us all this time.</p><p></p><p>Back in the day when UNIX was mainly found on mainframes, getting to use them was a privilege reserved for the few. As computers made their way into universities, however, students needed to put in time on the mainframe as well as professors, so time was carefully allotted. The self-maintaining scripts and "garbage collection" the OS needed to do was thus hard-scheduled for (variously) 3:15am and 4:30am local time (the monthly script runs at 5:30am), it being likely that the machine would be unused at that time (and of course in those days such computers were never turned off).</p><p></p><p>Today, these scripts will run by themselves if the Mac happens to be on at those times. Improvements in the power of the CPU means that you'd be unlikely to notice it happening even if you were doing something fairly intense. The scripts will only run at that time if they can -- if the machine is off or sleeping, the scripts are just delayed until the next cycle.</p><p></p><p>There are several maintenance utilities for Mac (most of them free) that will induce or reschedule the running of these scripts, but it should be noted that they don't actually have to run every day anymore (one of the main reasons for the scripts in the first place was to rotate logs, because back in the day storage was more precious, for example). You can go months without running these scripts to no ill effect whatsoever.</p><p></p><p>Bottom line: this is not something you need to spend any time thinking about. As part of your complete Mac OS X maintenance breakfast, you'll likely be running a utility program that will take care of this for you.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Yes, it sounds like you accidentally doubled up on your accounts. Just go into Preferences -> Accounts and delete the extra one(s).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="chas_m, post: 1018727"] It's a throwback to the days of mainframes. Mac OS X is based on UNIX, which is an OS that has been around a very long time ... over 40 years now, and there are still things in it that have been with us all this time. Back in the day when UNIX was mainly found on mainframes, getting to use them was a privilege reserved for the few. As computers made their way into universities, however, students needed to put in time on the mainframe as well as professors, so time was carefully allotted. The self-maintaining scripts and "garbage collection" the OS needed to do was thus hard-scheduled for (variously) 3:15am and 4:30am local time (the monthly script runs at 5:30am), it being likely that the machine would be unused at that time (and of course in those days such computers were never turned off). Today, these scripts will run by themselves if the Mac happens to be on at those times. Improvements in the power of the CPU means that you'd be unlikely to notice it happening even if you were doing something fairly intense. The scripts will only run at that time if they can -- if the machine is off or sleeping, the scripts are just delayed until the next cycle. There are several maintenance utilities for Mac (most of them free) that will induce or reschedule the running of these scripts, but it should be noted that they don't actually have to run every day anymore (one of the main reasons for the scripts in the first place was to rotate logs, because back in the day storage was more precious, for example). You can go months without running these scripts to no ill effect whatsoever. Bottom line: this is not something you need to spend any time thinking about. As part of your complete Mac OS X maintenance breakfast, you'll likely be running a utility program that will take care of this for you. Yes, it sounds like you accidentally doubled up on your accounts. Just go into Preferences -> Accounts and delete the extra one(s). [/QUOTE]
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Switcher Hangout (Windows to Mac)
A couple of questions if anyone can help?
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