Leopard OS Maintenance: what do I need to do?

All,

Coming from WinXP, I have always made sure the OS are optimized to prevent crashes and lags to absolute minimum, such as:

- Defrag: HDD optimization
- Registry tools: orphaned .DLL, incomplete uninstall process, etc.
- Cleaner: using CCLeaner to remove all unnecessary and old stuff

Note that these activities are SEPARATE from AntiVirus / Spyware cleaning

Now that I have a MacBookPro (MBP), I researched on what needs to be done and I found many things that are different. For example, there are far more Disk-type utilities and directory build..etc..etc. from the makers of TechToolPro, Drive Genius, and others. Even more, I learn uninstalling application from Leopard is not a simple process at all and one must use AppZapper or AppCleaner.

So what exactly I need to do to maintain Leopard to keep it optimized.

So far, this is what I have done:
1. UNINSTALL: use AppZapper. Even after uninstall, I did a search for the application name to make sure nothing is left over. However, I don't know if there is a registry-type thing that I need to look for the left overs.

2. CLEANER: I use "Onyx" to:
- Verify S.M.A.R.T. Status and Startup disk (I don't even know what this does, but their website recommend it)
- Delete cache in Boot, Kernel, Logs files, etc.

 

yeah, its kind of annoying, yesterday i simply reformatted my HD cause i had so much left over junk from the stuff i was trying out in the beginning..

now i only installed the stuff i need and im good

 

When you reinstall the OS, what was your back strategy to put all the backup data, including OS settings? Did you just reinstall Leopard using the Install DVD and restore view Time Machine again? But wouldn't that bring back all the junks?

Speaking of backup strategy, what do you use to create a good backup image? What I meant is: with WinXP, I use Acronis TrueImage to do this:

1) Reinstall WinXP and customize the OS settings to my liking WITHOUT installing any applications. Create image file and name it "BASE"

2) Install the necessary applications, like AntiVirus and CCleaner. Create image file and name it "READY"

3) The subsequent backup is a weekly image.

If disaster strike, I can restore the "READY" image or "BASE" image.

With Time Machine, the "BASE" backup WILL BE deleted when my USB HDD gets full.

 

i just copied my pictures / music / documents to another drive, formatted and reinstalled and sent everything back

i am not very familiar with backing up stuff, i find this way to be easier and "cleaner"

 

reinstalling from scratch is probably the only way to completely clear absolutely every extra file.

but quite honestly, that can seriously take a long time depending on your setup. I have found creating an image is a good way to go, show you can restore absolutely every detail of your setup, preferences, etc. without much of a hassle.

but it is pretty to keep OS X pretty tidy overall.

 

That was the approach I took for my WinXP OS. But with Leopard, does Time Machine create an "image" file too, such that in the event of restore, I just run Time Machine, select the date of the backup data and that's it?

Also, what do you do to maintain the OS per my 1st thread?

 

yeah, backing up the files to another hd takes long, but reinstalling the OS took like 30 mins

 

I actually decided to use two methods for this:

1. I installed Mac OS X with none of the extra languages (I did however decide to keep the printer drivers because you never know when they could come in handy, and hard drive space is plenty these days) on a clean hard drive.

2. Installed all of the latest updates and my software (iLife, iWork, Adium, VLC, TextMate, Transmit, CandyBar, etc).

3. Created both an initial Time Machine back up and then another backup using Carbon Copy Cloner.

Now, I just let Mac OS X make incremental back ups using Time Machine and all is good to go. I change my dock and icons every now and then using CandyBar, so this comes in handy in case something doesn't work properly. I also use OnyX when I want to give the computer a good cleaning, along with booting the computer in "Safe Boot" mode once to clear up any additional files.

 

how often do you guys reinstall? I take really good care when it comes to my computers, my pc for exampel has not been reformatted/reinstalled for 3 years, and its still going strong.

Hopefully I wont need to reinstall the MBP only if I'm forced too, because I hate setting up all my files and preferences and installing all over again.

 

What happen when your USB HDD is running out of space and Time Machine delete the OLDEST backup, which happen to be your initial backup?


Do you let it got deleted or you copy that somewhere for safekeeping?

 

Personally I just let it do its thing. Once it runs outa space, it will just keep a backup for that month(eg Dec 07). You can still restore it from that month, but with any backup solution like time machine, you will eventually run outa space.

Not sure if you can backup time machine though.

 

Well according to Apple no direct maintenance is required. Which for the most part is correct.

Defrag: NTFS supposedly doesn't fragment as easily and/or OS X already does defragmenting itself. This is particularly true for small files. I believe large multi-gigabyte files still fragment, but I guess Apple doesn't consider this a big issue since reading from large files you are more limited by streaming bandwidth which is dependent on your hard drive rather than latency from fragmentation. So you don't really need to defragment your HDD.

Registry: OS X doesn't have a registry so it avoids this single-point of failure from corruption.

Cleaner: OS X already includes daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts that it automatically executes to clean itself. From what I understand all Onyz and other cleaning programs do is just let you manually activate those scripts yourself, but it's really no different from what OS X is doing itself.

In terms of uninstalling programs, there isn't a central Add/Remove Programs app partially because there is no central registry to keep updated. The recommended procedure for most Mac programs is to be self-contained, which is why most programs are just drag-and-drop installs. Uninstallation is supposed to be similarly as easy, just drag the app to the trash. The only places Apps are really ever supposed to spawn files to is Applications Support and Preferences. But, most times, these folders aren't that big, so I guess Apple doesn't consider it a big problem to have things left behind, and they don't effect other applications anyways.

Admittedly, even though I said OS X doesn't really need maintenance, I do try to do something. Mainly, when I uninstall apps I use AppZapper, since it's not really a hardship. And occasionally when I have time I use iDefrag to defragment my hard drive, like once every month or two. And I do a permissions repair in Disk Utility before and after system updates. But I'm not really as concerned about maintenance on OS X as on my Windows computers.

 

Thanks for the explanation, Itcommander.

What exactly the Permission Repair does:

I see the same thing in Onyx, but I never click "YES" on that because I don't what it does.

On removing applications, I Googled AppZapper and AppCleaner and so far the article mentioned that these cleaner still CANNOT remove each of the files left over by the installed applications, which can ended up cluttering to your OSX such that you may need to reinstall the whole OS.

In WinXP, I use a registry snapshot so I know exactly which registry entries, files installed, and .dll used so later on I can remove them if the uninstaller miss it.

 

lanwarrior, you're like overanlyzing this too much, lol.

Even without appzapper or similiar apps, dragging applications to the trash is probably perfectly fine.

OSX isn't like windows in the sense that it will get cluttered and slow down to the same extent as windows.

You can also repair disk permissions in disk utility.

But yea, just from my end you need to stop worrying, and start enjoying your new mac ;p

 

OS X is UNIX based so it has inherent file permissions. Like which level of user has access to which files, so that you can't accidentally or maliciously modify or delete key system files without prompting for your password. Permission repair makes sure the permissions are set correctly on many core OS X files so that Software updates are modify files and install correctly. Usually it isn't a problem, but sometimes some installers change the permissions and forget to change them back for other apps, which may cause problems, so permission repair fixes this. Apple really doesn't recommend running permission repair all the time as a maintenance tool since normally permissions don't get changed unless you're installing pretty low level software that touches system files, but I just run them before critical Apple system updates like a 10.5.x update or security updates since these are the only ones that would be effected.

And in terms of AppZapper being so concerned about stray files, they would be since they are selling the thing. But realistically a few stray files aren't going to corrupt your system. I reformat my computer every year or so, so any buildup is hardly significant in the time period.

 

LOL! Yeah, coming from Windows XP I always try to be prepared because really hate reinstalling everything, plus configuring every nook and crack again.

To tell you the truth, I have installed these applications and yet to see any slowdown on my MBP:

- OFFICE 2008
- Evernote (background app)
- Live Mesh (background app)
- Stuffit (background app)

I just can't believe it thatstart from total shutdown is so fast. Mac rocks!

 

Thanks for the info! Now I know what directory permission means. I'll run that from Onyx before applying (the soon-to-be-available) 10.5.5

 

I wouldn't waste my time defragmenting HFS+
I wouldn't waste my time cleaning up 4KB preference files (unless you have a good reason, i.e, MS crap flung all over your system)
I wouldn't waste my time worrying about performance degradation before it (if ever) happens.

Personally, I run:

- Repair Permissions
- Verify Preferences
- Update Prebindings
- Periodic Clean-up
- Update Locate, Whatis, LaunchServices Databases

Once every few months.

I assume you meant to type: 10.5. 6

10.5.5 has been out for awhile now.

You can be slightly less neurotic about cleaning up after your new OS. But hey, if it makes you happy, then by all means feel free to tidy up as much as you want

 

What tools do you use for this?

 

Maintenance 3.8. Just a simple apple script.

 

Aside from securely deleting the Trash, I dont do any type of maintenance or clean up on my Mac's aside from the occasional verify disk or permissions. I've installed and removed so many applications and I've never experienced any type of performance degradation. On my Windows boxes, yeah, I run maintenance pretty regularly