by Victoria Maciulski Newsletter Editor, Conejo Ventura Mac User Group (CVMUG) http://www.cvmug.org/

Mac OS X, because it is UNIX, does its own maintenance by automatically running background tasks (on a pre-determined schedule) to do such things as delete temporary files, clean up log files, and remove system files that are no longer needed. These system maintenance procedures can help prevent problems on your computer and keep certain log files from becoming too large, keeping your computer running smoothly.

The system maintenance is broken into three parts: daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance. By default, your OS X has it scheduled to occur at 3:15 A.M. everyday, 4:30 A.M. on Saturdays, and 5:30 A.M. on the first day of each month (in your local time zone). However, these tasks cannot run if your computer is shut down or in sleep mode. So, if you regularly have your computer off or asleep at those times, you don't get the benefits of that maintenance.

If you don't want to keep your computer running overnight, you can perform these procedures manually, on your own schedule. A few programs are out there to help you do it easily.

Try MacJanitor, a free program that allows you to run maintenance tasks whenever you want. Download it at:http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10491

Another one is XJanitor-PL, but it doesn't seem to be as simple to use as the others mentioned in this article. It's more for the techy minded. Download it at http://theapotek.com//teknotes/downloads/XJanitor-10.23.sitx

A fairly new one is OnyX 1.4.1. This version runs on Panther only. Version 1.3.1 is available for Jaguar. Use it to run maintenance, optimize and personalize your system. You can also configure hidden parameters in the Dock and Finder. It's Free. Download it at http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macintosh/20070

Doktor Kleanor 10.2 runs on Jaguar (10.2 - 10.2.8) only. It will do the maintenance, clean caches, repair permissions and verify (and fix, if needed) problems with mounting disk images. It's also free at http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13256

I use Panther Cache Cleaner. It runs on both Panther and Jaguar. In addition to running the maintenance scripts, it can repair permissions, clean the caches, rebuild prebindings and a whole bunch of other very technical stuff. You can download it at http://www.northernsoftworks.com/panthercachecleaner.html

 If you are an advanced user, you can use Terminal to run those maintenance items.

     •      Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal).

     •      Type: sudo sh /etc/daily and press the RETURN key. (Note: To run the weekly or monthly tasks, type weekly or monthly in place of daily.)

     •      When prompted, enter your Mac OS X Administrator password and press ENTER.

     •    Quit Terminal when the task is complete. Monthly tasks may require more time to run than weekly or daily tasks.

MACinations March 04