by Frank Petrie phranky@mamugs.com

Back in the pre-OS X days, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth ("Yes, I'm looking at you Mr. Gates!"), you probably remember an indispensable tool called 'Extension Overload.' And ever since I have been using X as my primary OS, I have searched for a similar tool for use with OS X. Well my search has come to a fruitful conclusion. Introducing 'X Overload.'

"X Overload is an application with a collection of useful utilities that lets you manage and maintain your Mac OS X and classic system folder. Here are some of the key things you can do with X Overload...Manage items in Mac OS...Manage items in Classic System folder...Delete unnecessary localization language files."

My fingers are crossed and I'm holding my breath. Here we go.

THE GOOD

You can either mount a .dmg and create a folder on your hard drive and drag all the files into it, or download a .sit file. There - you now have achieved the most difficult part of the learning curve for this app.

From within this one app, you can manage your Apple Menu Items, Contextual Menu Items, Control Panels, Control Strips Modules, Extensions, Fonts, Startup Items and Internet Plug-ins located inside your Classic system folder. You can also search or browse the database for error codes. In X, it allows you to manage your Contextual Menu Items, Fonts, Preference files, Preference Panes, Services and Screen Savers located in the library folders in Mac OS X.

And as an added bonus, they have appended a de-localization program. This lets you remove whatever languages you don't plan on using on your computer. If you plan to just use English and remove the rest of the files, you can reclaim hundreds of MB of disk space. Or, if you choose to, you can de-localize just a single app if you would like (to my knowledge, this is the only app that will do this)!

THE BAD

Nada.

THE UGLY

Nada.

NUTSHELL

Thank you X Overload Development Team (Teng Chou Ming & Scott Mitchell). My prayer has been answered. And according to the creators, this is only the beginning. For example, the next version will allow the user to delete cache files and cookies created by their browsers. All this in one simple to use package.

Folks, don't even hesitate. This tool is powerful and will save you lots of manual labour and countless headaches.

(c)2003 Frank Petrie, Technologies & Products Specialist The Mid-Atlantic Macintosh User Groups Team (MaMUGs) http://www.mamugs.org

X Overload is distributed as Shareware. You are permitted to use it on trial basis for up to 30 days
or 30 launches. If you wish to continue using X Overload beyond that period, you are expected to pay a
registration fee to obtain a license to use X Overload. If you find that X Overload is not for you, you just drag it to the Trash.

MACinations March 04