.plist weeding

[Sasha3]

Is there any app that will compare .plist files with all of the software you use to let you know what you can get rid of or not. No programer I so most of the designations mean nothing to me. A few, like* DVD Bookmarks* , which I assume are placed there each time I pause a DVD, can be deleted without worry about trashing something I really need. But I know there are things there that just take up space. Can a few hundred of these affect performance/speed?

[Horrortaxi]

I'm not sure what task you'd have to be doing to be slowed down by excessive preference files, but rest assured you won't probably do it in the real world.

You can browse the Library > Preferences folder and trash the ones for apps you don't have anymore if you really have that much time on your hands.

When you delete an app in the future, search Finder (command f) for it and delete all the files it displays--that way you'll get everything, including that pesky little 4k preference file.

[JDar]

I don't know of an application which compares and alerts you only to unneeded plist files, but you can accomplish that and more with OmniDiskSweeper from the OmniGroup, and they allow a one day free trial license which might be sufficient for your needs. Take care, obviously! I tried it out moments ago and found a whole trial application of MoneyDance and related files which I was happy to ablate.

[jsw]

I'm not sure what task you'd have to be doing to be slowed down by excessive preference files, but rest assured you won't probably do it in the real world.

Agreed. I think some people have nightmares from the Windows registry, whcih gets slower and more bloated every install (as well as with DLL files). Not an issue on the Mac. .plist files are only opened by the apps that care about them; any others are ignored.

[jsw]

I don't know of an application which compares and alerts you only to unneeded plist files, but you can accomplish that and more with OmniDiskSweeper from the OmniGroup, and they allow a one day free trial license which might be sufficient for your needs. Take care, obviously! I tried it out moments ago and found a whole trial application of MoneyDance and related files which I was happy to ablate.

Interesting - the web site seems to indicate that all it does is find big files for you. I'll have to check it out.

[mkrishnan]

Agreed. I think some people have nightmares from the Windows registry, whcih gets slower and more bloated every install (as well as with DLL files). Not an issue on the Mac. .plist files are only opened by the apps that care about them; any others are ignored.

Yeah, we just have trouble with certain trouble-maker programs like help viewer. ;) The decentralization is nice, though. If the help viewer issue leached out into every other program running, I'd probably throw my iBook out the window! :p

[7on]

the app "Preferential Treatment" can detect corrupted preferences. Dunno how accurate it is, but it may help.