Dummies.com Mac OS X

[harleygold]

I'd never think to go this site, but I'm not a smart apple. Reason I bought the apple . But I find it interesting and helpful for some basic Snow Leopard stuff for us "dummies" .

Dummies.com

O! i find the maintenance checklist to be interesting. I haven't done half that stuff on the checklist.

 

[HLdan]

Nice find. I'm a Mac power user and still don't know everything about the system. The keyboard shortcuts help is great. I've bookmarked that site, Thanks.

 

[Ashka]

Only looked at the Maintenance checklist ~ What a load of Rubbish.
Obviously written by someone without a clue and by the look of it without a Mac either.

Stick to David Pogue's Missing Manual if you need info.

 

[harleygold]

Nice find. I'm a Mac power user and still don't know everything about the system. The keyboard shortcuts help is great. I've bookmarked that site, Thanks.

Hey your welcome! Unlike others here, I happen to like it.

 

[rdowns]

Only looked at the Maintenance checklist ~ What a load of Rubbish.
Obviously written by someone without a clue and by the look of it without a Mac either.

Stick to David Pogue's Missing Manual if you need info.

Sounds like it was written by a Geek Squad employee. Defrag weekly- LOLz.

 

[Corrado33]

Sounds like it was written by a Geek Squad employee. Defrag weekly- LOLz.

I agree... definitely not written by a mac fan. One of the hints is, never leave your mac without saving. While yes I never do leave my computer without saving my document, it's not a matter of operating system, I do it regardless. This person just wanted a cheap shot at macs...

 

[sushi]

Sorry, but that site is way outdated and in some cases downright incorrect.

i find the maintenance checklist to be interesting. I haven't done half that stuff on the checklist.

Because there are items that you don't need to do.

That is not a good checklist. Rather it looks like someone who is familiar with PCs trying to do the same with Macs. Different OS'es with different maintenance needs. Defrag the disk? Give me a break.

Definitely not bookmarking that site.

 

[kolax]

Check for viruses weekly, defrag weekly, check for latest drivers for your hardware(?!) once a month..

None of that applies to OS X!

 

[alhajis]

Funny!

"Never get up from your Mac without saving your work. Just before your behind leaves the chair, your fingers should be pressing Command+S (which is the keyboard shortcut in Mac OS X Snow Leopard that saves your work). Make it a habit."

That was really Funny... I like the Site... Thanks for the tip.

 

[harleygold]

blah, blah, blah. I will learn this all on my own. don't need more amateurs telling me something different. You either enjoy the site or you dont. I for one saw some of this info helpful. So to share that, is what this forum is about.



You don't like it, Move on.

 

[miketheman]

Defrag the disk? Give me a break.

Does data not get fragmented in OSX?

 

[BlueRevolution]

I left a response on the maintenance article, although the site appears to have broken the line breaks. I'm sure there are other useful articles there, but that is not one of them.

Bullocks. The only reason to run most of these applications is to fix a problem when it appears.

Check for updates with Software Update — Your Mac will do this automatically with no involvement or configuration from you.

Back up with Time Machine — This is the one good tip, but again it will run automatically once it is set up.

Defragment (Micromat TechTool Pro/Prosoft Engineering Drive Genius 2) — Mac OS X uses the HFS+ filesystem, which does not suffer from fragmentation slowdowns. The only reason to defragment is in case of partitioning issues or when dealing with NTFS/FAT filesystems.

Repair Disk Permissions (Disk Utility) — The repair permissions function is used to fix problems after they appear. Running it periodically won't hurt anything, but there's no reason to do so either.

Delete Unnecessary User Accounts (System Preferences) — Yeah, obviously.

Scan for viruses (Intego VirusBarrier X5) — Current number of viruses for Mac: 0. Your money: wasted. If you really want a placebo, check out the free ClamXav, which is much lighter than VirusBarrier.

Check all volumes (Disk Utility/ Micromat TechTool Pro) — Why? Again, Disk Utility only needs to be used when a problem appears.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware — Your Mac automatically updates its own drivers via Software Update. Most third-party devices such as printers and storage devices work without additional drivers. The few devices that do use drivers usually update automatically.

Delete temporary Internet cache files (Prosoft Engineering Drive Genius 2) — Or from within Safari. There's no point in purchasing a $100 application when you can do it yourself for free. In any case, a large browser cache will hurt no one.


You recommend $270 worth of useless software in this list. How much of that money ends up back in your pocket? This is garbage.

Does data not get fragmented in OSX?

No. The HFS+ filesystem does not suffer fragmentation-related slowdowns unless it reaches >90% capacity, at which point you should start deleting files anyway.


Oh, and when I clicked the link I was presented with this charming message. Wishful thinking by the Dummies site, perhaps.

 

[sushi]

blah, blah, blah. I will learn this all on my own. don't need more amateurs telling me something different. You either enjoy the site or you dont. I for one saw some of this info helpful. So to share that, is what this forum is about.

You don't like it, Move on.

Please don't misunderstand. We like that you shared the website. That is cool.

There is some useful information. However, the website also contains incorrect information. This needs to be pointed out so that those who don't know will not use incorrect information. That's all.

Try not to take it personal. Rather, look at it as a learning experience.

 

[rdowns]

helpful. So to share that, is what this forum is about.

Yes, we are sharing that some things on the site you posted are incorrect. I loves to share.

 

[sushi]

Does data not get fragmented in OSX?

About disk optimization with Mac OS X

 

[jetworkr]

thanks for the link.

 

[Mumford]

The keyboard shortcuts help is great. I've bookmarked that site, Thanks.

MacRumors Keyboard Shortcuts Guide