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Experienced OS X Users - My Departure from Windows

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systemnova

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2010
2
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I've used windows practically since birth (back in 3.1 days). I've hated mac's and mac users for many years with compatibility being my only issue even though the machines are damn sexy.

With this no longer an issue the macbook pro 13" has converted me, and i now humbly ask the gods of Mac to help me regain my leet skills in this strange new operating system.
It kills me that there is so much to love!!! (beautifully integrated shortcuts rock)

Ok, but i need help!

I'm looking for control on a process\service level of the currently running apps as in MSCONFIG and Task Manager equivalents.

I've read several posts regarding mac equivalents eg. User Accounts/startup
However, there doesn't seem to be a comprehensive spot for managing all the processes running under the hood of the application and during boot.

Can you guys help me out? I really... Really miss MSCONFIG
 
You don't need to worry about any processes slowing down your computer. This isn't windows. Only applications will have an affect on how your computer performs (you have control over this obviously), the 'root' portion of the OS takes care of itself.
 
There is Activity Monitor in Applications > Utilities, don't forget to select Show All Processes.

Also a more descriptive and precise thread title will help cater to the right audience and get you more responses.
To edit your thread title, just click on the
edit.gif
button on the bottom right of your original post and then click the "Go Advanced" button below your message.


Have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

http://guides.macrumors.com/
 
Thanks!

Thanks Miles and Spinner,
I think its mainly psychological on some level i don't believe activity monitor is giving me everything, it seems to clean, simple & beautiful for this to be all processes!
My next issue is processes on startup. I've read that accounts/login items does not actually contain all startup items and that these can be spread across several system folders. Can anyone clarify the best way to control all startup processes?

I'm very interested in this "top" terminal command, in the process of researching now.

ps. apologies for the poor choice of topic title (the edit button isn't there?)
 
And if you want to force quit an app you can use command + option+ escape for en overview of all running apps including the ones that are hanging.
 
Check out the command line utilities, a good book on unix would help in that department.

Their isn't a direct counterpart of the task manager other then maybe the activity monitor. I use top with the various flags to get what I want.
 
systemnova said:
My next issue is processes on startup. I've read that accounts/login items does not actually contain all startup items and that these can be spread across several system folders. Can anyone clarify the best way to control all startup processes?
Click to expand...

There's three places to my knowledge: accounts/login items for your user, HD/Library/StartUpItems, and HD/System/Library/StartUpItems. It's best not to play too much with the system folder, though, unless you know what you are doing.
 
Manage processes with ps, top and kill.

Open a terminal and type: man launchctl

Launchctl controls launchd. Launchd controls the launching of processes, startup processes, scheduled processes and daemons.

Welcome to UNIX.
 
systemnova said:
Thanks Miles and Spinner,
I think its mainly psychological on some level i don't believe activity monitor is giving me everything, it seems to clean, simple & beautiful for this to be all processes!
Click to expand...

Make sure you select "All Processes" at the top of Activity Monitor to see everything.


systemnova said:
My next issue is processes on startup. I've read that accounts/login items does not actually contain all startup items and that these can be spread across several system folders. Can anyone clarify the best way to control all startup processes?
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, why are you wanting to manage your startup processes..?
 
Windows users always want to use msconfig because in Windows this is the simplest way to speed up your PC. However this isn't really the case for mac or linux.

However, yes go into the login items under user accounts in the system preferences, make sure you actually delete the item, (press the - sign on the bottom) instead of just clicking it off.

I currently don't have anything checked on my mac pro 13" mainly because of being used to windows forever as well so one of the first things I wanted to know was how to make it faster. The only thing I have to do to my mac is restart it about once a month or so and then it's fast again. I do though out of fun/boredom/being a windows user I reinstall my OS every year.

So ya I never shut down my macbook pro I just close the lid and get to it later.
 
I would also suggest that if you're not familiar with *nix that you not go off and start killing processes and mucking around with startup items. IIRC there was a poster recently who decided that launchd was a bad process and deleted it. It didn't end well.
 
systemnova said:
I'm looking for control on a process\service level of the currently running apps as in MSCONFIG and Task Manager equivalents. . . .

Can you guys help me out? I really... Really miss MSCONFIG
Click to expand...

People are spot-on when they tell you OS X is not Windows.

Many of us are Windows converts, so I understand instinctively why you want to try and "msconfig" your new OS X system.

But, this isn't Windows. First thing, Apple makes the hardware and software to work together, which cuts down on a lot of garbage. Snow Leopard was specifically designed to be streamlined. This eliminates quite a bit of the crapware PC folks have to deal with.

Applications (programs) are managed much, much better in OS X. In many respects it's a "drag and drop" process to access programs in OS X, versus "installing" programs in Windows.

Hence you don't need to worry about stupid *.dll calls from programs you've never heard of either crashing or slowing your system. Don't need to worry about the garbage registry Windows still uses to this day. MSoft needs to rip up Windows and start from scratch, the fundamental structure of dlls and registry is seriously outdated. DLL files + registry = trash OS.

Much of this is a gross oversimplification, but suffice to say, you really don't need to do a msconfig-type review with OS X. Unix simply is superior to Windows, period.
 
Velin said:
Hence you don't need to worry about stupid *.dll calls from programs you've never heard of either crashing or slowing your system. Don't need to worry about the garbage registry Windows still uses to this day.
Click to expand...

Question for you about this from another new Mac user...I've heard that when you delete a program in OSX you simply drag it to the trash can. Sounds good. But I've heard that some applications still leave other files behind, which is the reason that there are some third-party applications for sale that delete programs better than dragging to the trash bin. Which is correct?
 
I always use the "top" command on my linux server to see what is going on. I've also used it on my Mac a few times but not that much as the Activity Monitor does fine for me but "top" is an option in terminal mode if you think you can get more info from it.
 
DaveTheRave said:
Question for you about this from another new Mac user...I've heard that when you delete a program in OSX you simply drag it to the trash can. Sounds good. But I've heard that some applications still leave other files behind, which is the reason that there are some third-party applications for sale that delete programs better than dragging to the trash bin. Which is correct?
Click to expand...

Both.

Some software uses the Library / Application Support folder to store some additional files, GarageBand and Logic for example store their audio samples there.
Some software also stores their settings and other relevant data in other places like Library / Application Support or Users / YOU / Library / Application Support, but the amount of space it takes away can be considered miniscule, as it may be several hundred kilobytes or sometimes a megabyte or three.

That's why those third party applications exist, to remove some of the harder to find files (for most Mac OS X users), but there are not really necessary, as those remnant files don't do anything, when their mother-program is gone.

There is no registry in Mac OS X which can get filled up in that way.
 
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