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I bought a new iMac--how do I keep it healthy?
- Thread starter bobert1985
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bobert1985 said:All righty, after a smart decision to wait an extra week, I bought my very first mac: an iMac 2.1ghz G5 20in.Now, I am worried about keeping it alive for years to come. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to make sure I keep it in tip-top condition? Is there anything I need to know about LCD's in particular, since I've never had one before? I have an unusual amount of dust in my house--how big a problem will this be? I know this machine won't last forever, but I'd like to juice the life out of it for as long as possible, and to do that, it's gotta be healthy! Any suggestions and tips would help. Thanks!
Feed it a double chocolate PowerBar everyday.
Radtech sells protective covers, although they might not fit as well with the new model? The material is awesome though, I use it to clean my LCD. I recommend using iKlear with the cover/cloth, it's safe on LCDs and protects it. Never use alcohol on your LCD. Also, never use tissues, paper towels -- or anything besides microfiber really -- to clean the surface.
The material is awesome though, I use it to clean my LCD. I recommend using iKlear with the cover/cloth, it's safe on LCDs and protects it. Never use alcohol on your LCD. Also, never use tissues, paper towels -- or anything besides microfiber really -- to clean the surface.
For dust, I use the Swifer magic duster. I always put on a new duster piece before taking it to my iMac's screen though. Works like magic.
DON'T TOUCH THE LCD!!!* And if a guest reaches out to make that weird little ripple effect**, SMACK 'EM!bobert1985 said:All righty, after a smart decision to wait an extra week, I bought my very first mac: an iMac 2.1ghz G5 20in.
Other than that it's really easy. The dust shouldn't be a problem, but of course it looks a lot nicer when it's clean.
*- unless you are cleaning it - then, just be gentle
**- not to be confused with the dashboard effects. I am refering to what happends when you poke at the LCD.
Under preferences, there is one called energy saver, you can set the monitor to sleep independantly of when you want the hard drive to sleep. So if you want to keep things running at night but dont want to burn out your monitor's lifespan too quickly, it might be a good idea. It should wake from sleep in a 2-3 sec of pressing a button on the keyboard. One important thing about leaving you computer on 24/7 is that osx will run some regular maintence apps in the background at like 3 or 4 am every x days or weeks (I can't remember the specifics). So it might be good idea to keep it on overnight every now and again (1per month or something).
Another thing is if you ever start experiencing random quirky behavior, you should go into your apps folder, and then into your utilities folder, and open disk utility. This app allows you to "repair permissions" and you can think of it as defragging if you like (even though that's not what it's doing, mac's don't need defragging). That's always a great first stop for trouble shooting.
You might want to avoid having too many 3rd party apps/betas, at least at first until you get comfortable w/ how things run, b/c somtimes they can cause weird problems when Apple releases a security/regular update, so you might want to hold off on those for a month or two.
When the scroll ball on your mighty mouse gets gummed up (and it will), flip your mighty mouse over, get that soft microfiber screen cleaning cloth and rub it vigoriously back and forth over the mouse ball (it works like a charm for me).
Get a book like "the missing secrets of tiger" there are lots of em like that, and read up on all the cool little things that apple's worked into the os that most people never noticed. I've been a mac user for as long as I can remember, but I bought one for 10.2 and was astonished about how many things were in osx that I never knew were there (I'll help you pass the time while you're waiting for your order to arrive).
Feel free to ask us here at MacRumors anything (try doing a search first though cause sometimes people get pissy w/ repetitive threads), It's a great community, full of smart/friendly/helpful people. Oh and don't let all of my suggestions scare you, you can probably ignore all of them and never have a problem (osx is rock-solid), but it's always good to play things safe at first (just my opinion).
Oh, and you should be sure to let us know what you think about the new iMac! Many of us were drooling over it and are very jealous, so we like to enjoy new macs vicariously . We also love switch stories, so feel free to share yours.
Another thing is if you ever start experiencing random quirky behavior, you should go into your apps folder, and then into your utilities folder, and open disk utility. This app allows you to "repair permissions" and you can think of it as defragging if you like (even though that's not what it's doing, mac's don't need defragging). That's always a great first stop for trouble shooting.
You might want to avoid having too many 3rd party apps/betas, at least at first until you get comfortable w/ how things run, b/c somtimes they can cause weird problems when Apple releases a security/regular update, so you might want to hold off on those for a month or two.
When the scroll ball on your mighty mouse gets gummed up (and it will), flip your mighty mouse over, get that soft microfiber screen cleaning cloth and rub it vigoriously back and forth over the mouse ball (it works like a charm for me).
Get a book like "the missing secrets of tiger" there are lots of em like that, and read up on all the cool little things that apple's worked into the os that most people never noticed. I've been a mac user for as long as I can remember, but I bought one for 10.2 and was astonished about how many things were in osx that I never knew were there (I'll help you pass the time while you're waiting for your order to arrive).
Feel free to ask us here at MacRumors anything (try doing a search first though cause sometimes people get pissy w/ repetitive threads), It's a great community, full of smart/friendly/helpful people. Oh and don't let all of my suggestions scare you, you can probably ignore all of them and never have a problem (osx is rock-solid), but it's always good to play things safe at first (just my opinion).
Oh, and you should be sure to let us know what you think about the new iMac! Many of us were drooling over it and are very jealous, so we like to enjoy new macs vicariously
. We also love switch stories, so feel free to share yours.
It is NOT necessary, but if you leave your computer off at night (or asleep) then the regularly scheduled maintenance will not take place. As such, there are different 3rd party apps that will do so for you. Popular ones are MacJanitor, Anacron, and Onyx. I've used MacJanitor but don't like it as much as Anacron simply because w/ Anacron it does everything w/out any prompting on my part. A thread on MR discussing Anacron can be found here while the application itself can be found here.
A previous poster mentioned a book but w/ the wrong title; well known and well liked is the book, The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition that is the newest edition released in July 2005 (there is a slightly older version as well).
Hope some of this is helpful.
:edit: As far as keeping your computer physically/aesthetically clean, many people on MR love iKlear products. I just picked up a set for cheaper than MSRP ($24.95) from Fry's ($19.95): comes w/... n/m it'll take me forever to type it, but the exact link is here.
A previous poster mentioned a book but w/ the wrong title; well known and well liked is the book, The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition that is the newest edition released in July 2005 (there is a slightly older version as well).
Hope some of this is helpful.
:edit: As far as keeping your computer physically/aesthetically clean, many people on MR love iKlear products. I just picked up a set for cheaper than MSRP ($24.95) from Fry's ($19.95): comes w/... n/m it'll take me forever to type it, but the exact link is here.
bobert1985 said:All righty, after a smart decision to wait an extra week, I bought my very first mac: an iMac 2.1ghz G5 20in.
You need not worry about the years to come. For after one year there will be newer and more powerful macs which you will lust after and want to possess. Infact even after 6 months there will be an upgrade and while not being significant will set the wheels of desire in motion.
dogbone said:
Not necessarily. As a Mac user I don't seem to suffer from GHz envy, since the updates don't seem to make a big enough reason to upgrade each time... I wonder if this will change when Mac goes Intel and processors get bumped up as often as in the PC camp?
As for keeping you nice new computer healthy... just wipe it for dust ever so often. Oh... and get a really good surge protector. I guess also keep it away from sun-light, *and hurricanes*.
devilot76 said:
Thanks for the correction, I knew it was something like that, but I was too lazy to look up the title/link.
zv470 said:Oh... and get a really good surge protector. I guess also keep it away from sun-light, *and hurricanes*.
That's a must! I've got all of my expensive devices hooked up to a 75 minute back-up power battery. Three ports are for battery backup and four for surge protection. Very useful when Florida Power goes out in 30mph or less winds and in a powerful thunderstorm.
We need power in Florida like they have in Texas. During Rita, Sheppard Smith was in like 75mph winds broadcasting and the power around him was still on. Talk about great service!!! I believe the company was called Entergy. Too bad it went bankrupt after the storm.
See your iMac? Is the plastic a bit dirty? If so, then put your thumb into your mouth quickly, get it wet, and just rub that thumb into the dirt and grime.
Repeat as necessary.
Doesn't it just do this?
(In TERMINAL, type): sudo periodic daily monthly weekly
I had MacJanitor and its not like you need an entire program to get this running. Maybe there's something I don't know?
Repeat as necessary.
devilot76 said:
Doesn't it just do this?
(In TERMINAL, type): sudo periodic daily monthly weekly
I had MacJanitor and its not like you need an entire program to get this running. Maybe there's something I don't know?
I'm not familiar w/ TERMINAL commands so I wouldn't know that part. I just know that w/ MacJanitor you have to manually go into that app and tell it 'clean up' while w/ Anacron, you essentially 'activate' (wrong word but I can't think of the right word) the first time and then it just runs on its own.Abstract said:Doesn't it just do this?
(In TERMINAL, type): sudo periodic daily monthly weekly
I had MacJanitor and its not like you need an entire program to get this running. Maybe there's something I don't know?