iBook system maintenance

[keirius]

hi there! I've just got my 12" iBook G4. I'd like to know what is required for maintenance (i'm so used to it.. just switch over from PC). Should I get an Antivirus. What about defragmentation, is there such things in a Mac? Someone tell me know what are the essentials/must have tools to maintain a good system. Is Norton a must have for Mac too? Thanks a lot..

 

[Bear]

Mac OS X provides most of the everyday maintenance tools that you will need.

Norton anything is best kept away from the Mac. Norton has stopped developing/maintaining a lot [all??} of their Mac software and it just breaks more things than anyone cares to think about.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Yep, stay well CLEAR of antivirus software for the Mac. Plus, it's pointless, as there are NO viruses for Mac OS X (that doesn't mean we should become too complacent, but you'll hear about it here when the time comes to start worrying about all that).

As for maintenance, yes Mac OS X will do the lion share for you itself. It's worth getting a program called MacJanitor (www.versiontracker.com) or similar to manage the CRON scripts every once in a while. Cron is a unix script that maintains your computer by flushing the cache, etc, and deleting certain logs and files every once in a while but tends to run when your Mac is not turned on or asleep. MacJanitor and such programs just allow you to run these scripts at your leisure.

Also, run Disc Utitlity (found in the utilities folder on your Mac) every once in a while (such as after and before a Mac OS X system update) and repair permissions on your hard drive. That optimises the hard drive and fixes anything that may have gone slightly wrong.

Defragmentation isn't really an issue either, and Panther auto-defrags any file up to 20MB on the fly anyway. You don't need to worry about it.

However, note that even if you don't really do any maintenance at all, your Mac will still run fine and fast and not slow down like Windows tends to do.

 

[lalcan]

One of the few utilities i've found worthwhile is this:

Yasu : http://www.jimmitchelldesigns.com/software.html

You should run it every once in a while, like each month to clean cache's and keep everything clean, best of all, it's donation-ware, meaning payment is optional.

You don't need an antivirus (8 years without any virus for the platform) but if you want to scan all the mails the "other people" send you and be able to clean them to avoid forwarding virus, you might get Virex, it's included with .Mac accounts.

And, if you surf a lot, it could be important to turn on the included firewall (find it in System Preferences - Sharing, 2nd tab)

But, mind you, these tools are mostly unneeded, my parents have kept using a system for over two years without any problem/performance hit.

And, by the way, Welcome to the bright side, i hope you'll find, as most of us have, that computing is really about making your mind free, not your hands busy ;-)