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Is Mac Janitor neccesary with Leopard? Will it be with Snow leopard?

R

rich2k4

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 15, 2009
110
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i heard that leopard runs the maintenance scripts as soon as you boot the computer back up, if it missed them. However i also heard that they don't if you shut the computer down at night, only if you put it to sleep mode.

I plan on shutting down my computer at night, so i was wondering is this true?

is it necessary in leopard? do you think it will be needed in snow leopard?
 
rich2k4 said:
i heard that leopard runs the maintenance scripts as soon as you boot the computer back up, if it missed them. ...

is it necessary in leopard? do you think it will be needed in snow leopard?
Click to expand...
You're describing a world that disappeared with Panther, IIRC. Since then, MacOS X runs the periodic maintenance scripts while your computer is powered-up. There is no need to leave it powered-up full-time.

Remember that MacJanitor is a fee-based product. OnyX does most of what MacJanitor does, but it is free. However, you need neither utility.
 
i did some more research and read that even though it says that leopard runs the scripts while your computer is on, some people said that it doesn't. you need to run them manually. this only applies if you missed the scheduled maintenence time. people have said leopard doesn't run the scripts if you missed them. they checked on the logs
 
rich2k4 said:
... they checked on the logs
Click to expand...
I bet they did. When these anal retentive people don't understand is that it is not necessary to run the periodic scripts on a fixed schedule. The OS will run them in due time. On the machine that I using to post this, I have never run them manually. It has probably been years since I ran them using OnyX.

Chill. It's a Mac. Don't worry about it.
 
Agreed. I was new to Mac in Feb of this year and had the same concern. I rarely leave the computer on for more than I need it and read up on macjanitor and onyx. They are both free to my knowledge, but from what I've read and seen, are not necessary as Leopard takes care of this upon your computers waking/booting. I'm assuming that the same will hold true for Snow Leopard...I know enough about Mac's that they wouldnt take a step backwards when it comes to these things...:D
 
rich2k4 said:
i did some more research and read that even though it says that leopard runs the scripts while your computer is on, some people said that it doesn't. you need to run them manually. this only applies if you missed the scheduled maintenence time. people have said leopard doesn't run the scripts if you missed them. they checked on the logs
Click to expand...

Leopard will not run them if the computer was turned off at the time they were supposed to happen. It will run them if it was asleep at the time, however. But you won't run into any problems if you miss one or two.
 
i found a widget called maintidget that monitors maintenance scripts and lets you run them manually if you wish, it's pretty nifty and might do what you want without having to buy a program or anything.
 
Cinder6 said:
Leopard will not run them if the computer was turned off at the time they were supposed to happen. It will run them if it was asleep at the time, however. But you won't run into any problems if you miss one or two.
Click to expand...
Apple supplanted cron with launchd. launchd is more sophisticated and powerful than cron. It runs the periodic tasks and other automatic UNIX utilities when the computer is powered-up, not just at specific times of the day.
 
Macbarton69 said:
Maintenance scripts are set to run from 3:15 to 5:30 each day, week, or month. Your computer cannot be sleeping or they will not run. Mac janitor is ok to use if you plan to shut down your computer at night.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2319
Click to expand...

Well someone is wrong here--maybe this is just old advice--even though it is from 2008. I know I looked at this awhile back after I saw a similar post here and convinced myself that the maintenance would indeed run. Today I tried that dashboard app Maintidget and sure enough--all the background maintenance was indeed run in a timely manner--the daily one today right after my iMac awoke from sleep. In fact, all of them are indeed run right after being awaken from sleep. So this post on the Apple site is apparently old information.
 
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