Is MacSweeper the best way to keep Mac optimized?

[silkenasia]

I have this MacSweeper thing that I keep using - but I dont know if its a good idea. I don't even know where I got it - or if it's ever been updated - I think mine is 3.0. I'm so used to running all of these defrag and so forth kinds of programs from Windoze days that I feel like I have to run something to keep the system in shape.

Can someone set me straight on what should be done to maintain the hard drive and so forth in optimal condition - and what products to use - and what to avoid (if any)? I don't mind paying if there's a great one.

Thanks to all and any who reply!

Matthew Peretz
15.2" PB 1GHZ 768MB RAM

 

[varmit]

I have this MacSweeper thing that I keep using - but I dont know if its a good idea. I don't even know where I got it - or if it's ever been updated - I think mine is 3.0. I'm so used to running all of these defrag and so forth kinds of programs from Windoze days that I feel like I have to run something to keep the system in shape.

Can someone set me straight on what should be done to maintain the hard drive and so forth in optimal condition - and what products to use - and what to avoid (if any)? I don't mind paying if there's a great one.

Thanks to all and any who reply!

Matthew Peretz
15.2" PB 1GHZ 768MB RAM

After installing anything that askes you for your password. Use Disk Utility to Repair Permissions. That is the only real thing that you need to do, unlike our PC counterparts that have to run lots of maintainence programs.

Know this, any file that your Mac opens, if it is less than 20MB, it automatically defrags it. So defragging is not really needed. Avoid using Norton System Works or what ever it is, it will only hurt your Mac. Disk Warrior is good if you still want to do defragging and disk maintainence.

If you want to be a power user when it comes to keeping your Mac healthy, or you turn your Mac off every night, then you can get Anacron or MacJanitor to do the cron jobs (Unix Mantainence) when you want them to be done.

The basic, and what I do even though I'm a Computer geek is just the basic Disk Utility and I leave my Mac on over night so the Cron Jobs can run. Macs are easier to own than a PC.

 

[FriarCrazy]

Is it true that your Mac will auto-defrag EVERYTHING when its been sitting around for a while?

 

[Vector]

OS X also analyzes which files you open often and moves them to the faster part of the disk.

 

[yellow]

Varmit hit it all right on the head.. the only thing I have to add is that automagic-defragging only was included with Panther. This doesn't exist in Jaguar.