Maintaining my Ibook

[Applexilef]

Hey Guys, recent switcher here...

As you all know, windows users are constantly suggested to run scandisk, disk defragger, anti-virus, etc. I was wondering, is there any type of computer maintenance software available for the mac?

I think I'm posting this because I still feel the old habit of running scandisk on my old windows machine.

 

[krisjon]

Hey Guys, recent switcher here...

As you all know, windows users are constantly suggested to run scandisk, disk defragger, anti-virus, etc. I was wondering, is there any type of computer maintenance software available for the mac?

I think I'm posting this because I still feel the old habit of running scandisk on my old windows machine.

You could start with a copy of Alsoft's Diskwarrior 3.01. It's an excellent disk utility for your Mac. Probably the best out there. From there, try Cocktail (macosxcocktail.com) which was just recommended to me the other day on here. Another excellent program. Between those two programs, you should be good.

As far as virus protection, it's not really an issue on the Mac platform as a whole, but the major ones are Norton and Virex.

Enjoy your mac and welcome to the other side.

 

[dukemeiser]

Try MacJanitor. I also use DiskWarrior for preventitive measures. Most people will need a disk utility sometime, and DiskWarrior happened to be my choice. There are several other choices.
The only other thing I do is repair permissions when my Mac starts acting funny. Use Disk Utility for that (already installed).

 

[Horrortaxi]

You have to unlearn Windows and let your Mac be a Mac.

Here are my steps to a happy Mac--run the daily, weekly, and monthly cronjobs daily, weekly and monthly. If your computer is on all the time then that's taken care of. If not, there's MacJanitor to run them on demand or Macaroni to reschedule them. Repair permissions weekly. You can do it in Disk Utility, or use Macaroni to do it automatically. That's it.

Don't worry about anti-virus. Enjoy it while you can. Also, don't worry about disk utilities until you have a problem that your built-ins can't handle. Chances are you won't have any.

If you do need to get a utility, or if the day comes where we do have to worry about viruses, avoid everything from Norton. It's gold-standard on Windows but causes more trouble than it's worth on Mac.

 

[switcher22]

repairing permissions ?

I to am a new mac user with an iBook and I've heard talk of "repairing permissions" somewhat frequently, but I don't know what is is. Could somebody explain the concept and how I go about it using Disk Utility.

Thanks

 

[rdowns]

I to am a new mac user with an iBook and I've heard talk of "repairing permissions" somewhat frequently, but I don't know what is is. Could somebody explain the concept and how I go about it using Disk Utility.

Thanks

Go here:

http://8help.osu.edu/1198.html

 

[switcher22]

repairing permissions ?

Thanks rdowns.

 

[mklos]

Hey Guys, recent switcher here...

As you all know, windows users are constantly suggested to run scandisk, disk defragger, anti-virus, etc. I was wondering, is there any type of computer maintenance software available for the mac?

I think I'm posting this because I still feel the old habit of running scandisk on my old windows machine.

Another good choice for a disk management program is TechTool Pro 4. This will do all kinds of things like test your processor, memory, drives, Finder Structure, Directory structure, and file structure. If it finds anything wrong with them it will repair them. Tech Tool Pro 4 also has the ability to optimize your HD (aka defrag), but you'll rarely need to use that part. There are also some cool saftey features like the eDrive which when you set it up will create an emergency drive with Techtool Pro 4 on it so if something goes bad with your hard drive Tech Tool Pro 4 will try to fix it after it has booted from that eDrive. It also has things like you can set it up e-mail you when it thinks you have a drive or something else going bad to let you know ahead of time before something does go bad so you can get your data off that drive before you loose it.

TechTool Pro 4 costs around $70 or $80 and you can buy it from anywhere that sells Macs/Mac Software.

As far as an Anti-Virus program like what was said before there isn't really any viruses, trojan horses, etc... for Mac OS X. That being said you probably should still have an anti-virus for when the first one does hit the OS X platform. I recommend Norton Anti-Virus 9 which will not only detect Mac viruses, but also PC viruses as well so you can tell if your giving your PC a virus. I'm sure others will do that too, but I know that NAV 9.0 will do that.