MBP "Clean up" to make faster again?

[ViciousShadow21]

I advised that you not do it, as did others. I agreed with them and criticized only those who gave out bad advice, that they couldn't defend even when I gave them the opportunity. This nearly always results in an argument around here. Not much I can do about that.

who are you to decide what is good and bad advice. and why do you care so much. im not MAKING him do it. your advice doesnt carry any more weight than anybody else on this forum. so just chill out and just say i disagree. dont start insulting ppl. he is going to do what he wants. and whosever advice he takes good for him. i dont really care.

 

[Kronie]

The "wonder" of OSX is that it rarely auto-hoses like Windows. I'm not going to try to prove a negative, and since I don't have the slightest idea what "benefit" you believe accrues from reinstalling, and apparently neither do you, it's impossible for me to answer your question in a way which is likely to satisfy your curiosity. I can only tell you that with many Macs and many years of experience, I have never, even once, found it to be necessary. I can also say that by far the majority of people who recommend reinstalling without having an explicit cause do it because it makes them "feel better." Ask them why else, and they have no real justification.

I know exactly what benefit accrues from a clean reinstall, a faster system and without problems. That's why this thread and many like it were started, because OS X after a while gets bogged down and glitchy. If it didnt happen we wouldn't keep seeing threads about it.

I don't buy that Macs don't get issues after years of use or botched software installs, or any number of other problems that can arise.

Only a true fanboy would claim that OSX is a perfect OS and never needs to be repaired.

 

[IJ Reilly]

who are you to decide what is good and bad advice. and why do you care so much. im not MAKING him do it. your advice doesnt carry any more weight than anybody else on this forum. so just chill out and just say i disagree. dont start insulting ppl. he is going to do what he wants. and whosever advice he takes good for him. i dont really care.

This is really just a trolling post, but I'll respond to one point anyway. We see a lot of advice on this forum that isn't backed up by fact or logic. Those of us who care whether others get worthwhile Mac advice post to correct bad advice when we see it. Advice isn't a decision, it's advice.

So a piece of advice: Don't troll. If you don't care, you should not post.

I know exactly what benefit accrues from a clean reinstall, a faster system and without problems. That's why this thread and many like it were started, because OS X after a while gets bogged down and glitchy. If it didnt happen we wouldn't keep seeing threads about it.

I don't buy that Macs don't get issues after years of use or botched software installs, or any number of other problems that can arise.

If you have a problem, then it deserves diagnosis and repair. But as the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Reinstalls of OSX are heavily over-recommended, mostly it seems from Windows crossover users who believe it must be necessary because it was with Windows.

Only a true fanboy would claim that OSX is a perfect OS and never needs to be repaired.

When you find someone like that, talk to them -- not me.

I've been running OSX for ten years on six different Macs. In that time, I have done precisely one Archive and Install to get at an issue I could not fix otherwise, and zero Erase and Installs. None of these Macs has ever got "glitchy" or "bogged down."

 

[areusche]

IJ, you did come into this thread trolling.

However,

Onyx will do a great job cleaning anything up. On the whole OS X does a great job of self regulating itself.

 

[sehnsucht77]

No, I wouldn't say that exactly. Bad advice is bad advice.

i was referring to doing a reinstall of the OS which I happen to think is ok. so you are of the opinion as well that it is self-abuse too? hey, whatever floats your boat man. some folks think being tied up and beaten with a whip is sexy...i'll pass but hey, if it gets their rocks off, more power to 'em.

 

[jeremybuff]

Let's put a end to this bickering right now. I will give my personal experiences and let everyone decide for themselves, instead of bringing down the hammer and definitively saying "this will work" or "there is no way this will work".

Have you guys forgotten each computers is different from other computers? Sure, they all have OS X, and sure OS X doesn't need the upkeep that Windows does, but there are variables which can cause a system to slow and can be fixed with a reinstallation. That's just fact.

Not to mention reinstalling does the same stuff that clearing the PRAM does, restarting with those special functions, etc. So it would be fair to say that reinstalling reindexes files, clears caches, etc etc etc.

My conclusion? It can work. It would be very unwise of anyone to criticize someone just because they want to ensure their Mac stays healthy. Who in their right mind would blast someone for that? It just doesn't make sense. So, with that said, let's just end this type of childish crap that certainly doesn't belong on MacRumors.

If anyone chooses to reinstall, I wish you luck and hope that it does work for you. There certainly should not be any negative side effects.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Let's put a end to this bickering right now. I will give my personal experiences and let everyone decide for themselves, instead of bringing down the hammer and definitively saying "this will work" or "there is no way this will work".

Have you guys forgotten each computers is different from other computers? Sure, they all have OS X, and sure OS X doesn't need the upkeep that Windows does, but there are variables which can cause a system to slow and can be fixed with a reinstallation. That's just fact.

Not to mention reinstalling does the same stuff that clearing the PRAM does, restarting with those special functions, etc. So it would be fair to say that reinstalling reindexes files, clears caches, etc etc etc.

My conclusion? It can work. It would be very unwise of anyone to criticize someone just because they want to ensure their Mac stays healthy. Who in their right mind would blast someone for that? It just doesn't make sense. So, with that said, let's just end this type of childish crap that certainly doesn't belong on MacRumors.

If anyone chooses to reinstall, I wish you luck and hope that it does work for you. There certainly should not be any negative side effects.

I'm not sure I follow what you are recommending, or why.

Yes, you can fix certain problems by reinstalling, but the point is, the vast majority of issues with OSX can be cleared up without taking the blunderbuss approach. It's not at all unwise to suggest trying those measures first, measures which are far less disruptive and far less risky, and most of the time, fix the problem. Many times on these boards we've heard tales of woe from people who lost more than they expected with an Erase and Install. Keep in mind, not everyone is prepared for what will happen when they click that button. Even an Archive and Install creates issues, which I rarely hear anyone who thinks this is a routine maintenance procedure explain to the unsuspecting.

Worst of all, most of the time this is described as a "clean" or "fresh" install. Neither of these options actually exist. This is hardly helpful advice.

The only "childish crap" I'm hearing is from those who believe that the most drastic possible measures are the ones you should take first, or that this is somehow necessary if you want to keep your Mac in good working order. This is simply not true. That is why it is bad advice.

 

[jeremybuff]

I'm not sure I follow what you are recommending, or why.

Yes, you can fix certain problems by reinstalling, but the point is, the vast majority of issues with OSX can be cleared up without taking the blunderbuss approach. It's not at all unwise to suggest trying those measures first, measures which are far less disruptive and far less risky, and most of the time, fix the problem. Many times on these boards we've heard tales of woe from people who lost more than they expected with an Erase and Install. Keep in mind, not everyone is prepared for what will happen when they click that button. Even an Archive and Install creates issues, which I rarely hear anyone who thinks this is a routine maintenance procedure explain to the unsuspecting.

Worst of all, most of the time this is described as a "clean" or "fresh" install. Neither of these options actually exist. This is hardly helpful advice.

The only "childish crap" I'm hearing is from those who believe that the most drastic possible measures are the ones you should take first, or that this is somehow necessary if you want to keep your Mac in good working order. This is simply not true. That is why it is bad advice.

Whether you choose to take my advice or not is up to you, but I will go along with what I said and not start going back and fourth with you over nitpicky kinda stuff.

The bottom line, and the point that I made, is that reinstalling can help. Did I say (or anyone else for that matter) that it was the best option? No. Did I say that it was easy or that it was very safe? No I did not.

If someone made proper backups, which in my opinion is not hard to do, then they should be fine reinstalling. Sure, they could do things such as not back up serial numbers, etc.. but that's all part of keeping things backed up. If someone were to reinstall without backing up or keeping their serial numbers safe then it's their own fault for not taking proper precautions. The point I made, as I said above, is that reinstalling can help.

Judging whether my advice is "good" or "not" is fine, but do not make the judgements for anyone else, especially since I did not provide any false information or suggest that it was the best option. You're just digging yourself deeper and deeper. I don't think you mean any harsh feelings by this, but can we agree this back and forth b.s. will help no one?

I think that we both can agree reinstalling can help. Running ONYX or other optimization/cleaner Apps cannot do everything that reinstalling can.

When you said "Worst of all, most of the time this is described as a "clean" or "fresh" install. Neither of these options actually exist. This is hardly helpful advice." then you are just overcomplicating things to an extreme measure. "Clean" and "Fresh" installs are understood, as common knowledge goes, as wiping the hard drive, reinstalling the operating system and reinstalling apps.

I hardly think anyone would assume a fresh or clean install would entail a military grade wiping of the hard drive or, even better, a whole new hard drive.

That is it, take it or leave it, hopefully I helped someone.

 

[pdxflint]

Lots of differences between the Windows world and the Mac world. Windows often gets corrupted .dll files and other file conflicts with hardware driver installs (gpus, printers, other peripherals) and apps that conflict/disable other apps. I'm not a hardcore techie, but the architecture of the two OSs is quite different, and Windows seems to have many far-flung pieces of apps littering the system that just clog everything up over time. Have you ever explored the win32 folder or the WINNT folder on a PC? .DLL files scattered all over the place. Many of them shared by different apps or processes - if one of them corrupts a shared .dll file (.dll = dynamic linked library) the others, maybe even the OS itself, won't run. Good luck trying to sort it out, so guess what? Re-install Windows. That's usually the cure, which I've done many times. There's a term for this - "Dll hell." And lots of folks switching from PCs to Mac experienced this (whether they understood it or not) and the only fix was a fresh Win install - not to mention needing to reboot regularly to clear out the memory leaks. So, I can see why some of you think it is something that you'd need to do on OSX. But, they're not the same. Some interesting reading, if you really are interested:

From Wikipedia: "While DLLs are the core of the Windows architecture, they have a number of drawbacks, collectively called "DLL hell.""

In computing, DLL hell is a colloquial term for the complications that arise when working with dynamic link libraries (DLLs) used with Microsoft Windows operating systems. DLL hell often shows up in a Windows alert pop-up that reports something similar to "A Required DLL File, Z.DLL, was not found" or "The procedure entry point Y couldn't be located in X.DLL" when users try to run an application, or during startup. This can also manifest itself more quietly as applications just not working properly. It takes a number of forms, as detailed below:

There are a number of problems commonly encountered with DLLs – especially after numerous applications have been installed and uninstalled on a system. The difficulties include conflicts between DLL versions, difficulty in obtaining required DLLs, and having many unnecessary DLL copies.

A particular version of a library can be compatible with some (and incompatible with other) programs that use it. Windows has been particularly vulnerable to this.

DLL stomping: A common and troublesome problem occurs when a newly-installed program overwrites a working system DLL with an earlier, incompatible version.

and on and on... just look up "DLL Hell" in wikipedia or google it.

It's a Windows thing, honest. I've had my Mac for almost a year now, and haven't re-installed OSX - there's no reason to, really. You can if you want to... but I'm not sure what you're fixing by doing it.