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Still new to iMac

B

blondee028

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 29, 2014
40
1
Las Vegas
Ok I have had my new iMac for 8 months now being 72 and switching from pc to mac, so far has been a easy challenge. I do have two questions though.
What is a thunderbolt port used for I know I have two of them but no idea what they are for?
I installed Memory clean its a app and it came highly recommended . Ok when I hit clean memory sometimes it has 4GB free sometimes 5 GB free..How many do you need? I didn't get the entry level iMac I got the next step up
One more question. If I am on safari and I delete history will it delete my passwords?
thanks
 
blondee028 said:
What is a thunderbolt port used for I know I have two of them but no idea what they are for?
Click to expand...
It's for peripherals, somewhat similar to USB. It can be thought of as the successor to FireWire, if you've ever heard of it. It is technically superior to USB, but because of licensing fees and the ubiquity of USB, Thunderbolt devices are rarer and tend to cost more.

blondee028 said:
I installed Memory clean its a app and it came highly recommended . Ok when I hit clean memory sometimes it has 4GB free sometimes 5 GB free..How many do you need? I didn't get the entry level iMac I got the next step up
Click to expand...
Uninstall that application. OS X manages your memory to optimize your experience. If you run Activity Monitor and see that all of your RAM is in use that's a good thing. It means that OS X has cached application data and things to speed up your user experience. If you have unused RAM, that's wasted RAM. If your memory pressure (OS X 10.9 and higher) is higher, then you need more RAM.

"Memory cleaners" are relics from the 1990's when memory management wasn't so great. They're not necessary today, and can just slow you down. OS X pre-loads files into unused memory. If you flush them from the memory with a memory cleaner, OS X will just have to load them later, which slows you down.

blondee028 said:
One more question. If I am on safari and I delete history will it delete my passwords?
Click to expand...
No. Depending on what menu you're using to wipe data it may be possible to clear your saved passwords, but simply wiping your history won't touch stored passwords.
 
As mentioned, get rid of that memory cleaner. Free RAM is wasted, you might as well not have it. OSX will manage the memory, ignore how much free RAM you have.
 
blondee028 said:
Should I install app cleaner?
Click to expand...

I've been using App Cleaner for years. It's a great little app for deleting unwanted apps and cleaning up all of the files installed.

I will add though, that despite what anybody may tell you, you don't need any anti-virus programs or "speed up my Mac" type programs. Also, there's no reason to delete your history or cookies in Safari or whatever browser you are using, unless you are trying to hide something from someone else using your Mac.
 
Thunderbolt is a high-speed connection technology. It's useful for some things, less so for others.

For example, you could hook up an external drive, a thunderbolt "dock" (with many additional connection ports), or use a thunderbolt-to-firewire adapter to hook up firewire-based drives and peripherals.

The thunderbolt port is actually a "dual port" -- it is also the connection port for displays. It accepts a "mini displayport" connector which can be used to hook up monitors (various connections at the other end are available).

If all you need to connect is a single drive, it's easier to use USB3, because thunderbolt drives remain considerably more expensive. For a single drive connection, USB3 is just as fast.

Re your question about Safari "deleting passwords":
In older versions of Safari (these versions are no longer available) that wasn't the case. You could "clear the history" without removing passwords, etc.

But with the more recent versions of Safari, Apple has "dumbed this down". Now, if you choose to delete all the history, it clears out more saved info such as cookies and passwords.

Others might disagree, but it's probably a good idea to keep a record of passwords you use someplace. There are apps that can manage this for you, but I don't use them, so I can't comment on that.

I use an extension called "Safari cookies" to manage cookies and it works very well, keeping the cookies you want to keep while removing all the others.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Personally I just let the Mac OSX look after itself. It's not like windows. My dad is 6 years younger than you and hopeless with technology. Good on you for trying something new.
Enjoy your Mac.
Click to expand...

This is true, in my opinion - [nearly] anything 'free' will end up causing more trouble than it's worth. The Mac can do just fine on its own, honestly.
 
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