What do Maintenance Scripts Do? Do they Help?

[n3il89]

Ok I have this program download called MainMenu...view here: http://www.santasw.com/

And it has a bunch of maintenance scripts such as cleaning user cache or system cache (quick or deep clean) and cleaning font caches and emptying browser caches.

What I want to know is does any of this stuff (specifically cleaning the user and system cache) help if I clean it out?

Essentially, how do I return my Mac to the speed it once was when I first got it?

Also, what other programs/scripts can I use to improve my Mac's performance?

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Care to tell us what Mac you have? You had better not say its a Beige Mac or something older.

Otherwise I'm assuming you have at least a G4 and the scripts you speak of can help a little, but over time there is nothing better you can do than repair your permissions and repair your drive as these things keep everything organized and running smoothly.

It also really helps to keep at least 8GB free on your Startup Drive and have as much RAM as you can afford (1.5gb is really great to have).

Cleaning out Cache files is cool, but that only will help certain programs (like your Browser) and is not going to help out the entire system too much.

In the end I'll say that a bit of maintenance is all you need, it isn't a daily thing to worry about.

 

[zero2dash]

Use Yasu

Clearing caches isn't too necessary unless there's problems, and usually then the only caches I must clear are font ones (being a graphic designer and using lots of fonts and font families).

Repairing disk permissions is a good idea after updating and adding/removing software; it'll prevent future problems.

Programs like Yasu run the cron scripts on demand. If you leave your Mac on 24/7, it does this automatically late at night. Otherwise your Mac will never do the daily/weekly/monthly cron script. Yasu, Maintenance and some other similar apps run those cron updates when you want to which is helpful when you do shut your Mac off routinely (like the end of the business day or before you go to bed).

Running the Mac OS X maintenance scripts

Mac® OS X is a UNIX®-based system, built specifically on FreeBSD®. UNIX systems run scheduled maintenance routines — known as maintenance scripts — to clean up a variety of System logs and temporary files. By default, these are executed between 03:15 and 05:30 hours local time, depending on the script.

If your Mac is shut down or in sleep mode during these hours, the maintenance scripts will not run. [1] This results in log files that will grow over time, consuming free space on your Mac OS X startup disk.

If your Mac is shut down or left in sleep mode overnight, you need to invoke these maintenance routines manually on a regular basis. That is, unless you plan on devoting a large portion of your hard drive to the files cleaned-up by these routines!

More info on cron and the maintenance scripts can be found here.

The maintenance performed by the scripts

Each maintenance script — daily, weekly, and monthly — has a specific function.

* The daily script removes old log files, "scratch" and "junk" files, backs-up the NetInfo database, reports a variety of system and network statistics, and rotates the system.log file. Under Tiger, the daily script also cleans up scratch fax files and prunes asl.log, the log for the new Apple System Logging facility.
* The output from the daily script is written to the /var/log/daily.out file, which can be viewed in Console.
* By default, the daily script is scheduled to run daily at 03:15 hours local time.
* The weekly script rebuilds the locate and whatis databases and rotates — depending on the version of Mac OS X you are using — the following log files: ftp.log, lookupd.log, lpr.log, mail.log, netinfo.log, ipfw.log, ppp.log, and secure.log
* The output from the weekly script is written to the /var/log/weekly.out file, which can be viewed in Console.
* By default, the weekly script is scheduled to run every Saturday at the following times:
o Under Tiger: 03:15 hours local time.
o Under Panther and Jaguar: 04:30 hours local time.
* The monthly script reports per-user usage accounting and rotates — depending on the version of Mac OS X you are using — the wtmp, install.log, and cu.modem.log files.
* The output from the monthly script is written to the /var/log/monthly.out file, which can be viewed in Console.
* By default, the monthly script is scheduled to run on the first of the month at 05:30 hours local time.

 

[n3il89]

i'm running a macbook pro with 2 gigs of RAM and currently 12 gbs of free space out of 100gb.

So if I understand this correctly from everything you guys have said I should be fine as long as I leave my mbp on overnight every once in a while?

 

[zero2dash]

i'm running a macbook pro with 2 gigs of RAM and currently 12 gbs of free space out of 100gb.

So if I understand this correctly from everything you guys have said I should be fine as long as I leave my mbp on overnight every once in a while?

Yes, or use a program like Yasu if you shut it off routinely.

Really all most people do is "repair permissions" and that's sufficient. I don't know how effective or worthwhile the cron updates are, but I know that I've used Maintenance/Yasu for almost 2 years now and never had a problem with my G5 here at work.

I have everything checked off to do under Yasu except "reset launch services", which all that does is it will ask you when you open files for the first time, say a PDF..."Acrobat is attempting to open a PDF for the first time. Continue? Y/N" and that gets annoying when you're (like me) a designer going from Acrobat -> InDesign -> Illustrator -> Photoshop every 10 minutes and it stops to nag you the first time. I have Yasu repair all the permissions, clear all caches, do cron scripts, prebinding, etc.

If you just want to repair disk permissions, that can be done with the Disk Utility which is located under Utilities in the Applications folder. (It's included with OSX.)

 

[rhoydotp]

Essentially, how do I return my Mac to the speed it once was when I first got it?

you can't, unless you don't install or run anything else but what comes with it out of the box. check your startup items. unnecessary services, firewall restrictions, etc ... avoid running "daemonized" programs as this takes memory & cpu load. other than that, i think you should be satisfied.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

So if I understand this correctly from everything you guys have said I should be fine as long as I leave my mbp on overnight every once in a while?

That isn't necessary. From what I understand the overnight running of these "scripts" was disabled with 10.4. This isn't really a big issue to be concerned about particularly with any speed decrease in your Mac.

In 3 years talk to us again about getting your Mac running fast again, but right now. You have nothing to worry about.