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What do you to for your OS X maintenance?

D

digitalove

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 12, 2012
197
1
Are you using software like CCleaner?

Personally I don't use that kind of software. I just clean manually the cache.
I sometimes and delete all the history and all the data. I always update everything. Also sometimes I repair permissions.

What are you tips to keep your OS X fast?
 
i run onyx regularly. not going to argue about whether it's actually necessary or not :rolleyes: , but have used it for years...and will continue to do so. (at the very least, it makes ME feel good). :D
 
fisherking said:
i run onyx regularly. not going to argue about whether it's actually necessary or not :rolleyes: , but have used it for years...and will continue to do so. (at the very least, it makes ME feel good). :D
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I got ya. Haha I'm asking this because I miss that feel when you finish your scan. Maybe it's just psychological but still.. I just got a new MacBook and without using any software to clean cache or so I feel weird :D
 
digitalove said:
I got ya. Haha I'm asking this because I miss that feel when you finish your scan. Maybe it's just psychological but still.. I just got a new MacBook and without using any software to clean cache or so I feel weird :D
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exactly (altho, honestly, i use onyx for a few tweaks as well).:cool:
 
digitalove said:
I got ya. Haha I'm asking this because I miss that feel when you finish your scan. Maybe it's just psychological but still.. I just got a new MacBook and without using any software to clean cache or so I feel weird :D
Click to expand...

When I first got my Macbook Pro, I did run Onyx pretty regularly and I do know what you mean about the psychological high where your (relatively) small SSD recovers all that space from deleted cache. But I kind of gave up on doing that and just let it run now. Performance wise, doesn't really seem to make any difference--but Onyx doesn't do any harm so nothing wrong with running it if you get the urge. :)
 
Caches are there for a reason, folks.

To answer the OP's question - nothing. I've been a unix sysadmin and written documents/best practices, but there's nothing to see here besides using Time Machine to back up your files.
 
As a few others have said: nothing. Pretty much.

Apple's "periodic" scripts have a bevy of actions that get run daily/weekly/monthly. I've added a couple of my own scripts (disk repair permissions, clean out crash reporter info over a week old, some additional logs).

At least once a month, I boot into recovery mode and do a verify and repair of the SSD. Checks sanity of things and gets a manual TRIM to kick off.
 
digitalove said:
I got ya. Haha I'm asking this because I miss that feel when you finish your scan. Maybe it's just psychological but still.. I just got a new MacBook and without using any software to clean cache or so I feel weird :D
Click to expand...

Why don't you try Intego's "Washing Machine"? It does clean.
 
digitalove said:
I just clean manually the cache.
I sometimes and delete all the history and all the data. I always update everything. Also sometimes I repair permissions.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have an urge to tinker, have no real idea what to do, why or when, and have been lucky so far you haven't caused harm.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but without a better idea of what you are doing or why you shouldn't be messing with system files, even if (mostly) you are just deleting cache files so that <cough> the system has to then recreate them...
 
Apps like CCLeaner are okay, but I've largely let OS X handle it's own maintenance. I have never experienced a slowdown due to time with OS X.

The only maintenance you may need to do is outlined here. When you delete a program it often leaves behind useless files. I like to clear those as well.

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smithrh said:
Caches are there for a reason, folks.
.
Click to expand...

simonsi said:
Syou are just deleting cache files so that <cough> the system has to then recreate them...
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Exactly. Unless you're stuck on one of those 64GB old MBA's, I don't know why people mind system caches.
 
simonsi said:
Sounds like you have an urge to tinker, have no real idea what to do, why or when, and have been lucky so far you haven't caused harm.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but without a better idea of what you are doing or why you shouldn't be messing with system files, even if (mostly) you are just deleting cache files so that <cough> the system has to then recreate them...
Click to expand...

What is being described is not tinkering, it is good housekeeping. The Status Quo is often not the best choice. Getting rid of cookies is often useful provided you are careful and selective. Getting rid of history is also beneficial. And, what's wrong with having Mac recreate cache files since so often those very files had been the cause of problems. I like keeping things neat, clean, and trim.

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digitalove said:
Are you using software like CCleaner?

Personally I don't use that kind of software. I just clean manually the cache.
I sometimes and delete all the history and all the data. I always update everything. Also sometimes I repair permissions.

What are you tips to keep your OS X fast?
Click to expand...

There is a very good series of reasonably priced books for beginners and even those that are not beginners. The books in the series are named Take Control, and there are different books for different Mac related matters. A good start would be Take Control of Maintaining Mac and also Take Control of Troubleshooting Mac. When the Missing Manual for Yosemite comes out, it would be worth looking at. However, it is a bit more expensive than the Take Control series. And, then, you might want to look at OS X Support Essentials when it comes out for Yosemite. However, the Support Essentials is for people with a lot of experience on Mac OS, and it is usually quite expensive.
 
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Have my 2012 first gen rMBP for two years. Still running Mavericks. Never used any cleaning software.
 
Abba1 said:
What is being described is not tinkering, it is good housekeeping. The Status Quo is often not the best choice. Getting rid of cookies is often useful provided you are careful and selective. Getting rid of history is also beneficial. And, what's wrong with having Mac recreate cache files since so often those very files had been the cause of problems.
Click to expand...

Its well understood by IT professionals that change is the enemy of stability, so world-wide practice is that status quo is good. The poster I quoted didn't quote any good reason for those tasks, or the timing of them so unless you have inside knowledge you can't really claim that there was beneficial context, that is just hopeful supposition on your part.

Deleting history? Well only if you don't need it again.

Deleting problem cache? When did he say that those cache files had caused problems? Of course troubleshoot problems but randomly deleting cache files? No, that makes no sense and will eventually do more harm than good.
 
simonsi said:
Its well understood by IT professionals that change is the enemy of stability, so world-wide practice is that status quo is good. The poster I quoted didn't quote any good reason for those tasks, or the timing of them so unless you have inside knowledge you can't really claim that there was beneficial context, that is just hopeful supposition on your part.

Deleting history? Well only if you don't need it again.

Deleting problem cache? When did he say that those cache files had caused problems? Of course troubleshoot problems but randomly deleting cache files? No, that makes no sense and will eventually do more harm than good.
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Of course "change is the enemy of stability", but some change is beneficial and some is even necessary. (Of course, every now and then we humans mess up and delete something important! Always distressing but it happens!) Deleting caches should be done carefully, but sometimes they do become corrupted and cause problems. As for deleting history, I generally like to do so on a fairly regular basis. And, I like the fact that Yosemite has different temporal options for doing so. But, that does not mean that someone should do so as soon as he or she has been to a site. If someone feel's that necessity, s(he) should use Private Browsing. As far as I'm concerned, the most important thing, be you an IT person or just a Mac user, is knowledge. And, that comes with study, experimentation, and even real mess ups!
 
I've never used anything however I notice I have 75 gb of "other" on my hard drive. Seems a bit excessive for normal caches IMO.
 
digitalove said:
Are you using software like CCleaner?

Personally I don't use that kind of software. I just clean manually the cache.
I sometimes and delete all the history and all the data. I always update everything. Also sometimes I repair permissions.

What are you tips to keep your OS X fast?
Click to expand...

I restart when things slow down. Fixes 99% of my issues.
 
As was said, OSX will run scripts periodically to maintain itself. I just learned about a program called Yasu that will let you run those scripts on demand, and a number of other cleaning functions. :apple:
 
digitalove said:
Are you using software like CCleaner?

Personally I don't use that kind of software. I just clean manually the cache.
I sometimes and delete all the history and all the data. I always update everything. Also sometimes I repair permissions.

What are you tips to keep your OS X fast?
Click to expand...

Same, everything manual. Always been mad about it cause I used to use Windows and it made me obsessive about keeping it in order.
 
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