System maintenance and clean up

From all the reading I have done, the way I understand the Mac is you should not have to do any system maintenance or clean up.
I was doing a spotlight search and several times tons of Entourage emails would show up. When I first got the Mac I gave Entourage a try before realizing I liked Outlook much better... so I deleted my exchange information from Entourage and discontinued using it.
I finally got curious as to why all these email files were showing up even though they had been removed from Entourage. I went traced down the folder and there was thousands of these Entourage email files in the cache folder!!
I deleted them all manually as they were taking a lot of space up.
What steps should I take to get rid of files like this, that the Mac obviously doesn't do automatically, so that I don't end up with Gigs of space being wasted in the long term??

I recommend first off, migrating away from Entourage*:
http://www.macmaps.com/entouragemigration.html
For cleaning up Mac OS X, see my FAQs*:
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
and:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1772235
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Similar Messages

Computer maintenance and clean up

Ive had my mbp since 8/07 and i have yet to run any cleanups or maintenance on my computer. this is my 1st mac and dont really know the basics of keeping os 10.4 clean and healthy. thanks in adavnce

Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.0 is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.6.1 is Leopard compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. The current version, 1.5.1, is Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that presently AppleJack is not compatible with Leopard.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.

SMSY Technical System Delete and Clean-up

I need to completely delete a SID from Solution Manager: SMSY technical system, projects, logical components,ChaRM, CCMS, tansport routes, SMD, SLD, etc. I am looking for clean-up documentation. Is there a document(s) which will describe a logical progression to remove an obsolete SID? Logically, removing CCMS and Wily monitoring can occur first. A manual delete of the technical system from the SLD next? Then delete projects and logical components? A good chronological order for steps like these would be very helpful. I'd like to avoid problems with workflow and system batch jobs.

Hi Loenard,
I don't think there is any job or program to do this. Best thing to do is if your system to be deleted is still running and is still sending data to solman SLD from RZ70 then disable this by removing the hostname data and save it. this isolates the system to be removed. next in SMSY, remove system from the product landscape from "logical components" list and then you can remove the system from product systems under "landscape components". here you may need reload the product landscape in solution landscape if it doesn't go away itself. if it gives issues then you can use the "where used" button and that tells you where it is still assigned and remove it from there.
hope this helps

What is Apple's position on system maintenance and optimization?

I mean, obviously something has to be done to keep our macs as fast as after an ex-novo installation...
apple engineers, please answer!

there is not a single issue, it's just a gradual decrease of the overall performance.
to give some examples:
- time to boot
- time to open safari, mail, itunes,... (actually aperture is still pretty fast)
- time to get the size of big folders
they are all related to the hard drive (i've got a 7200 rpm hard drive anyway). when the tasks are processor demanding, my mac goes as smoothly as always.
also, when i fresh install the system (i last did it when updating to SL) initially it goes fast and then, gradually, data access slows down.
i believe i'm not the only one with this kind of problem and it would be nice to have a way to fix it (other than re-installing ex-novo the os).

System maintenance and start up

Hello: Thanks in advance. My system works fine 90 percent of the time. I use DVD Studio Pro, FCP, Compressor, lots of DV media, 2 External Firewire drives, etc. Maxed out on Ram and Drive Space. Nothing too crazy.
If I ever have to restart my system, sometimes it takes 20 times for me to restart before it's good to go. Sometimes on the first restart it works fine. Other times it takes 10 times and I have to manually shut down and start up each time.
How can I fix this? What haven't I done? I have used Disk Utility, Mac Janitor, etc. to try and fix. Like I said. the system works fine 90 percent of the time. Thanks.
Craig

I think you may have some serious disk repair to handle. First, try the following:
Boot from your Tiger DVD. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button, then select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your OS X volume from the list on the left, click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (3.0.3 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.1.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
I would then download TinkerTool System and use it to clear out all user/system caches, font caches, etc. Navigate to the /System/Library/ folder and delete the Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext files.
Then do a restart to allow the OS to rebuild the caches. If problems persist with applications crashing, then try creating a new user account and logging into that account. If the crashes cease, then there may be some corrupted preference files associated with the apps that are crashing.

Imac Maintenance and Clean Up

general question
in the past at the terminal i have used
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
and I have gone into console to delete logs
as well as kept my drive in order (scan/repair/check) via disk utility
are there any other terminal commands that could be used to clear out caches or other temorary areas
that will help me keep my imac running in tip top form at all times (mountain lion user)

If a log gets very large I delete it, it does no harm and the logs load a bit faster when I need them (rarely), other than that it just uses a little time.
Onyx can be useful, but I don't recommend it as it is possible to mess things up with it. OSX can take care of itself very well, the most reliable machines I use are the ones with no 3rd party utilities on them.

Programmed system maintenance

I read that OSX has pre-programmed system maintenance and there is discussion on whether the computer should be turned off at night.
Is there someplace I can check or reset my system maintenance?

To check when your Periodic Maintenance Scripts, which I hope is what you want to know, open Terminal and type this exactly:
ls -al /var/log/*.out
Press Return
and you should see three lines of info, one for each script: Daily, Weekly & Monthly. The date and time they were last run is in each line.
To manually run the scripts open Terminal and type:
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
Press return. You will be prompted for your Admin password and you need to type this into Terminal. Be warned, it might take a long time to run the scripts.
For more info checkthe most excellent:
The X Lab
Hope this helps
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo

System Warning and Error Messages in Plant Maintenance

Hi All,
Where can I find the list of system warning and error messages for Plant Maintenance?
Thanks
Andrew

Hi,
Follow the following path in SPRO. Some of the standard messages you will fond there:
Plant Maint & Customer Serivces - Maintenanace & Service Processing - Maint. & Service Orders - Message Control.
SM

System status and user status don't appear in maintenance order

I can't see the user status or the system status in the maintenance order header or equipment header or any report although when pressing the button information you can see it

Hi Michael Nawar ,
Please check have you define Status profile and status in T code OIBS ? , and for object like PM order whether you have assigned it to your defined order type in T code OIOG ?
and for equipment check in SPRO Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service >> Technical Objects >> Equipment >>Assign User Status Profile to Equipment Category.
Riyaj

My daughtrts ipad 2 only recognises headphones. and the internal speaker will not work. we have reset the system three times, cleaned out the headphone jack, and chrckrd the side switch above the volume. alos we ensured it was not in do not disturb mode

On our ipad the speaker has quit working. Sound is only heard when you have head phones plugged in. We have reset the system three times cleaned out the headphone jack. Changed languages and rest but nothing works. This ipad is important to our daughter it is her tool to communicate with us and now it is not working please help

You've done well with troubleshooting so far. Next step would be to back up and then restore from iTunes. Good luck!

Unable to Install Windows Server 2012 R2; system aborts and reboots after first blue Windows logo appears

System: Dell PowerEdge sc1420 with dual xeon and Adaptec 2420SA SATA RAID (supported by OS); 10 GB memory (2x4, rank 2, organization x4, in DIMM1 & DIMM2; 2x1, registered, organization x8, in DIMM3 & DIMM4)
This computer is currently running Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise which was installed with no problems.
Objective: clean install of Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard on an otherwise unused RAID array disk set.
All attempts to boot from DVD result in loading of files (grey progress bar on bottom of screen), brief dark screen, then black screen with a blue windows logo for about 2 seconds and then a flash of about 10 lines of error notifications on a black screen
for about 1/4 second (unreadable), and then a reboot of the computer.
Coreinfo.exe confirms that cpus DO support NX and PAE; do NOT support VMX (virtual machine enhancements).
Attempts to run memtest.exe from boot disk tool-menu startup result in an error message that the memtest.exe file is corrupt.
Running memtest.exe from Windows 2008 R2 install disk results in all memory tests passed!
Attempted booting with multiple DVD's (some +R, some -R, all verified) burned from .iso. These DVD's were used successfully to install Windows Server 2012 R2 on an HP Pavilion. Also changed DVD drives just to rule out DVD hardware.
Running CHKDSK from Windows 2012 R2 on HP Pavilion shows no problems; running CHKDSK from Windows 2008 R2 on the Dell system on the same disks shows some problems. Running checkdisk on the Windows 2008 R2 install disk from the Windows 2008 R2 installed
system shows no problems. All disks burned and verified on same system.
Also attempted to boot from USB thumbdrive with copy of DVD on it. Same results: system loads files then reboots at first Windows logo. So that would rule out disk quality issues per se??
Started to try an upgrade rather clean install to see if any errors were announced. None were announced as the system went through much of the process. I aborted somewhere along the way before committing to the upgrade because 1) the most likely
outcome was it would not boot after install (I don't really need the practice in restoring); and 2) even if it did reboot, having a system that can't be repaired by booting the install disk is pointless.
All disks and raid arrays are recognized and usable by RAID controller card and by Windows Server 2008 R2. Disks are within spec for use with Adaptec 2420SA (1TB @ 300).
Is VMX (aka VT-x) actaully required for ANY install even though Hyper-V is not intended to be used? If so, it is too bad that the Microsoft system requirements (
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303418.aspx ) don't make that clear. And lack of VMX support really doesn't explain the memtest.exe "corruption" issue.
Or is it maybe something unique about the files on 2012 R2 disk (or disk image on USB) that are causing some problem with the chipset processing? But why?
My vote would be for the latter of the issues, but I have no clue why or if it is remediable. Suggestions?

So here is what I think is the final understanding of this problem:
First, one additional piece of important information: The computer successfully moves into and through the Windows Boot Loader phase and succeeding phase ONLY for Windows 8.1 32-bit, but NOT for Windows 8.1 64-bit nor for Windows
Server 2012 R2 (only 64-bit).
The Windows Boot Manager phase (which precedes the Windows Boot Loader phase) is either 32-bit or 64-bit (64 –bit for this case) and is loaded by the 16-bit stub program (Bootmgr) which starts in real mode.
Windows Boot Loader of course runs in either 32-bit or 64-bit (64 –bit for this case) according to the product being installed.
By inference, the essential problem is occurring in conjunction with the loading of a WIM file to start the Windows Boot Manager.
The boot manager starts ok and generally shows its essential screens (Windows Boot Manager; Advanced Boot Options) or proceeds to load files for transition into Windows startup in the succeeding Windows Boot Loader phase (that doesn’t “boot” but rather
loads the system). This is best confirmed by the announced corruption of the memtest.exe file when selecting Windows Memory Diagnostic from the Windows Boot Manager Screen.
If allowed to continue loading files to pass control to the Windows Boot Manager, the type of abort and resulting immediate restart that occurs is that which you would associate with unhandled cpu exceptions (invalid instruction, memory out of range,
wild interrupt, etc.) that most of us have not commonly seen for 20 years (since beginning to use well behave OS’s from Windows NT 3.1 and on).
So, the problem obviously is due to a failure to properly mount the WIM file and/or properly access it (probably the latter) when running in 64-bit protected mode.
This is independent of the hardware on which the install disk is actually mounted (DVD or USB-flash), so it is NOT a hardware problem
per se.
Since the WIM is mounted early in the process, Boot Manager may well have loaded it using BIOS routines to access the physical device on which it resides rather than loading 32-bit or 64-bit drivers of its own.
Hence, if the BIOS does not “mount” the WIM in a way that is later fully compatible with access from the 64-bit systems being loaded, it could cause apparent file corruption.
If it is only partially incompatible some functionality may appear quite usable (like loading files) until later detected.
This is vague on my part, because the exact nature of the incompatibility cannot be readily determined from the information available.
But the consequence is the same: the system cannot boot from the install disk, either for initial installation or repairs.
Incidental conclusion: The 64-bit boot manager code for Windows Server 2008 does not exhibit this faulty behavior, but the 64-bit code for Windows Server 2012 does.
So the problem is not inherent with loading 64-bit server OS’s.
Expectations: If the system were to be upgraded using the features of the install disk while running an installed OS, say Windows Server 2008 R2, it might well succeed and yield a fully functional system upgraded to Windows Server 2012
R2 (because the installed operating system is started from discrete files, not from a WIM file).
However, in order to perform a disaster recovery using Windows resources (such as image backups from Windows Server Backup), one would have to presumably boot from a Windows Server 2012 64-bit install disk or Windows Server USB recovery drive.
Of course we know that the Windows Server install disk will not boot and we can be fairly sure that the problem will migrate to any Windows Server USB recovery drive that is created.
My inspection of a Windows 7 System Repair CD shows that is based exclusively on boot.wim, not discrete files!
Of course a generated image for a WIM for Windows 2012 USB recovery drive
might not have the flaw that drives this behavior, but it probably would.
Problem conclusion: A BIOS upgrade would be required for compatibility with Windows Server 2014 clean installation
and any maintenance; and none is available from the OEM.
Problem not resolved, but understood for future reference.
Thanks to Tim whose comments helped me focus my thinking.

My mac has slow performance when running two or more applications, ran onyx and cleaned cache but my macbook is still running slow. Recommendations?

I've had my MacBook White running on Mac OSx 10 for about 2 years. My sister has the same type of MacBook and she isn't having any slow performance. I really don't want to install RAM and that can't be the end all be all of solutions. Please help!!

Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 or higher are Intel Mac compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. Versions 1.5.1 or later are Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts had been significantly reduced in Tiger and Leopard. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc. Other utilities are also available such as Onyx, Leopard Cache Cleaner, CockTail, and Xupport, for example.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Backuplist
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
iBackup
JaBack
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
SyncTwoFolders
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.

I think my iMac got virus on my iMac through opening an email from Facebook on Safari, anyone knows how to do a complete erase and clean up of the iMac?

I think my iMac got virus on my iMac through opening an email from Facebook on Safari, anyone knows how to do a completely erase and clean up of the iMac?

Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with a visit to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or Lion and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Data Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. SyncTwoFolders
6. Synk Pro
7. Synk Standard
8. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.

Defrag and clean-up

Hey how do i defrag my macbook hd and do a disk clean-up?
thanks

Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.0 is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.6.1 is Leopard compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. The current version, 1.5.1, is Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that presently AppleJack is not compatible with Leopard.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.

What is the best system maintenance software to use for a MBP??

Hello everyone, I was formerly using Mac Tune-up for my Macbook Pro and it did an okay job but I am not sure what Mac software I should be using to keep my system clean while keeping it running at optimal performance. Turns-out I can no longer use Mac Tune-Up since I upgraded to Mavericks from Snow Leopard. Can anyone recommend to me the best system maintenance software to use for my MBP with Mavericks OS and where I can get it (a link or site URL)? Thanks in advance!

How to maintain a Mac
1. Make two or more backups of all your files, keeping at least one off site at all times in case of disaster. One backup is not enough to be safe. Don’t back up your backups; all should be made directly from the original data. Don’t rely completely on any single backup method, such as Time Machine. If you get an indication that a backup has failed, don't ignore it.
2. Keep your software up to date. In the App Store or Software Update preference pane (depending on the OS version), you can configure automatic notifications of updates to OS X and other Mac App Store products. Some third-party applications from other sources have a similar feature, if you don’t mind letting them phone home. Otherwise you have to check yourself on a regular basis.
Keeping up to date is especially important for complex software that modifies the operating system, such as device drivers. Before installing any Apple update, you must check that all such modifications that you use are compatible. Incompatibility with third-party software is by far the most common cause of trouble with system updates.
3. Don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” "boosters," “extenders,” “cleaners,” "doctors," "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, such stuff is useless or worse than useless. Above all, avoid any software that purports to change the look and feel of the user interface.
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the whole "utility" software industry for the Mac is a fraud on consumers. The most extreme examples are the "CleanMyMac" and “MacKeeper” scams, but there are many others.
As a rule, the only software you should install is that which directly enables you to do the things you use a computer for, and doesn't change the way other software works.
Safari extensions, and perhaps the equivalent for other web browsers, are a partial exception to the above rule. Most are safe, and they're easy to get rid of if they don't work. Some may cause the browser to crash or otherwise malfunction. Some are malicious. Use with caution, and install only well-known extensions from relatively trustworthy sources, such as the Safari Extensions Gallery.
Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it. Otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve. Do not rely on "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.
4. Don't install bad, conflicting, or unnecessary fonts. Whenever you install new fonts, use the validation feature of the built-in Font Book application to make sure the fonts aren't defective and don't conflict with each other or with others that you already have. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions. Deactivate or remove fonts that you don't really need to speed up application launching.
5. Avoid malware. Malware is malicious software that circulates on the Internet. This kind of attack on OS X was once so rare that it was hardly a concern, but malware is now increasingly common, and increasingly dangerous.
There is some built-in protection against downloading malware, but you can’t rely on it—the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness—not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.
Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must come directly from the developer's website. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from the web, without your having requested it, should go straight into the Trash. A web page that tells you that your computer has a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with it, is a scam.
In OS X 10.7.5 or later, downloaded applications and Installer packages that have not been digitally signed by a developer registered with Apple are blocked from loading by default. The block can be overridden, but think carefully before you do so.
Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most people don't.
6. Don't fill up your disk/SSD. A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a startup failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Macs that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem.
While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage use and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.
If storage space is running low, use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move seldom-used large files to secondary storage.
7. Relax, don’t do it. Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” "defragmenting the drive," “running periodic scripts,” “dumping logs,” "deleting temp files," “scanning for viruses,” "purging memory," "checking for bad blocks," "testing the hardware," or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are either completely pointless or are useful only for solving problems, not for prevention.
To use a Mac effectively, you have to free yourself from the Windows mindset that every computer needs regular downtime maintenance such as "defragging" and "registry cleaning." Those concepts do not apply to the Mac platform. A well-made computing device is not something you should have to think about much. It should be an almost transparent medium through which you communicate, work, and play. If you want a machine that needs a lot of attention, use a PC.
The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.

System maintenance and clean up

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