Note: Before doing any updates or maintenance, ALWAYS do a backup of your data in case things go awry.
Items to do on a regular basis:
- Make a backup of your data
- Virus checking (weekly)
- Running updates on the operating system (monthly)
- Running updates on any third party applications (monthly)
- Checking that your system is secure
- Repairing Disk Permissions (see "Disk Utility" below)
- Periodic file cleaning (Empty the Trash Can!)
- Shutdown your machine every day
What to do if the Mac is acting "funny"
First, restart your machine
This clears cache files and runs some behind the scenes scripts that help with general OS X maintenance.
Next, try running Disk Utility
Any time your system seems slow, gives you a lot of printing errors or just generally seems to be unresponsive, try running Disk Utility. See below for instructions.
Put in a service request at the Help Desk
ITCS will be glad to help you if your machine refuses to be responsive. You can go online at ithelp.ecu.edu or call them at 328-9866.
Things not to do
• Don't run Apple OS updates if your system doesn't seem to be running properly.
• Don't reinstall the OS unless you know what you are doing. Some applications, like Adobe or Palm, will also have to be reinstalled depending on how you run the install.
Disk Utility
The Mac OS is based on UNIX which has a permission system designed to keep users out of places they shouldn't be, like other user's home folders, the system folder, etc. Every file, application and folder has its own set of permissions that tell the system who can access it. These permissions can get messed up over time and can cause applications to crash or not work correctly.
Fortunately, every Mac running OS X has an application that will help repair these back to their correct settings. Its called Disk Utility and its located in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.
To run:
- Quit all Applications.
- Go to Applications > Utility folder and open Disk Utility.
- Click on your system on the left.
- Make sure First Aid is selected on the right.
- Click on the Repair Disk Permissions button.
- More detailed instructions: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1008.html
Disk Fragmentation
Disk Fragmentation can severely degrade disk performance because the drive must take extra time to move from one piece of a file to the next.
Starting with OS X.3, Apple designed the operating system to perform on-the-fly defragmentation. Its not a perfect system as it is commonly used on applications and data as they are accessed and only on files that are less than 20MB.
You can eliminate fragmentation easily by copying the entire contents of a disk to another disk, erasing that disk, and then copying everything back. Its easier with commercial software, though. At this time, its recommended to use Drive Genius from Prosoft Engineering. Do NOT use Symantec's SpeedDisk as it has been noted to cause problems.
ITCS can help if you think your hard disk is showing performance problems due to fragmentation. Just put in a ticket at the Help Desk with details on what you think is wrong.
