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RichardC300

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 27, 2012
1,243
116
Been a Mac user for 1.5 years and never really looked into keeping the OS in tip top shape. I was pretty tech savvy back in the XP/vista days, so there were all these cool tweaks. What do people with macs do?
 

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Except installing all updates and sometimes searching on disk for old files and delete those I do nothing ... My current main Mac is from summer 2010; still in good shape.
I don't miss the Windows registry and corrupted filesystem when trying to cleanup XP or Vista :rolleyes:
 

costabunny

macrumors 68020
May 15, 2008
2,466
71
Weymouth, UK
What do people with macs do?

Generally we leave them alone!

Some tweaking can be done for reasons of extra nippiness or aesthetics, but the difference is you don't need to do this to macs, where Windows typically requires fiddling to remain tip top.

I have a few tweaks on my systems but they are more for usability for my way of working. I never run 'clean or tweak' type apps as they generally don't do a lot and sometime do more harm than good.
 

RichardC300

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 27, 2012
1,243
116
Generally we leave them alone!

Some tweaking can be done for reasons of extra nippiness or aesthetics, but the difference is you don't need to do this to macs, where Windows typically requires fiddling to remain tip top.

I have a few tweaks on my systems but they are more for usability for my way of working. I never run 'clean or tweak' type apps as they generally don't do a lot and sometime do more harm than good.

This is good news! But also a bit disappointing, because I loved tinkering with the OS back in the Windows days.

Do you have any recommendations for any utilities to make the OS X better than it already is while keeping the OEM feel or quality? I just have caffeine, coconut battery, and app cleaner at the moment. They've both proved useful.
 

costabunny

macrumors 68020
May 15, 2008
2,466
71
Weymouth, UK
This is good news! But also a bit disappointing, because I loved tinkering with the OS back in the Windows days.

Do you have any recommendations for any utilities to make the OS X better than it already is while keeping the OEM feel or quality? I just have caffeine, coconut battery, and app cleaner at the moment. They've both proved useful.

Onyx is useful - use googles and read up - most of my tweaks are done manually in the shell. Thats the way I roll ;)
 

RichardC300

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 27, 2012
1,243
116
Articles explaining why Mac OS X does not need maintenance software like CCleaner, MacKeeper or CleanMyMac:

As for application removal, since AppCleaner is not deleting EVERYTHING:
Best way to FULLY DELETE a program without the need of any additional, inefficient applications

Visual presentation of the steps outlined in above link:
YouTube: video
That's a good read. Very interesting info! Thanks.
Onyx is useful - use googles and read up - most of my tweaks are done manually in the shell. Thats the way I roll ;)
Haha. Thanks. I'll look into it!
 

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
I loved tinkering with the OS back in the Windows days.
Seriously, why would you want to "tinker" with the backbone of your system? If it ain't broke... find something else to break.

Some of you guys with too much time on your hands crack me up. :D
 

RichardC300

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 27, 2012
1,243
116
The days on when I had too much time on my hands were fun... I wish I still had some of those days. :rolleyes:
 

LxHunter

Suspended
Nov 14, 2010
502
72
RichardC300
"This is good news! But also a bit disappointing, because I loved tinkering with the OS back in the Windows days."

I switched to OS X from Win a few years ago. I went through a few months of withdrawal from the urge to fiddle. And, also felt a loss for the nerd knowledge I had accumulated and liked impressing my friends with. I am finally at peace spending time on work and not wasting time managing a computer.
 

costabunny

macrumors 68020
May 15, 2008
2,466
71
Weymouth, UK
RichardC300
"This is good news! But also a bit disappointing, because I loved tinkering with the OS back in the Windows days."

I switched to OS X from Win a few years ago. I went through a few months of withdrawal from the urge to fiddle. And, also felt a loss for the nerd knowledge I had accumulated and liked impressing my friends with. I am finally at peace spending time on work and not wasting time managing a computer.

Well said indeed.

I remember the pain managing a windows box, but OSX is such a different beast. The little tweaks I do are for my personal productivity and workflow; not to 'make the damn thing work smooth' like old winslows.

Little tweaks such as making backups every 12 hours instead of every one hour. Setting my bash profile how i like it, making sure i have wget working, etc.

I would go as fas as to say, for me at least, OSX is the least stressful OS to deal with (linux, solaris and windows are all needy in comparison).
 

LxHunter

Suspended
Nov 14, 2010
502
72
costabunny
"OSX is the least stressful"

I agree - lowers my blood pressure and increases my productivity by about an hour a day.
 
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