[Guide] Clean Mac is a Happy Mac

[cheez]

No, the XP installation I referenced was directly on hardware. In this case it was an older Dell Latitude. The Win7 VM I referenced is my work VM and I most certainly use it every day and usually leave it running for weeks at a time. According to "Programs and Features" I've got almost 100 programs installed, although that includes things like MySQL ODBC Connector and the MS VC++ redistributables so it's going to be a little bit high.

But I am very picky about what I install on it because I know some things will cause issues. I beat up the Linux host OS much more because I know its package management is light-years ahead of Windows and will clean up after itself.

For power users (users that know what they are doing) the problem may not show up as much. But for normal users like an average Joe, it will cause a lot of registry problems on WinXP. Just because you didn't get very many errors with XP doesn't mean it will be the same with all XP users. I can't believe you think so narrow. Broaden your mind plz!

And I said this before but Windows 7 has some serious bug that will wipe out all precious data when you rename the user folder and then log back on. I was like ready to file law suit. This act of evil is beyond gheyness....

 

[TheStu]

Nothingman, instead of defending your precious Windows OSes I suggest you read and learn about OP's suggestion on maintaining Mac OS X. If you don't own Mac computer nor do you use Mac OSes I suggest you go over to Operating System section of the forum. I can tell you more about how lame Windows 7 is... Don't go thread crapping the OP's thread here.

Don't be a jerk. Nothinman is an experienced and respected member of this forum and is always willing to offer advice and to share his extensive knowledge with others here.

 

[Nothinman]

Nothingman, instead of defending your precious Windows OSes I suggest you read and learn about OP's suggestion on maintaining Mac OS X. If you don't own Mac computer nor do you use Mac OSes I suggest you go over to Operating System section of the forum. I can tell you more about how lame Windows 7 is... Don't go thread crapping the OP's thread here.

I've used OS X and I hate it. Windows isn't precious to me, as I said before I'm a devout Linux user, but all you're doing is spreading misinformation. And the only useful thing the OP mentioned was AppleJack, the other 2 "tips" are wrong and worthless, respectively.

I use Win7 every day for work and I can tell you how wrong you are over and over but you just don't seem willing to listen.

For power users (users that know what they are doing) the problem may not show up as much. But for normal users like an average Joe, it will cause a lot of registry problems on WinXP. Just because you didn't get very many errors with XP doesn't mean it will be the same with all XP users. I can't believe you think so narrow. Broaden your mind plz!

I've done desktop support and the only real issues I've seen were caused by malware, installing a dozen toolbars, snakeoil optimization programs, etc. And usually a big culprit for performance killing is A/V itself, most of the time the cure seems worse than the problem. But nothing remotely close to general registry corruption that you keep talking about.

And I said this before but Windows 7 has some serious bug that will wipe out all precious data when you rename the user folder and then log back on. I was like ready to file law suit. This act of evil is beyond gheyness....

Why would you rename the Users directory? Or do you mean an individual user's profile directory?

Don't be a jerk. Nothinman is an experienced and respected member of this forum and is always willing to offer advice and to share his extensive knowledge with others here.

As vehemently as I hate Apple, I'm not trying to thread-crap here. The OP's suggestions seem dubious at best and the rest of the thread is almost all ignorance and misinformation, sadly.

 

[JSt0rm]

I've used OS X and I hate it.

Then why the fuck are you posting in the apple section of the forums?


Fucking OS trolls = worst trolls

 

[Nothinman]

Then why the fuck are you posting in the apple section of the forums?


Fucking OS trolls = worst trolls

And your post was useful how?

 

[cheez]

I've used OS X and I hate it. Windows isn't precious to me, as I said before I'm a devout Linux user, but all you're doing is spreading misinformation. And the only useful thing the OP mentioned was AppleJack, the other 2 "tips" are wrong and worthless, respectively.

You don't provide proof and claim they are wrong because you don't like what you see! OSXMan information is correct, and very helpful. If you don't like it, then may I suggest you look elsewhere.

I use Win7 every day for work and I can tell you how wrong you are over and over but you just don't seem willing to listen.

Where should we start?

I've done desktop support and the only real issues I've seen were caused by malware, installing a dozen toolbars, snakeoil optimization programs, etc. And usually a big culprit for performance killing is A/V itself, most of the time the cure seems worse than the problem. But nothing remotely close to general registry corruption that you keep talking about.

Some people assume that it's the *malware* that's causing the problem when it's actually the Windows registry problem. They are two separate things, sir. Everyone knows Windows XP has registry issues and yet you seem like you have never used Windows XP even though you did. Maybe you need to use it more to see the problems?

Why would you rename the Users directory? Or do you mean an individual user's profile directory?

Individual user's profile folder under users. For troubleshooting / experimentation purposes. I had a famous thread regarding this. All files get completely wiped next time you logon. What's really really bad is Microsoft programmed it in such way that the files will never be recovered. This is design problem, or called programming error. Windows 7 has gone downgrade.

As vehemently as I hate Apple, I'm not trying to thread-crap here. The OP's suggestions seem dubious at best and the rest of the thread is almost all ignorance and misinformation, sadly.

They are not ignorance. You made it ignorance. Just because you don't like what they tell you or they don't like something you like doesn't mean you get to go around tell people "You are Wrong. Show me *proof**. I see the pattern.

 

[cheez]

And your post was useful how?

Well this post isn't useful either.:$

 

[cheez]

Don't be a jerk.

I'm not, sir.

Nothinman is an experienced and respected member of this forum and is always willing to offer advice and to share his extensive knowledge with others here.

Well I offer advices too whenever the chance I get.

Most I see from him is like "You are Wrong. Show me Proof..." and yet I have not seen him providing his proof to override someone's claim or proof. Ha ha.

 

[cheez]

Back to the real topic, I started my precious Mac and pressed and held CMD+S and it took me to the SUM and ran Applejack. Wow!!

Not only did it scan for hard drive and permissions it emptied out cache and other junk files!!!! just like what OSXMan said earlier. Brilliant. I love this program. My Mac seems to run faster and cleaner now. I'm gonna run it twice a week hehe!

 

[JSt0rm]

And your post was useful how?

Um I have had 1 useful post in this thread. You just hate osx and want the world to know.

Here is a hint:

Nobody gives a shit about what you think. No matter what your mom told you, you aren't important.

 

[rivan]

Um I have had 1 useful post in this thread. You just hate osx and want the world to know.

Here is a hint:

Nobody gives a shit about what you think. No matter what your mom told you, you aren't important.

On the contrary, I give a shit what he has to say.

Re-read Nothinman's first post. He's questioning the veracity of the OP's claims, nothing else. I question them as well.

You yourself re-asked the his very first question:

I really don't mean to thread-crap, but how in the hell do you optimize a directory for a specific file type?

I dunno about that first one. Do you have some links to back that up? I keep multiple TB of sound files not in the "music" folder and my computer runs fine.

Between that and the PRAM suggestion, I'm inclined to doubt everything else the OP has to say, no matter how much one other member happens to cheer him along.

 

[JSt0rm]

I find it strange he trolls the apple forum inhis hate for all things apple. Its tiresome.

 

[TheStu]

I find it strange he trolls the apple forum inhis hate for all things apple. Its tiresome.

He isn't trolling though. At worst he is trawling, but that is a different thing altogether.

 

[manly]

Well I offer advices too whenever the chance I get.

Most I see from him is like "You are Wrong. Show me Proof..." and yet I have not seen him providing his proof to override someone's claim or proof. Ha ha.

you're out of line here, as TheStu has been politely trying to say.

I've been on AT forums a while and Nothinman doesn't pop up into this sub-forum that often. He knows enough Unix to contribute or object to dubious claims. The onus is on the OP to reference any articles that support his self-described "guide". He created the thread and at least 3 replies have dismissed the first 2 suggestions. The OP clearly chose not to offer any direct support for his advice except for saying he was a junior tech and was taught these methods.

 

[JSt0rm]

He isn't trolling though. At worst he is trawling, but that is a different thing altogether.

Well I dont go into the linux forums and say how stupid linux is.

I work with osx professionally. It affords me a apartment in beverly hills and to not worry about my next paycheck. We all make decisions on what computer platforms we use and for some nub to come and declare his opinion is the truth is idiocy and shouldn't be tolerated.

Let people rip on apple in every other forum but in the apple forum it shouldnt "be the debate" this should be a place for those of us who have CHOSEN to use this software to support one another.

 

[JSt0rm]

I may fly off the handle but it is very tiring to see the onslaught of people with such negative reactions to apple. They spend their time fighting and debating against osx and if you say anything in return you are a apple fanboy. Its idiocy.

 

[Jodell88]

Jst0rm, I think you're over reacting here. Nothingman hasn't bashed Apple anywhere in this thread. He has questioned a claim by the OP (so did you) and defended Microsoft Windows against misinformation by Cheez.

 

[JSt0rm]

fair enough. I've had run ins with him before and seeing that he hates apple just made me wonder why he was even in the thread, but I apologize. Let the op come back at give his reasons for his "tweaks".

 

[Nothinman]

You don't provide proof and claim they are wrong because you don't like what you see! OSXMan information is correct, and very helpful. If you don't like it, then may I suggest you look elsewhere.

1 of his claims out of 3 has merit, the other 3 are dubious at best. And since he's the one offering it as things people should do to optimize their system, the burden of proof is on him. Just saying something with a large font doesn't make it so.

Some people assume that it's the *malware* that's causing the problem when it's actually the Windows registry problem. They are two separate things, sir. Everyone knows Windows XP has registry issues and yet you seem like you have never used Windows XP even though you did. Maybe you need to use it more to see the problems?

Everyone likes to blame the registry for things that aren't its fault. It's become a whipping boy for lots of problems just because people don't understand it. I used XP as my main workstation for at least 2 of the last 3 years straight without any random registry corruption or issues. MS isn't perfect and has caused issues for people with updates and such, but 99% of the time it's some 3rd party software that included an explorer extension, IE add-on, filter driver, etc that is the true cause of problem. Saying otherwise over and over again doesn't automatically make it true.

Individual user's profile folder under users. For troubleshooting / experimentation purposes. I had a famous thread regarding this. All files get completely wiped next time you logon. What's really really bad is Microsoft programmed it in such way that the files will never be recovered. This is design problem, or called programming error. Windows 7 has gone downgrade.

That would be a pretty drastic change from the previous behavior of just giving you a new directory (e.g. username.domain or username.000) but I wouldn't discount it. I'll have to give that a try in a VM and see what happens.

They are not ignorance. You made it ignorance. Just because you don't like what they tell you or they don't like something you like doesn't mean you get to go around tell people "You are Wrong. Show me *proof**. I see the pattern.

As far as I'm aware I haven't said anything ignorant in this thread. But if you're giving people advice on how to operate their computer and what to blame for problems then the burden of proof is on you. Just saying "The registry sucks" isn't helpful in any way and blindly repeating it over and over just removes any credit you may have had because either you don't know what you're talking about or you can't articulate the details.

Yes there's a pattern to my posts, I think you're wrong and I'm asking you to prove your point because you're the one saying things that go against what most people know as real facts.

 

[cheez]

g[/b]man;32982967]1 of his claims out of 3 has merit, the other 3 are dubious at best. And since he's the one offering it as things people should do to optimize their system, the burden of proof is on him. Just saying something with a large font doesn't make it so.

Large font makes the documentation more professional. It's supposed to be done that way. Whether the information is perfect or less than stellar, it has nothing to do with making large bold fonts. This makes it easier for viewers to read too.

Everyone likes to blame the registry for things that aren't its fault. It's become a whipping boy for lots of problems just because people don't understand it.

And at the same time we have bunch of people "blame" on malware infection which may have nothing to do with registry problem. You simply say "because of malware" that instantly makes the user ignorant too. It's not that simple as you think when it comes to registry and windows file system.

I used XP as my main workstation for at least 2 of the last 3 years straight without any random registry corruption or issues. MS isn't perfect and has caused issues for people with updates and such, and I'm shy...

Problems with system failing due to Windows updates IS registry related. Everything is composed of registry in Windoz D) environment.

99% of the time it's some 3rd party software that included an explorer extension, IE add-on, filter driver, etc that is the true cause of problem.

First, it's not 99% of the time. Problems caused by add-on's on IE is registry related. They are all handled by registry! And of course they often get registry corruptions too. So that 99% (with 1% being hardware problem) problem is with registry.

That would be a pretty drastic change from the previous behavior of just giving you a new directory (e.g. username.domain or username.000) but I wouldn't discount it. I'll have to give that a try in a VM and see what happens.

And that is no problem what-so-ever in Windows 2000/XP/2003. For security concern, it's a clear downgrade for Windows 7, or should I say "clear devastation".

When you change the name of the folder, it will not notify you with any alerts or popup box saying "Man, you are f#@ked if you change this folder name coz if you log back on all data will get wipped and you be f#@ked for good" or something similar in more appropriate way so you know what's coming ahead... :$

"The registry sucks" isn't helpful in any way and blindly repeating it over and over just removes any credit you may have had because either you don't know what you're talking about or you can't articulate the details.

It's sometimes difficult to specify what is the culprit in the software because ALL IS MADE UP OF REGISTRY... You can start off with the error messages and error codes and do research. They are all registry problems.


Actually, I have a great learning tip for you Nothingman. Think of registry as DNA of a human body. It tells where your nose and mouth should be located and how they function and behave. It's a complete set of instructions and database. Good advice.

 

[cheez]

And of course, Mac OS X is superior, simply and meaningfully because it's "registry-less" or at least it does not share the same structure as Windows as far as how the applications are managed.

You don't get registry clogged with Mac OS X, like Windows does. Single point of failure in the registry in Windows affects the entire OS functions and / or performance. Mac OS X's file and cache system is brilliant. It's superior and the programmers who wrote these OSes are smarter.

And please, Nothingman, stop thread crapping. This is OSXMan's quality thread that deserves sticky. Sometimes, thread crapping is worse than trolling. Please stop it.

Thank you,

 

[JSt0rm]

I dont know if it deserves sticky. He needs to come back and show proof of his first statement.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Agreed, applejack is the only useful tip there. PRAM needs to be reset sometimes, in response to problems booting or other wackiness. I have no idea how the folders could be "optimized" for audio, video, or what have you. They are just folders. Not saying it's impossible, but I'm not aware of it being the case. OP needs to back up those statements.

Of course it doesn't hurt to keep your photos under ~/Pictures and your MP3s under ~/Music, and doing so sure makes it easier to automatically migrate your stuff from one Mac to another, so I recommend people to follow this recommendation; but it's not really necessary, and in some cases, it's impossible (if your photos/music/whatever are too big to fit on the boot hard drive).

Also not sure if running applejack AUTO all the time is ideal. normal auto should be fine. manpage says use AUTO only if your system isn't booting even after running auto.

I also have to say that I think that a binary file containing all of the settings and parameters across the OS and all applications is a fundamentally bad idea. Bits can get switched pretty easily. Multiple characters in text files, in such a way as to reverse the meaning (e.g. 'yes' to 'no') not so easily. Having the text files spread throughout the filesystem (and mostly residing where they are applicable, i.e. within the .app for that particular app, or within the user's home directory) may be slower, but it is demonstrably more robust. Of course this is not unique to OSX but is common to all UNIXes that I know of. In fact, it was encapsulated as rule #5 of Mike Gancarz's UNIX Philosophy: "Store data in flat text files."

 

[nerp]

Registry slowdowns/fragmentation is a myth. Long been disproved. Hard drives, CPUs and memory has been too fast to make it matter. The registry is text, for christs' sake.

 

[OSXMan]

Also not sure if running applejack AUTO all the time is ideal. normal auto should be fine. man page says use AUTO only if your system isn't booting even after running auto.

Yes it may say to use AUTO if it fails to boot after using auto, but why risk that, AUTO is a deeper clean, hence why I said use AUTO, thus eliminating the need to rerun it using AUTO.

Why should I have to back it up? Everytime I have even been online and asked something that can be found I am told to use google, you want proof/justification/reasons etc, use your keyboard and google it, simple.

As for whoever posted about the not having space on the boot drive, chances are you have it on an external source, whether is be an external drive or a server, in such case as an external drive, OS X boots and does not search/index that, hence why it mounts after boot and isn't already mounted when the OS loads. In the case of a server you most likely have to manually connect, so again not indexed.

If you guys really disagree with the guide/content that much I'll just remove it, plain and simple. I don't see why its that big of a deal to zap the PRAM or store shit properly.