[sonofmof]

Hi Gys

I am a Mac newbie having jumped onboard due to the low price of the current eMac.

Although I appreciate that the eMac is an entry level machine and by no means a match for any top end machine like the G5 I have to say that I find the eMac quite slow to respond. I am only comparing it to PC systems I use (a 1.4ghz athlon and a 650 Athlon) which I know is not a direct comparison but it is all i have.

The Speed problem has been helped greatly by replacing the ram for 2x 512mb giving me 1GB (which I believe to be the Maximum - according to the manual anyway) - but i do still find myself waiting for it to do sometimes simple things like opening mail or safari.

I must say that apart from the speed issue i am very impressed with my eMac and feel sure that I am starting on the road to converting away from the monster that is Microsoft and te PC platform.

To get to my point.... do I need to perform any Defrag / Maintenace task on my Mac ?

Are there any applications that can help me do this ? (on the pc I use Norton Systemworks)

Is there any way to customise the install of OSX to only have the things I need ?

Many thanks for any points you can give

Chris

[Will C]

With 1 gig of RAM you don't have to quit apps so often - just leave them running - unless you shut down you Mac alot. many of us put the system to sleep as its standy current is very small and it wakes form sleep very quickly.

For maintenance, one of the best things you can do is repair permissions - go to HD>Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility, then select your HD and click on Repair permissions - it can take a few minutes but can make a system run much smoother.

Recent verisons of OS X don't apparently need defragging - as I undertsand it - small files are defragged 'on-the-fly' but any fragments bigger than 20MB are not recombined as there is little speed gained from this with modern drives - just my undertanding.

If you think your drive may be corrupted you can boot up from the install CD and run Disk utility form it and repair the drive (restart with the 'C' key held down) - though usually this manifests itself as system problems rather than speed issues.

Hope this makes sense - good luck with your new mac

[Rodster]

Congratulations on your purchase. I purchased one myself about two months ago and love it. You can't beat the price.

One other thing you could try is SOX (System Optimizer X) for OSX. Here's what it does per the website:http://www.mkd.cc/sox/

Optimize
The Optimize feature repairs file permissions, updates prebindings, runs system maintenance scripts, and cleans system and applications cache, in that order.

Update Prebindings
Updating executable library prebindings will update links between executables (applications) and their needed system libraries to increase performance. However, a system restart is needed before changes are noticed.

System Maintenance Scripts
Mac OS has three built in system maintenance scripts, "daily", "weekly" and "monthly". These scripts are do things like update and back up system databases, rotate and clean log files, and check security settings, and are scheduled to run accordingly. The "Maintenance" feature of SOX allows you to run them manually.

System/Application Cache
Mac OS X uses a system-wide caching system to generally speed up system and application performance. This cache can become corrupted, however, and cause "flaky" behavior, such as the "beach-ball effect". Cleaning the cache will eliminate this, and allow applications and system processes to start fresh. Restarting your computer is highly recommended after cleaning cache.

Repair File Permissions
UNIX uses a file permissions system to limit access to sensitive files. These permissions frequently need maintenance and can cause many unpredictable problems.

Internet Optimization

Internet Optimization adjusts TCP buffer sizes to their optimum sizes for your type internet connection. Advanced users can manually adjust packet delay and RFC1323.

Memory Compression

Memory Compression enables window buffer compression which will compress the RAM used for windows that are minimized in the dock. This will free up RAM for other application and the system. Generally, window buffer compression is not needed unless you have less than 320 megabytes of RAM. The downfall to using window buffer compression is that minimized windows take a split-second longer to pop out of the dock when they are clicked, if running on a slower machine.

Schedule
The schedule can be used to automatically update prebindings, run system maintenance scripts, clean system/application cache, and repair file permissions at weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly intervals.

Give it a try and enjoy your eMac !

[sonofmof]

Many thanks for the replies so far, I will take a look at the optimiser program that was mentioned above.

I am certainly enjoying my eMac and find the "free" programs that came with the machine fantastic to use.

My favorite is definately iMovie which has enabled me to import the video footage from my Canon DV camcorder, edit it, and export it as a Quicktime File. - I know the eMac is entry level but it performs this task fantastically well for my needs.

This, although do-able on a pc was a chore to say the least.

Thanks again for your replies, and any further advice will also be greatly appreciated.

Chris

[tooki]

Originally posted by Rodster:
Congratulations on your purchase. I purchased one myself about two months ago and love it. You can't beat the price.

One other thing you could try is SOX (System Optimizer X) for OSX. Here's what it does per the website:http://www.mkd.cc/sox/

Optimize
The Optimize feature repairs file permissions, updates prebindings, runs system maintenance scripts, and cleans system and applications cache, in that order.

Update Prebindings
Updating executable library prebindings will update links between executables (applications) and their needed system libraries to increase performance. However, a system restart is needed before changes are noticed.

System Maintenance Scripts
Mac OS has three built in system maintenance scripts, "daily", "weekly" and "monthly". These scripts are do things like update and back up system databases, rotate and clean log files, and check security settings, and are scheduled to run accordingly. The "Maintenance" feature of SOX allows you to run them manually.

System/Application Cache
Mac OS X uses a system-wide caching system to generally speed up system and application performance. This cache can become corrupted, however, and cause "flaky" behavior, such as the "beach-ball effect". Cleaning the cache will eliminate this, and allow applications and system processes to start fresh. Restarting your computer is highly recommended after cleaning cache.

Repair File Permissions
UNIX uses a file permissions system to limit access to sensitive files. These permissions frequently need maintenance and can cause many unpredictable problems.

Internet Optimization

Internet Optimization adjusts TCP buffer sizes to their optimum sizes for your type internet connection. Advanced users can manually adjust packet delay and RFC1323.

Memory Compression

Memory Compression enables window buffer compression which will compress the RAM used for windows that are minimized in the dock. This will free up RAM for other application and the system. Generally, window buffer compression is not needed unless you have less than 320 megabytes of RAM. The downfall to using window buffer compression is that minimized windows take a split-second longer to pop out of the dock when they are clicked, if running on a slower machine.

Schedule
The schedule can be used to automatically update prebindings, run system maintenance scripts, clean system/application cache, and repair file permissions at weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly intervals.

Give it a try and enjoy your eMac !

What a bunch of crap.

Window compression has been on by default for several major versions of OS X already.

Prebinding doesn't need to be updated manually: 10.2 and higher does it automatically, as needed. Doing it manually harms nothing, but gives exactly zero benefit.

The caches should NOT be cleaned unless there is good reason to believe they're corrupted. Cleaning the caches unnecessarily SLOWS things down. This should be strictly a corrective measure, not a preventive one.

Permissions don't need "frequent" repairing. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by doing this unless there is reason to believe they are causing problems. This also should be strictly a corrective measure, not a preventive one.

The system maintenance scripts do need to run now and then, but you can just leave the machine on overnight now and then to accomplish this.

Internet optimization can potentially improve throughput a little bit, but it's a generally small difference, and it's easy to slow your connection down, too.

So all in all, I would not recommend running that utility. Mac OS X does pretty much all the maintenance it needs on its own.

tooki

[iREZ]

Gotta agree with the great one on this. I downloaded Onyx (free) and run scripts with it on a weekly basis, and I know it's unecessary but I repair permissions after any huge download or install of software just to keep my mind at ease. If you wanna run scripts without any downloads, just leave your machine on throughout the night (not in sleep) and OS X will do it auto.