Originally posted by vicky.me:
I've been on Mac's for about a year now, and it has become obvious to me that OS X need a lot of maintenance. But I don't know how, why and when to do it, and what software to use. So can you guys please help me out here? I'd really like to be able to keep my Mac in good shape 
Actually, Mac OS X is very low-maintenence. Most of the stuff you're asking about is indeed maintenence routines, but the system runs them automatically.
hudson1 has given good answers; allow me to append:
Originally posted by vicky.me:
how often do I need to "defrag" my disk?
what software do I need?
what software is best?
why do I have to "defrag"?
what will happen if I skip it?
Disk fragmentation happens because all free space on your hard drive isn't necessarily in one large block. The system writes a file where there is space - a little piece here, another chunk there, some more over there, and so on. This means that to read a file, the little magnetic head reading the data from the spinning platters has to jump back and forth a lot, which can slow down disk activities.
De-fragmenting will try to unify all files into single blocks that can be read in one piece.
De-fragmenting is highly overrated, and the time it takes to de-fragment a disk is rarely worth the speed gain (usually only perceptible if you're doing something incredibly disk-intensive).
And, as hudson1 mentioned, OS X 10.3 Panther automatically defragments files smaller than 20MB in the background, so once you've upgraded, it is doubly of no concern.
Originally posted by vicky.me:
how often do I need to "repair permissions"?
what software do I need?
what software is best?
why do I have to "repair permissions"?
what will happen if I skip it?
I usually do it every few weeks. If you notice odd quirks and misbehaviors, it might be time.
Note that this is the only maintenence issue you - still - have to take care of yourself. Though problems have become much rarer for me since 10.3.
Originally posted by vicky.me:
how often do I need to "journal" my disk?
what software do I need?
what software is best?
why do I have to "journal" my disk"?
what will happen if I skip it?
Basically, what journalling does is it automatically keeps a separate list of what changes are made to your hard disk, so that if your system crashes hard, recovery is faster (no need for the system to check the entire disk; just read the journal file, check modification dates, make minor corrections, and you're off).
If you've upgraded to OS X 10.3 Panther, all you need to do is go into /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility , click on your hard drive, and click the green "enable Journalling" icon - if it isn't enabled already.
You do this once, and once only.
Originally posted by vicky.me:
how often do I need to "reprebind" my system?
what software do I need?
what software is best?
why do I have to "reprebind" my system"?
what will happen if I skip it?
From what I understand, programs need to access other system files, called libraries, to run. Rather than have the application search the hard drive for each library as it needs it (this takes time and slows down the program), the system will "pre-bind" these programs, in effect checking for all required libraries and directly linking them in advance.
As of 10.3, every application is automatically pre-bound when it is first run, or when installed using the Apple Installer (that long passage of "Optimizing..." at the end is the pre-binding process).
No need to concern to yourself with it.
Originally posted by vicky.me:
how often do I need to "run cron scripts"?
what software do I need?
what software is best?
why do I have to "run cron scripts"?
what will happen if I skip it?
"cron" is an invisible program working behind the scenes (called a "daemon") to perform automated tasks according to a specified schedule.
"Cron scripts" are lists of tasks to be done, issued with date & time stamps telling cron when to do them.
These are things like cleaning out system or error logs, or deleting caches (local copies of internet files kept to speed up internet functions by eliminating the need to download them every time), and other basic maintenence jobs.
Usually, they are set to run at times when they're unlikely to bother anyone - like every Friday in the wee hours of the night - but if your computer is regularly switched off at night, you can use the above-mentioned MacJanitor to sweep out some clutter every once in a while.
This is not strictly necessary, though.
-s*
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