[X4U] Macworld's Five Mac maintenance myths

[Randy B. Singer]

On Jun 7, 2008, at 8:43 PM, Ed Gould wrote:

> Thought everyone might be interested in this item on Macworld.
>
> http://www.macworld.com/article/133684/2008/06/maintenance_intro.html

Yes, that is an interesting article.  Thanks Ed.

In fact, I've been updating my Web site (slowly) and I just wrote a  
section specifically about that.  Here it is FWIW:



Note #2) Routine Maintenance Or Troubleshooting Technique?

A couple of well-known Macintosh authors have recently said that many  
of the procedures listed on this Web page, such as Repairing  
Permissions, are not what they consider to be routine maintenance,  
but rather they are best reserved to be used as troubleshooting  
techniques when your Macintosh shows signs of decreased performance  
or starts acting in an unusual manner.  They say that you can go a  
long time without having to perform any of the procedures that I list  
here.

http://www.macworld.com/article/133684/2008/06/maintenance_intro.html

I can’t say that they are wrong.  However, I compare it to checking  
and adjusting the air in the tires of your car.  Do you do that  
regularly, or do you wait until your tires start to show signs of  
unusual wear and/or your car starts to handle poorly?  Many people do  
the latter, and I can’t say that they are wrong in doing so.

What if it only took about ten minutes to check and adjust the air in  
your car’s tires, and you didn’t have to get your hands dirty, or  
leave the comfort of your home to do so?  Would you then consider it  
a good idea to do it regularly, especially considering the benefits  
of increased gas mileage, better handling, longer tire life, etc.?   
It seems to me that it would be well worthwhile to do so.

That is where my feelings are as far as the procedures on this Web  
page.  You can do them all quickly (see below), easily and  
painlessly, and there is just about no downside to doing them.  But  
the upside to doing routine maintenance is that your Macintosh will  
always be running at its best, and you may even avoid some nasty  
problems down the road.  You can decide for yourself if the extremely  
modest investment of time and effort is worthwhile to you.


___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________