Defragment or Desktop Clean Up

Files under 20mb in size are automatically defragmented by the system. Free space is not defragmented.

With current larger hard drive sizes with plenty of free space, it is generally not worthwhile to defragment your volume.

If you want to do it, TechTool Pro is one utility that has a reliable defrag tool.

I'm not sure what "Desktop Clean Up" involves.

I don't know of any Temp folder in Mac OS X. However, when you download a new program, in Leopard, the default location is

<user home folder>/Downloads/

so you can go through that folder manually and delete stuff you no longer need, especially older versions of the same programs.

Things tend to accumulate on the Desktop as well, so you should reduce the number of files and folders on your Desktop by deleting or filing them away in your user folder. Doing so will also improve performance a bit, because Finder treats icons on the Desktop like open windows. You don't have to remove everything... just avoid having dozens of files and folders on the Desktop.

There are things like cache files and log files that the system maintains. Leopard should delete old files automatically, so you should not have to bother with them.

You can try using a free utility like Onyx to clean out cache files and do other system maintenance. I use it every couple months.

lenn

I'll second lenn5's reply, OnyX once in a while is all I ever use!

http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html

Dennis

One of the best programs I've ever used is called Cocktail. You can get it at http://maintain.se/cocktail

It is less than $20, but it is worth it. Every time Apple posts an OS update, like 10.5.5, Cocktail makes a new version of their software that is compatible with your OS update. They've given updates for years, right after the Operating System gets a boost. Cocktail runs through AutoPilot basically, clearing temporary internet files, crash logs, trash can contents, repairs disk permissions, and even shuts your computer off for you when it's done. It runs through all the maintenance you should do daily, weekly, monthly. Every 6 months or so, you should open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder, click "Erase Free Space", and I like to choose the option "Overwrite Free Space with Zeros". It overwrites all your old deleted files with zeros from start to finish of your hard drive, then erases all the zeros. All of your deleted data is permanently erased and overwritten for your own security, and your free space is not full of old deleted junk anymore. It's almost more useful than defragmenting, I think.

You might also want to check out Drive Genius and Disk Warrior. They are each $99 programs, but they really get the job done. Both programs give you bootable CD's. When you are booted to Drive Genius, you can defragment your hard drive, duplicate drives, erase drives, repair drives, scan for corrupt files, erase unused items, rebuild the directory, and a few other tools. Disk Warrior will check all files for corruption and repair them, optimize your directory and repair damaged files. It also repairs your disk permissions, and makes the machine run faster than before by making such repairs.

Goodluck!