Maintenance...Cocktail do I need it or not????

Hi Armando,

You don't need Cocktail, because your computer has everything it needs to maintain itself properly:

- Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder) to Repair Permissions after each software install that required an installer.
- Disk Utility (booted from Tiger install DVD) to Repair Disk in case of a problem, or as a cautious step before a Mac OS X update.
- The automatic scheduling of the Periodic tasks between 3:15AM and 5:30AM, that works now (since 10.4.2) also if you sleep your computer at night -still not if shut down though.
- Terminal.

BUT:
It is a good idea to have such a small utility ( Cocktail is excellent, but you can use also TinkerTool + TinkerTool System, or OnyX, or Yasu for example), in case you have to delete some caches or perform another kind of troubleshooting some day, and because of their other smart and cool features.
Also: with them you don't have to learn Terminal commands.

Another utility you may want to consider: DiskWarrior. This powerful (and expensive) one can be run twice a year or before a Mac OS X Update.

Tip:
Most important for a smooth-running Mac OS X: always keep at least 10% or 15% free space on your boot hard drive.

Good maintenance!
Axl

No. Cocktail is not needed, but it makes running those tasks easier if you do not want to touch Terminal (like me). Cocktail is a great tool, but there are others that AxL mentioned.

I use MacJanitor

Great!

It does all the tasks

...in a minute... after that I repair permission... and I am ready to go!!!

Bye bye Windows...

MacJanitor

It's FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too recommend TinkerTool (free - at http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html) and TinkerTool System (registered, price: 7 EU, about 8.50 USD) for fine tuning and maintenance.
TinkerTool lets you put the Dock in various other places, lets you speed up (or slow) the window display movement (for those of us who 'can;t wait!'), and other handy and non-damaging things.
TinkerTool System is for maintenance of tech detail stuff, which most people will not usually need to access (at least, not often).

And since you mention you turn the Mac off at night:
Another program I have registered and rely on is Macaroni ($9, http://www.atomicbird.com) -- what it does is to allow you to setup (or use default) scheduler which will run the normal Mac Unix ('nix) maintenance routines in a more automated way. If your machine is off in the overnight time that Mac OS X normally schedules its maintenance, then it will not happen.
What Macaroni does is to let you set times, and busy-ness threshholds, so that when you do turn your machine on again, it will notice that maintenance did not run, and it will find a low-activity time to run it for you. All in the background. Works like a champ. Worth the registration.

There is a lot of good shareware for the Mac 'out there'. Two sites to look at for programs, with user comments and ratings are: http://www.macupdate.com and http://www.versiontracker.com. (or Cnet/Zdnet also, but I don't use them as much for Mac.)

Armando,

I like MainMenu, a utility that installs on the menu bar and seems to do everything you need normally.

Download is free at: www.santasw.com

Hello All:

AxL's excellent post above is a first-rate summary and response. To emphasize,

You don't need Cocktail, because your computer has everything it needs to maintain itself properly:

- Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder) to Repair Permissions after each software install that required an installer.

- Disk Utility (booted from Tiger install DVD) to Repair Disk in case of a problem, or as a cautious step before a Mac OS X update.

- The automatic scheduling of the Periodic tasks between 3:15AM and 5:30AM, that works now (since 10.4.2) also if you sleep your computer at night -still not if shut down though.

Like AxL, I do have Cocktail around for possible trouble shooting assistance.

Apple has eliminated a formerly required maintenance task by automating the UNIX 'cron' routines that we all had to force starting if we sleep (I do) computers. This incremental improvement is one reason why I continue to be a booster of Apple products.

Barry

Thank you Barry!

" Apple has eliminated a formerly required maintenance task..."

Not yet, I'm afraid.

To clarify:
it is not an improvement, just a bug with a misleading side-effect.

What happens, is that launchd, instead of looking at the local time, counts the amount of time the system was awake since the last restart.
It doesn't count anything while the system is asleep.
As a result, the Periodic tasks are delayed from their default nightly time, by the exact amount of time the computer was asleep since the last restart.

-- Even if your computer is awake at 3:15AM, the tasks will be delayed if you have slept your computer at some point since the last restart.

Shutting down is much simpler: it just cancels everything. Time count cancelled, Periodic tasks cancelled.

-- Let alone shutting it down (at night or during the day as well), even a simple restart resets launchd's buggy time-clock and cancels the Periodic task that was about to run.

In a word:
It is still needed to run the Periodic tasks manually.

As unimportant as always, but still:
"Hopefully a definitive fix in the next update (10.4.3)..."

Best regards!
Axl

This is a great thread. I am a recent convert as well and wouldn't even think about having to do this stuff from time to time. It might be worth attending one of those beginner classes at the Apple store.

I am new to Mac, also. I don't leave my machine on at night and I have Cocktail. Does running Cocktail take care of the routine maintance scheduled for the nighttime hours? Or do I need MacJanitor, too? Thanks for advice!

Fran

Hello Fran:

Cocktail (run cron scripts) executes the UNIX 'cron' maintenance routines. Cocktail has a number of other GUI functions - most used for trouble shooting. In fact, I would not run cache clear except in a trouble shooting mode.

MacJanitor is a single purpose GUI - it just runs the 'cron' routines.

As a note, Macs are made to run without being shut down. I sleep both my iMacs when I am not using them. The only time I shut a computer down is when i am going to be out of town for several days.

In answer to your question, you do not need both.

Barry

Like Harold, I like Main Menu...which replaced my good old MacJanitor.

Jurgen

Armando,

I use Onyx and it works wonders. The occasional lockup withstanding, I find that Onyx really cleans up my HD.

apple jack is another great little (free!) program to have installed have a looky here:-
http://applejack.sourceforge.net/