Macworld’s maintenance calendar

Essential Mac Maintenance

The “Rev Up Your Routines” section of our Essential Mac Maintenance series suggests a number of tasks to perform on a regular schedule—some weekly, some monthly, and so on. Although these tasks aren't difficult, how do you remember to do them (and when to do them)? We've done the work for you on that front with the Macworld Maintenance calendar.

Just download and unzip this file and then import it into your calendar program. (For example, in Apple's iCal, choose File: Import; for Microsoft's Entourage 2008, simply drag the Macworld Maintenance.ics file onto the Entourage icon in the Dock.) The calendar includes all the periodic maintenance tasks we recommend performing: weekly and biweekly tasks on Friday afternoons, and monthly and bimonthly tasks on the first day of each month. By default, each item has a reminder alarm set.

You can leave this calendar as-is, or you can customize it to your own needs. For example, if you don't have a laptop, delete the Calibrate Laptop Battery event. If you'd rather your monthly tasks occur on the first Monday of each month, just double-click on an event in your calendar program to edit the schedule. If you prefer not to see reminders, you can disable them. It's up to you when you perform the tasks. The important thing is that you do them, and this calendar should help get you started.