Editor’s Note: The following article is an excerpt from the just-released Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard: Early-Bird Edition, a $10 electronic book available for download from TidBits Publishing. The 60-page ebook walks readers through evaluating if their current Macs will run Leopard well, how to make a useful backup, and more. It comes with a free update to the full ebook that provides complete details of the Leopard installation process, to be released as soon as Leopard becomes available.
Over time, most computers accumulate clutter, including outdated software, forgotten downloads, and files you no longer need. Not only can this clutter slow down your Mac and make it harder to find things, it can cause problems when you perform a major upgrade—incompatibilities may show up, or you may run out of disk space, for example.
In this excerpt, I suggest that you install some software updates and delete files you don’t need anymore. Because you’ll be making so many changes, you shouldn’t perform these steps until after you’ve made a complete backup. After you’ve cleaned up your Mac, restarted, and verified that everything is working properly, you should update your backup so that it’ll be closer to the state of your disk when you upgrade to Leopard.
(The suggestions in this section largely come from my book Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac, which Macworld excerpted last year. The full book, however, contains many more helpful hints, including a complete regimen of simple maintenance tasks you can perform daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to keep your computer running smoothly.)
Update third-party software
Every major upgrade to Mac OS X results in software compatibility problems, where some applications work poorly or don’t launch at all. Even in the best cases, most of us will have to update a few programs to get them to work correctly under Leopard. If history is any indication, some incompatible programs won’t be updated right away, and a few might never be. But many developers work hard to ensure that their software is ready for a new version of Mac OS X, and “Leopard-compatible” software updates have already begun appearing .
Given the choice, you’re usually better off upgrading third-party software before you install a new version of Mac OS X. In cases where low-level incompatibilities exist, especially with things like drivers, preference panes, kernel extensions, and startup items, you can save yourself grief by preventing, rather than fixing, the problem. This is especially important for owners of Intel-based Macs, who stand to gain both bug fixes and performance improvements by upgrading to Universal Binary versions of their applications.
Happily, almost every major application (and a good percentage of minor ones) has a software update feature. Unhappily, they don’t all work the same way. Some check for updates on a schedule, while others don’t—and of those that do, not all have this feature turned on initially. Some programs can download and install new versions of themselves automatically, while others simply download a disk image and expect you to open it and run the installer yourself; still others do nothing but open a Web page with links to updates you can download.
In each of the applications you use frequently, look for a Check for Updates command (the wording may vary). Such commands usually appear in the application menu (the one bearing the application’s name), the Help menu, or the Preferences dialog. If you can’t find such a command, look for update information on the developer’s Web site.
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| In some applications, such as Transmit (left), the Check for Updates command appears in the application menu—the one with the same name as the application. In others, such as Adobe Reader (right), it appears in the Help menu. Wording may also differ between apps. |
While you’re at it, check each application’s Preferences dialog for a checkbox that enables scheduled updates, and if you can choose how often to check, choose the most frequent option. That way, even if an update isn’t available right now, you’ll be informed as soon as the next update becomes available and you launch the application.
Tip Don’t forget to check for updates of preference panes, menu extras, plug-ins, Dashboard widgets, and other system enhancements. These types of software frequently lack an automatic update feature.
As soon as you install Leopard, and likely for several weeks thereafter, you’ll check for additional updates. But the more you do now, the easier things will be then.
Tip: Another way to check for the latest software is to subscribe to VersionTracker Pro. This service includes software that runs on your Mac and alerts you when updates to any of your installed software become available, at which time you can download and install them with a couple of clicks. VersionTracker Pro monitors up to three Macs for an annual fee of $50.
De-Clutter your hard disk
Over time, your disk accumulates obsolete, extraneous, or otherwise useless files, sometimes referred to as “cruft”—hacker slang for digital detritus. These files do nothing but take up space, and clearing them out every so often is a good idea. By removing cruft, you can increase the amount of disk space available for Leopard and reduce the chance of software conflicts.
This step may not apply to you if you have a brand-new Mac, but even a few months of use can generate a surprising amount of cruft.
Determining which files you need and which can go may be a nontrivial undertaking. Some files (“The Great American Novel.doc” or “Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard.pdf”) are obviously important, and some (caches, old downloads, and so on) are obviously disposable. In between you may find thousands of files that you can’t identify and that may or may not have some value.
My advice is to take your time, skipping over any files that you’re not absolutely sure are trashable. Because you’re doing this for your own convenience, you shouldn’t be too ruthless. In particular—with a few exceptions I’ll mention shortly—you should be circumspect about deleting things in /Library, and almost never delete anything in /System.
Here are my suggestions for files you might consider deleting:
~/Documents folder is a likely place for unneeded files (by ~/Documents, I mean look in your user folder for a Documents folder). Skim the contents of this folder and its subfolders, looking for documents and application support files you no longer need, and drag such items to the Trash. ~/Library/Mail Downloads by default) for old, unneeded files you can delete. /Applications (and /Applications/Utilities ) for any software you’ve installed over the past year but never use. (Expired demo software, anyone?) Resist the temptation to delete Apple software that came with Mac OS X, though; although new versions of some of it may be included with your Leopard upgrade, I can’t guarantee that all of them will. /Library, /Library/Application Support, ~/Library, and ~/Library/Application Support, look for folder names matching applications you no longer use, and delete them. /Library and ~/Library folders may contain other folders that store components of third-party utilities. Look in Application Enhancers, Bundles, Contextual Menu Items, InputManagers, and PreferencePanes for any system enhancements you no longer use, and drag them to the Trash. ~/Library/Widgets. Any widgets you don’t use can go. /Library/Caches and ~/Library/Caches, can sometimes occupy hundreds of megabytes of valuable disk space. Drag these files to the Trash.
◊ You can empty Safari’s cache by choosing Safari -> Empty Cache (Command-Option-E).
◊ Safari stores favicons (those tiny icons that appear next to a site’s URL in the address bar) separately from its main cache. To remove them, quit Safari and drag the folder ~/Library/Safari/Icons to the Trash. /Library/StartupItems. In most cases, you should leave this folder alone, but if you see anything there from software you’re sure you don’t use, delete it.
Warning! The /Library/StartupItems folder often contains background software you need but weren’t aware you needed. For example, SOHO Notes uses an item in this folder called OpenBase; Retrospect uses a folder called RetroRun; and Now Up-to-Date & Contact uses a folder called NUDC. In short, if you’re uncertain about anything in this folder, don’t touch it. /Library/Extensions or /System/Library/Extensions, and you should not delete them manually unless the developer’s uninstallation instructions tell you to do so, or you are certain they must go and you have no other option.
Any such software you no longer need can be deleted, but be very careful, especially in /System/Library/Extensions: most of these files are essential to Mac OS X, and that includes some with third-party companies in their names. If you see any obsolete items in one of these folders, you should run the installer that put them there in the first place and choose Uninstall (or follow uninstallation instructions provided by the developer). Tip: Numerous programs make automatic backups of their files. This is a good thing, but over time you might accumulate dozens or hundreds of old, large backup files that do you no good. BBEdit and MYOB AccountEdge are among the known culprits. In addition, if you save iChat transcripts (in ~/Documents/iChats ), you might also wish to delete old ones. And Eudora users may want to look through ~/Documents/Eudora Folder/Attachments Folder for unneeded attachments.
When you finish deleting files, be sure to empty the Trash (Finder -> Empty Trash) to recover the space the files previously occupied.
If you’ve deleted everything you can live without and still need to free up a bit more room, try these options:
Tip: Uninstaller utilities
If you prefer not to muck around in your Library folders looking for individual files to delete, consider picking up a utility that can do all the hard work for you. Uninstallers can automatically delete files associated with particular applications (such as Application Support files, startup items, caches, and preference files) without requiring you to find them all manually. Here are some examples:
I should also mention two utilities that don’t make any attempt to uninstall software but simply help you identify and delete large files on your drive that you may not need:
And finally, I know of one program that performs a specialized decluttering task: searching for duplicate files and folders on your disk so that you can delete them easily. It’s called Tidy Up! ($30).
Run Apple Hardware Test
When you purchased your Mac, the box should have included a CD or DVD with an application called Apple Hardware Test. Depending on when you bought your computer, this could be an independent disc, or it may be included on the Mac OS X Install Disc. (Look for tiny lettering on the disc that says “To use Apple Hardware Test, hold down the Option key as the computer starts up,” or words to that effect—your disc may specify a different key, for example.) Find this disc now. (I’ll wait while you root through your attic or basement to find it hidden in the bottom of a box somewhere.)
Back already? Super. You have in your hands a special program. Apple Hardware Test can run only when you start up from the CD or DVD it came on; don’t bother trying to copy it to your hard disk. This program performs a series of diagnostic tests on your Mac’s hardware, including the AirPort card, logic board, hard drive, RAM, modem, and video RAM. It doesn’t repair anything, and it doesn’t look for problems such as directory errors that are the province of Disk Utility (see Run Disk Utility, below ). But it can identify subtle hardware defects that could later lead to serious problems. Whether your Mac is fresh out of the box or years old, you owe it to yourself to make sure its major components are in good health before upgrading to Leopard, and this is the easiest (and cheapest) way to do so.
Note: Apple Hardware Test isn’t the only tool that can check your RAM. Among the other utilities that can do this are TechTool Pro ($98), Memtest OSX ($1.39), and Rember (free). I’ve personally had bad RAM that Apple Hardware Test could identify while these others could not, whereas other Take Control authors have had the opposite experience. Your mileage may vary!
To run Apple Hardware Test, follow these steps:
I recommend running the test again after installing RAM or any other new hardware inside your computer, or if you begin to have inexplicable problems that ordinary disk utilities do not solve.
Run Disk Utility
You know the saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” With computers, though, things can be broken without manifesting obvious symptoms. You can nip many such problems in the bud with a simple procedure that looks for, and fixes, common disk errors that can crop up over time without your knowledge.
To repair your disk, follow these steps:
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| Select a volume (other than the startup volume) on the left, and then click Repair Disk. |
/Applications/Utilities; if you started from a Mac OS X installation disc, click through the language selection screen and then choose Utilities -> Disk Utility. Disk Utility looks for common errors and repairs them if possible. Ordinarily, it displays a message saying that repairs were completed or that no repairs were necessary.
In the (rare) event that Disk Utility encounters a serious problem it cannot solve, you may need to use a commercial repair tool such as DiskWarrior ($80).
[ Joe Kissell is Senior Editor of TidBits, contributes frequently to Macworld , and has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. His latest is Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard: Early-Bird Edition ( TidBits Publishing Inc., 2007). ]