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Several Odessey readers had been encouraging me to try the freeware MacJanitor disk maintenance utility, and I finally got around to downloading it and having a looksee. MacJanitor is designed to be used on a periodic basis by Mac OS X users who don’t leave their computer on (and awake) 24 hours a day. MacJanitor is provided as freeware as a service to laptop and energy-conscious home users. The Unix subsystems on Mac OS X were originally written for machines that were typically never shut off. Mac OS X inherits this assumption in version 1.x, and has many system maintenance tasks that are scheduled to run between 3 am and 5 am. In addition, there are scripts designed to run weekly on weekends, and once a month in the middle of the night. If these maintenance tasks are never run (such as on a laptop that is always shut off at night), many log files and system database will grow extremely large or fail to get backed up. My Mac is occasionally powered up at 3 AM, but only when I’m using it. I’ve always made a habit of putting my Macs to sleep or shutting them off when they are not in use, so I’m a likely candidate for Mac Janitor. MacJanitor provides a way to run these system tasks at the click of a button. Laptop users could click the ‘daily’ button every morning (or every few days), or office workers could click the ‘weekly’ button on Mondays. I decided to just run all of the tasks. 
If you’ve been leaving your machine off at night without allowing the maintenance tasks to run for several weeks or more, the first time you run them using MacJanitor may take several minutes. Also, if your log files have grown extremely large and you are low on disk space, the tasks may have problems moving the files around and compressing them. After that, it typically takes less than a minute for each task. I didn’t sit and watch MacJanitor do its stuff, but it was all done when returned after a short break. The output of the task is displayed in the scrolling view in the bottom part of the window. If for some reason you feel the need, you may print the output of the system maintenance tasks (but why?...). You can’t really hurt anything by running the tasks more frequently than is intended, and they don’t need to be run on a strict schedule. Just run them periodically when you get a free minute every few days or weeks. New in this version: This is a very useful little tool. MacJanitor is freeware. For more information, visit: For more information, visit: Cocktail 2.1 General Purpose System Utility Cocktail is another free general purpose system maintenance utility for Mac OS X 10.2 or later. I’ve been using it for longer than Mac Janitor. There is quite a bit of overlap in the functions of these two utilities in terms of basic system maintenance routines, but Cocktail also provides a number of other functions, Dock and Finder customization features, and more versatility in running just specific functions. 
The application simplifies the use of of advanced UNIX functions and gives access to hidden Mac OS X settings. Available features: 
update or re-prebind files, repair permissions, run cron scripts, delete cache files, recreate alias to Mac OS 9 desktop, 
delete locked items, delete DS_Store files, delete archived log files, view log files, create symbolic links, change speed and duplex of network cards, set size of the TCP receive and send window, turn off delayed acks, request new IP from DHCP server, change network ports, 
easily optimize system using Auto Pilot ... Cocktail seems to work very well for me. New in version 2.0 Application: Disk System 
Network Extras Pilot My advice: They’re both freeware/donationware, so check them both out and decide which one suits you best. State of the Odyssey From: dxtr Hi Charles, Glad to see you are at last happy, for the most part, with X. I would suggest you go ahead and upgrade to 2.5 using the Archive feature of the upgrader. If you have problems just go back to the Previous System and your right back where you started! I am very happy with the performance of 2.5 on my LittleAL and my old Lombard, now living with a good friend, is noticeably quicker after the upgrade. Odyssey Stagnant Think I’d rather be a noun... seeya Hi dxtr Sounds like a good suggestion, except on the Pismo I have so little free HD space on my OS X partition that I’m pretty sure the archive function would run out of room. Do you know if it would be possible to direct the archive file to another partition? (I’m guessing unlikely). Have you thres 10.2.5 with a USB Hub? I’m also still not convinced that the modem and battery problems with iBooks have been licked with 10.2.5. Charles
The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here: Note: Letters to Moore's Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context. Opinions expressed in postings to Moore's MailBag are those of the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or Applelinks management. If you would prefer that your message not appear in Moore's Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published. CM
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