Mac Training Guide!

All UNIX based systems has a set of Maintenance Routines that clean all temporary files by default, these Routines are set to make your System more efficient by getting rid of unused files.

The Maintenance Routines are normally set to automatically run between 03:15 and 05:30, but your computer may not be up and running every minute and can miss it and by missing the cleaning routine you may end up having an big collection of log files, crashing reports and more. But you can run the Maintenance Routines manually using MacJanitor.

MacJanitor

MaJanitor unique function is to make the Maintenance Routines set to run whenever you decide, it is a scheduler utilitiy that control how and when your next System clean up can be accomplished, it is a ultra easy to set and run.

It comes with 4 Sets (Daily, Weekly, Monthly and All Task) where you can set the right time and date for the Maintenance Routines to performance the System cleanup, you will need to enter your Administrator password in order to MacJanitor to run.

MacJanitor takes advantage of UNIX own Maintenance Routines and reschedule them to a better time, it is a basic System Utility that guarantee that Mac OS X runs flawlessly. Run MacJanitor periodically when you get a free minute every few days or weeks, it only help your System to breath clean air by trashing those logs and crash report files.

You can get MacJanitor free here.

In this opportunity We will evaluate MacPilot, a Mac OS X System utility that will help you customize the whole system, enabling or disabling much of the Unix features that make Mac OS X a fortress. You can optimize the whole computer performance, network and file sharing in general, this is a hard rock utility that puts you in control of Apple Speed Demon. MacPilot brings an easy way to tweak the System and all its features, there’s nothing left untouched, all System Resources are exposed for you to set or remove them.

General

In the General section you can setup how the System’s utilities interact with Mac OS X, control some features of Apple iLIfe and iWork, this is an easy to access and a smart way to set all applications and utilities in just one window pane with a few clicks.

Disks

The Disks section is where you can repair your disks permissions and ownership, verify your disk configuration and defects, set the sleep time and enable or disable the Journaling

Network

In this area you can check your network performance and tweak it to get the faster connection, this area is NOT recommended for users without a previous acknowledge of Networking. This is a Pro area, do not touch it.

Login Items

In the Login Items you can add or remove those apps and utilities that need to start up with the System.

Startup

Control how your computer use its processors, check on screen Kernel Panics, mute your startup chime, set your startup mode, change your System language and limit the amount of Memory used by the System at Startup.

Spotlight

In the Spotlight section you can enable or disable Spotlight, rebuild and reindex your HDs, avoid Dictionary and Mathematical results in Spotlight.

Power

Help the System manage the energy more efficiently tweaking its Power settings.

Tools

With this Option alone you can make an Application, here is where the power of MacPilot rest, this is the Holly Grace, the area where you can manipulate Mac OS X completely, make it more efficient and responsible, in this area you can verify your files integrity, erase, lockup, clear chaches, rebuild all your applications and system preferences and delete corrupted ones, reset the printing system and more. Don’t forget to check the Tools Area.

Info

Info provides a complete list of your System settings, HDs, Network, Memore and more, it’s like the System Profiler included in every Mac, Info comes with a Character Map of your System, a full list of Keyboard Combinations, a Port List that lets you see which ports are assiged to the System or any Application or Game. In the Info area you can find a complete of Mac OS Error Codes and their meanings.

Summary
MacPilot is a joy to use, a well detailed and organized utility program that provides easy access to the most unthinkable features of Mac OS X, helping you put the System under control.

It has an enormous list of features, hundreds of them can help you increase your whole System performance. The Tools section should be placed next to General, both provide control of almost everything in your System, Striping out the General and the Tools areas you can have another great application.

MacPilot is sold for $19.95 (Single License), but for the tools and controls you have in your hand with MacPilot, the starting price should be around $49.95 or more, We pay hundred of dollars for offfice and business applications, why not for a Professional System utility that helps us streamline our Macs. Definitively it worth more than its original price.

You can visite MacPilot here. Please notice that We are not Affiliated, Endorsed or Sponsored by the makers of MacPilot, this is our own experience with this Application.

Following our Tweaking the Mac OS X Performance Series (read: 20 Dirty Tweaks to Mac OS X 10.5 inside demons) in order to get the most out of this Speed Demon, we are going to get our hands dirty again testing the solutions provided by the most recommended and used System Utilities available for Mac OS X, how they achieve each of every one of their primary goals: Keep Mac OS X fresh and energized. We are not Affiliated or Sponsored in any form (paid review, paid recommendation) by the makers of Cocktail, We are using Cocktail for months and we really believe that his application worth every penny spent, but your own experience may differ from our, evaluate it first.

We will be evaluating 7 Mac OS X Utilities that promise to clean and help the System work smoothly: Cocktail, Mac Pilot, OnyX, DoktorKleanor, MacJanitor, Leopard Cache Cleaner, Blacktree-Secrets and TinkerTool System.

COCKTAIL

Cocktail is general purpose utility for Mac OS X that helps you get the most from the hidden Unix features of Mac OS X, streamlining the performance of our beloved Mac OS X. Cocktail’s features are arranged in five categories. In addition, a Pilot lets you clean, repair and optimize your system with one click of the button.

Disks Section

In the Disks Section of Cocktail you can set for Automacally SMART status of your disks, enable or disable the journaling of your disk, repair permission, set your disk sleep time, allow or prevent mounting external disks at the System Startup.

System Section

The System Section is where you can enable or disable Spotlight indexing in your HDs, erase and rebuild the Spotlight indexes, rebuild the launch database and force empty Trash.

Files Section

The Files section provides the tools needed to clean ALL your system caches, clean virtual memory swap files or temporary files created by applications, you can reset your Safari, Camino, Firefox, Omniweb, Opera and Shiira cookies, form values, history files, caches and page icons.

Network Section

This is where you setup and optimize your network connection, take advantage of Mac OS X Unix heritage and put the System network ready to Roll. This is a section designed for Network specialist, people that really understand the benefits of the different type of networks. Don’t change anything here if you are not familiar with the Settings shown.

Interface Section

The interface section of Cocktail is where things get interesting, here you can setup how Mac OS X behaves, customize look and features of Finder, Dock, Exposé, login window and other system services, Modify hidden settings of Address Book, Backup, Disk Utility, iTunes, Mail, Remote Desktop and Terminal.

Pilot Section

In this area you can set the Schedule for the next Automatic Optimization of your computer, performing a group of options with just one click. While this is a nice feature I don’t recommend Unattended Optimizations from any Utility for your System, something can go wrong and you may have a difficult time verifying and repairing your disc.

The Summary
Cocktail is a tremendous utility loaded with dozens of features that help you enhance Mac OS X, speeding up, removing unused features and turning on those that make the system more responsible, Cocktail is the tool you need to have a more efficient and powerful, cleaner and faster Mac OS X, it really puts the system in shape.

Cocktail is not a freeware utility, it comes with different license prices to meet your personal or corporate need, there is an evaluation demo you can download and use it for a period of time, but prices are:
Buy a Single User License ($14.95) for one computer.
Buy a Family License ($29.95) Covers up to five computers (household use only).
Buy a Ten-Pack License ($89.95) Covers up to ten computers.
Buy a Site License ($399) Covers all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius of your site (100 miles).
Buy a World Wide License ($699) Covers all locations for your organization.

You can visit Cocktail here.

Stay tuned for our MacPilot Evaluation…