10 Regular Mac OS X Maintenance Tips

by Joseph Bahgat

When your office is powered by Windows or Mac, it’s important to do regular maintenance on your computers, server, network, etc. Not only is it good for your hardware, but it’s also good for productivity, because it ensures that your system is working at its best. As a bonus, just like you sometimes find that orphan sock when you’re #springcleaning your house, when you regularly maintain and clean your computer, you’re likely to find misplaced files.

Below is a list of Mac maintenance tips that—according to the top Mac geeks—should be completed every month or so. I’m not that anal, but I do have repeating OmniFocus tasks set up to remind me to perform all of these tasks at various intervals. Most of these tasks I have compiled from various articles in Macworld, and from Mac gurus like Randy Singer (www.macattorney.com), Ben Stevens (www.themaclawyer.com), and David Sparks (www.macsparky.com), as well as David’s book Mac at Work http://bahg.at/11GvMU5).

A lot of what’s been published about #Mac maintenance is limited to a specific version of Mac OS X (that’s pronounced “O – S – Ten” btw), and with each new version of OS X, some of the maintenance becomes automated by the operating system. With that in mind, I’ve tried to tailor this list to the current OS 10.8 a/k/a Mountain Lion. It shouldn’t differ too much, however, if you’re running any of the more recent versions of OS X.

1. Weed Login Items – Login items are the apps that launch automatically when you boot up your system, or login to your account. In System Preferences, go to Users & Groups, select your user account, and then click on Login Items. Delete anything that isn’t absolutely essential to startup. It takes less than a minute to do this, and it can shave seconds off your boot time.
2. Use Disk Utility to check HD “Health” & Repair Permissions – This is an easy one. Go here for an explanation http://bahg.at/14yz13E. While you have Disk Utility open, select your main hard disk (by default it’s named Macintosh HD). Then click repair disk permissions. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to complete, but be patient.
3. Restart – As simple as this is, many people (especially those who use desktop computers) don’t do regular restarts. You should be restarting all of your computers at least once a week. You can automate this task, but that’s a whole article by itself.
4. Re-launch Web Browsers – Click here http://bahg.at/17rt58y for a description, however, I’m not sure how necessary this step is if you’re doing regular restarts.
5. Update Software – from the Apple menu, select Software Update. As simple as this is, many people underestimate how important it is to do. Keeping your software up to date ensures that you have the latest tools that Apple has developed to thwart hackers and malware developers. Don’t forget to update your third-party apps as well, especially if you’re using Chrome or Firefox as your main web browser. If you use #Dropbox, be sure to go to dropbox.com periodically, to check whether you have the latest version of its desktop client. To find out what version you have installed, click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar, then click the small gear icon, and select Preferences. When the dialogue box opens, select Account. If that number is lower than what it listed on Dropbox’s website, download & install the new version.
6. Empty Trash – you can do this manually, or use an automation app (like Hazel) to empty your trash at regular intervals. I prefer the latter because it allows me 30 days from the time I put something in the trash until it deletes the item. That way I can go back and rummage through said trash can if I realize that I threw an important file away.
7. Clean Display – hopefully you do this more than once a year. Be sure to use a gentle solution and lint-free cloth that’s approved for fragile monitors. I really like these http://bahg.at/13Bz49D über-soft disposable cloths from Griot’s Garage. Hint: when you use them to clean electronics you can reuse them many times.
8. Clean Outside of Mac – use your über-soft cloths for this also (but after you’ve used it to clean other surfaces, don’t use the same cloth to clean your display).
9. Rebuild Spotlight Database – http://bahg.at/14yARRZ
10. Archive Old Email – you can do this manually, but the best and easiest method for doing this is using the third-party app MailSteward (www.MailSteward.com).

Performing those ten maintenance actions once a month will help keep your Mac running smoothly and, by extension, your practice.