The Dangers of Updating: Don't Do Anything While Optimizing

To poster #7 - do you also rub the belly of the nearest voodoo doll while diligently repairing permissions both before and after a software update?

I thought it was common knowledge these days that repairing permissions CAN NOT prevent problems from occuring. It is only usefull in fixing problems, not preventing them.

i don't get it, i've never had to do any preparation or shut down any programs during a system update and everything has gone smoothly for me. am i just lucky or something? i'm also using the programs (mostly itunes and web browsing) during the update, acknowledging the prompts until it tells me to reboot.

no mactaliban comments regarding this? oh, wait, this was os x not windows.

I'm pretty sure updating prebinding doesn't only occur during the install, but potentially after reboot too. After installing the 10.4.9 update on my MacBook and rebooting, I saw the udpate_prebinding process running in Activity Monitor. (/usr/bin/update_prebinding)

#13:
I agree. Old school rule #1:

"When installing software: LEAVE THE F**KING COMPUTER ALONE! Can you do that for five minutes while the crap installs?"

I have been using these apple things since the eighties and have never had to reinstall system software or reformat a drive or anything. Kind of why I still use them:-)

Rosyna is a girl, by the way.

Here's the process that's always worked for me:

1. Do nothing to prepare, aside from maybe quitting running applications. Do not repair permissions; do not clear caches; do not sacrifice virgins.

2. Run the update in Software Update. Wait for it to finish.

3. That's all.

I wouldn't suggest using applications during ANY of the update process.

I thought prebinding was depricated in 10.4, since it no longer reduced launch times

There's one thing about this I don't quite get. It is well known among unix sysadmins that some tasks are best done in single user mode, system upgrades being one of them. If Apple can safely do a system upgrade while in multiuser, that's fine, but if the final part of the upgrade is not safe in multiuser mode, the obvious solution is not to do it! Instead, that part should be deferred to after the reboot, and the task finished while the system is still in single user mode. If course, since this will make the boot seem to take unusually long, reassuring words should appear on the screen, preferably along with a progress bar. If yet another reboot is required after that, then just let the system do it. So why isn't it done this way! It's hardly rocket science after all.