Freeware Find: IceClean 3.0b

I downloaded and used this program yesterday... now my brand new Imac is virtually useless. It has frozen three times this morning already. UGHHHH!

I get the feeling some of y'all are real experts, so yeah, get your fingers dirty probing the depths of Terminal.

I still can't get my wife to use Cmd-Q to quit apps, therefore I needed a simple tool to help her (Tiger) machine once in a while.

And yes, sometimes you DO need to run these. As they said in Ghostbusters, "sometimes s*** happens, and who you gonna call?" (or words to that effect, and it was Ghostbusters 2, but whatever). I've used this to help troubleshoot issues, and I'm well aware of Onyx. You say tomato... etc.

Macworld: Five Mac maintenance myths
http://www.macworld.com/article/133684/2008/06/maintenance_intro.html

Number 2: “You need to run the Unix maintenance scripts.”

It's not necessary.

Since many people forget to run the unix maintenance scripts I like apps that do this automatically for you.

Yes there is Macaroni.. But why pay $ when there are apps that will do the same thing for free.

Check out:
anacron -- http://members.cox.net/18james/anacron.html

And PseudoAnacron --
http://www.jaw.it/pages/en/x_misc.html

What an utter pile of crap. Whilst a lot of mac utility programs do admittedly do little more than package terminal commands into a gui, this one is utter garbage. All utility options are started through menus, meaning that the actual window has no use except traceroute or opening up external programs.

This program has nothing of merit, just get onyx and save yourself the bother.

I'm not as technically minded as these other comments, so I have to ask: Why is a utility like this (or the other ones mentioned) even needed at all?

Specifically, what sort of performance or other benefits will I see by using them.

gee most of these comments are rude
I have onyx too
can anyone tell me the difference between iceclean and onyx?

"But did you know that there are a number of UNIX System Tasks that are available for keeping your Mac running at peak performance?"

Yes, I did. AFAIK, under Leopard these are run by launchd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launchd

Is there some system task that isn't? If so, what is it?

"A lot of Mac users don't want to pull up Terminal and type arcane text into the command line"

We haven't yet established that they need to. But, if there are commands that they do need to issue, and if typing is really too much of a chore, can't they keep a list of the commands they need to issue in a text document and paste them into the Terminal? Is copying and pasting somehow viewed as "difficult" by some users?

I've no reason to doubt the _bona_ _fides_ of the developer whose product TUAW is recommending. But, then again, I've no reason not to, and, in general, I prefer not to download third-party software unless I've reason to trust the source -- and unless I know I need the software. And that would seem to be in line with what Apple advises.

But, on the one hand, TUAW has actually implied that this does *nothing* for me that I couldn't already do for myself in a different program that ships with the OS, and, on the other, I've been given no reason to think it even does anything that doesn't happen automatically _via_ launchd.

I'd rather not leave a "negative" comment, but I'm utterly mystified by this post, by the lack of information in it, and by the attitudes it takes.

Let's see :

SpotLight indexing : What is it ? Why would I want it ?
Full System Profiler : standard on every Mac.
Advanced System Maintenance & Cleanup :

for my Unix maintenance jobs I only use Macaroni ( http://www.atomicbird.com/macaroni ) : just install & forget, you never have to think of them ever again. Period.

Quick & Full CD/DVD Erase : Disk Utility.
Network State & Traceroute :

my network & hardware monitor : iStat Pro widget.
What would you possibly want with Traceroute ? Seriously!

Dashboard on/off : oh please ...

... and more ... : tell me ! The documentation link is dead.

Nice looking site though ...

What about OnyX? Price is right - free and within a few days of an Op Sys upgrade - there is a new version of OnyX waiting to be downloaded.

I have looked at many "maintenance" apps and have found OnyX to do a very good job on all of our Macs in the house, lab and offices. And that is a heap of free!

;)

Cheers