Ask TUAW Video Edition: Maintenance on your Mac

I use AppleJack: http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

Consider donating money, your coding skills, etc. Major OSX updates tend to break it and it's mostly just one guy.

Flawed video. I find running Disk Warrior "if you have some kind of problem" very bad advice. Disk Warrior is a serious tool for serious problems. Running permission checks and Onyx first and THEN, probably, Disk Warrior, is the right order of things. Better: Onyx alone. It can check permissions too, check the automated options.

And where is the ol' zapping the PRAM?

My main recommendation to Julie would be to forget Windows and how it operates. Mac's don't require the same kind of maintenance that Windows machines do (I still use Windows extensively at work and home....I know what I'm talking about). My 2008 MBP ran maintenance-free (aside from me manually freeing up disk space) until it died 2 months ago. I run Cocktail on my current Mac just because it makes me feel better, not because it really is doing much.

Julie you're not on Windows anymore. Not all operating systems are as high-maintenance as what you came from.

While Onyx is a great utility, I never recommend it to the new / non-power user.

Instead, I would recommend Titanium's other free utility, simply called 'Maintenance'. Contains those basic maintenance utilities included in Onyx, but without all the messy other stuff that confuses people.

Wipe the screen with a lint-free cloth and repair permissions before and after a OS update. That's all I do on my early 2007 MBP which runs all day long. I don't even hit restart unless an update requires it.

I also recommend the following

1) Deep cache cleaning (Onyx does perform some cache cleaning)
Locate and empty the following folders: (Empty the folder, dont delete the folder)
System / Library / Cache
Library / Cache
Users / [USER NAME] / Library / Cache

2) Updates...Updates....Updates ....
Apple / Software Update - will update the Apple software
Run any Microsoft Office program and then in the menu bar choose "Help" / "Check for Updates" - This goes for most Adobe stuff too, Parallels, ect

3) Check other third party software for updates ... Firefox, Perian, Flip4Mac, etc

Run permission repair before and after the updates.

Just my 2 cents.

Onyx and DiskWarrior are great. I also like:

YASU: http://jimmitchell.org/yasu/
CheckUp: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/checkup.html
FCS Maintenance Pack: http://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcsmaintenance/

FYI, your Onyx link is broken (sends to hhttp://)

Great video though, thanks!

Try mounting your camera at a less "looking up your nose" angle

Good points, but "Oh Ess Ex"? I am pretty sure the X is pronounced as "ten", i.e. as a Roman numeral.