OS X Maintenance

These are the most common problems that can occur with Macs. You should try them in this order if you have any problems with your Mac before taking it into the shop or before you do OS upgrades. They should also be run routinely to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

Note: Do not use anything from Norton or Symantec as they are only knowledgeable about Windows and DOS and their products cause many problems with both Linux and Macs. The last I read about Norton Utilities for the Mac is that it was canceled due to lack of sales.

Automated Maintenance: OnyX free
Repairing Permissions: Disk Utility (comes with OS X)
Directory Repair: DiskWarrior Read the system requirements carefully to make sure you can boot from the DiskWarrior Boot CD and make sure you get that version or newer that supports your model of Mac. I recommend buying it from the manufacturer if you can wait 2-3 weeks. I bought DiskWarrior online and had it emailed to me and was able to boot from a CD I made with BootCD which I added DiskWarrior to and I was able to successfully repair errors that could lead to future problems, but BootCD is not supported by Alsoft and I only recommend it if you are an advanced user and can follow detailed instructions to the letter. But if DiskWarrior is run on a supported system it will not destroy any data and will recover any data that can be found without going to a professional data recovery specialist.