Preparing for Tiger
Here are some awesome utilities, most of which are freeware, that are superb to have on hand, but are in my opinion crucial to having a smooth and pleasant transition to a new OS (or a fresh install of a current OS, if you have a nasty habit of shutting your computer off at night and have a wonked out System folder as a result.) They are presented in the order in which you should use them, followed by an Archive and Install option of Tiger. Archive and Install does what it sounds like: it first archives your current System folder, placing it into an “Old System” folder. The new OS is then installed freshly to a new System folder, instead of “over the top of” your old one. You can also optionally have it archive user accounts and add those into the newly installed system, allowing you to retain your mail accounts, system preferences, etc.
What Size - Locate and eliminate large files and directories on your hard drives
(Repair Permissions)
Mac Janitor - One-click execution of Unix maintenance that isn’t being done if your computer is off at night
Cache Out X - Deletes old caches, logs, etc. from system, user, browsers (even dumps Safari favicons with one click!)
Carbon Copy Cloner - Backs up your system and user volume, preferably to a bootable external drive. Just in case!!
I should note that you should install these four programs before starting down the line. File permissions, when they do get messed up, tend to do so when installing new programs. So install all four programs first, run What Size to get your hard drive in the state you want it in, then Repair Permission. Props to Ken Stone for his great walkthrough of these steps. The addition of What Size is my own, and if you’ve never used this app before, you’ll be delightfully surprised.
Posted Tuesday May 3, 2005 in by Derek Jones
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