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MacJanitor, a free utility, fixes the problem.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T h e   R o a d   L e s s   T r a v e l e d
Mac OS X's surprising cleanup flaw, and how to get around it


Sept. 17, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   No computer system is without flaws. But I find it hard to understand how Apple, known for the care it takes in the design of both hardware and software, could have ignored a gigantic boo-boo in OS X.
   The flaw is based on the way Unix and Linux systems typically clean up after themselves. Using a simple set of commands that are timed to run automatically every now and then, Unix and Linux computers get rid of junk files and do many other housekeeping tasks without requiring any user action.
   Both Unix and Linux were engineered with the notion that their computers would be running around the clock. So it made sense to schedule a file cleanup operation at 3 a.m. each Wednesday, for example.
   That's where Apple's humongous banana peel comes in. Apple's engineers slipped big time when they accepted the idea that Mac OS X computers would be turned on all the time -- or at least most of the time -- and would therefore be able to do their file cleanup at an ungodly hour of the morning once a week.
   Bad idea. Very bad. Security is a nightmare. I've been telling everyone to turn off their computers when they're not using them. I realize this is mostly a Windows security problem, but there's no sense tempting fate. The safest networked computer is the one that isn't turned on.
   And that means, of course, that Apple made a boo-boo that can mess up your Mac OS X computer big time. If temporary files keep building up, your Mac can run slower and even seem to be crashing. And, of course, you could run low on disk space in just a few months if you do a lot of printing or image editing.
   The cure for this inexcusable oversight -- something Apple hasn't yet fixed in all the revisions of OS X -- is an either-or solution:
   You could run your computer around the clock for an entire week for one week per month. You'll have to disable sleep mode and any automatic shutdowns. This will allow your Mac to run its cleanup routines.
   Or you could download and install MacJanitor, a free utility program that allows you to run those cleanup routines at any time. MacJanitor is available here: http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html.
   I run MacJanitor every three or four days. Instead of choosing which cleanup operation to run, I tell the program to run all of them each time. (There's no harm in doing this.)