OS X Snow Leopard Maintenance
- Keeping your software up to date is not only a common maintenance procedure for operating systems, but also a security precaution. Through each new update, Apple adds bug fixes, security patches and system optimizations to Snow Leopard. Currently, there is an update available that should be installed if it has not yet been done. This update will convert Snow Leopard from OS X 10.6. to 10.6.1. To install updates, click the Apple logo in the upper left hand corner of the screen. From the drop down menu, select Software Update. OS X will search for any software updates that are currently available. If there are any updates available, click install to make appropriate updates. Not all updates have to be installed. By clicking the Additional Details arrow, Apple Software Update will allow for only certain updates to be installed.
- Disk Utility
After any software update or installation of a new application, it is best to do a repair disk permissions. This will optimize Snow Leopard to work with any changes that have currently been made to the computer. To repair disk permissions, Apple Disk Utility must be used. It can be navigated through the commands Finder - Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Located along the left-hand side pane within disk utility will be a list of any devices mounted on the computer. Click to select the Mac's standard hard drive. Click repair disk permissions. This process normally takes 5 to 10 minutes. - Tech Tool Deluxe is a free application for Mac OS X. Mac users who choose to purchase an AppleCare Protection Plan with their computers get the Tech Tool Deluxe application bundled with the AppleCare Plan. However, if a Mac does not have AppleCare, Tech Tool Deluxe can still be downloaded. There will be a link for it in the description. Tech Tool Deluxe's main purpose is to test and diagnose any hardware problems on a Mac computer. For example, Tech Tool Deluxe tests USB ports, hard drives and RAM, display. It is important not only to maintain the software on a computer but to make sure the hardware is up to par as well. After Tech Tool Deluxe is installed, double click the icon to run the application. To open Tech Tool Deluxe, OS X will require the account password to be entered if there is one. Next, simply click the scan button. Tech Tool Deluxe will then automatically scan the computer for any hardware problems. After it is done scanning, a full hardware report will pop-up on the screen with the results of the scan.
