Occasionally monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly as you see fit check your hard disks by performing Steps 1 and 2 of the Procedure in our 'Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption' FAQ. Run a virus scan to check for any potential malware or spyware. If you have disabled automatic protection in your anti-virus software:Ĭheck for updates to the virus definition files on the vendors Web site. If this feature is unavailable and the vendor offers e-mail notification of updates, sign up for such. Some third-party applications offer a preference to automatically check for updates.

Manually run the UNIX® maintenance scripts.Ĭheck for updates to third-party software you have installed. Having a comprehensive Backup and Recovery solution and using it regularly is the most important action you can take to protect your valuable data. The only routine maintenance steps we recommend are the following: Weekly:īack up everything.

This FAQ, based on the 'Maintaining Mac OS X' chapter of our book, Troubleshooting Mac OS X, is intended to provide guidance on recommended maintenance and to dispel some common maintenance myths. Much dubious advice is available concerning 'routine maintenance' of Mac® OS X.

System maintenance for mac