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- Sep 17, 2014
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I tend to keep my machines as "clean" as possible. Part of that is the maintenance/backup processing I do every Saturday. It involves 4 steps:
1. Launching Outlook in "Identity" mode, so that I can have all the deleted EMails removed.
2. Running the excellent freeware maintenance program Onyx. It performs a number of tasks that are beneficial.
3. Running the excellent commercial "disk" program Tech Tool Pro. I would not be without that one!
4. Run SuperDuper! to make two backups on two different external devices.
I use the excellent program 1Password as my (life saving!) password manager. Prior to the release of Yosemite, version 5 of 1Password was made available, as version 4 would be incompatible with Yosemite.
So, earlier today, I thought about removing 1Password Version 4 from my Mac Mini, along with associated files. Unfortunately, I got too ambitious in the removal process, as a number of files I thought were "old" are actually needed by 1Password Version 5. What eventually happened is that I lost all my "password files" maintained by 1Password.
I thus proceeded to do a restore from the SuperDuper! backup to the SSD in the Mac Mini, using the backup I had done two days earlier. The restore went fine, but when I restarted from the SSD, there were some strange things that happened. First, one of my alias icons (for Outlook) changed to just a Microsoft Outlook folder. I could still launch it like before, but I sure felt that was strange. I eventually replaced it with the usual looking alias icon (after some effort).
Second, the memory usage with just starting up the machine and getting to the desktop increased by quite a bit. Prior to the problem, when I would start up the machine, there would be over 2 gig of memory free (out of the 4 gig in the machine). But, after the restore, there was less than 1 gig free! I tracked it down to the memory usage of an item called "kernal task". So, to take care of that issue, I re-ran Onyx, and it cleared things up. Now, the memory usage is back to normal, like before.
About the only remaining issue I have is that when I do a restart (not a shut down, and then a start up), the menu bar in the Finder is "invisible" (the dock is fine). If I click on the "invisible" menu bar, though, the menu items then appear, like normal. (Anyone know how I can get this back to normal?)
In any event, I hope this will be a lesson to everyone, like it is to me. First, of course, is to not get too ambitious in removing prior versions of software and "associated" files. Secondly, be aware that a restore could possibly have some issues. And third, on a previous board that I was on, quite a few of those folks chastised me for using a product like Onyx. Well, I am certainly glad I use it. It definitely proved its' worth for me earlier today. And, it's free!
1. Launching Outlook in "Identity" mode, so that I can have all the deleted EMails removed.
2. Running the excellent freeware maintenance program Onyx. It performs a number of tasks that are beneficial.
3. Running the excellent commercial "disk" program Tech Tool Pro. I would not be without that one!
4. Run SuperDuper! to make two backups on two different external devices.
I use the excellent program 1Password as my (life saving!) password manager. Prior to the release of Yosemite, version 5 of 1Password was made available, as version 4 would be incompatible with Yosemite.
So, earlier today, I thought about removing 1Password Version 4 from my Mac Mini, along with associated files. Unfortunately, I got too ambitious in the removal process, as a number of files I thought were "old" are actually needed by 1Password Version 5. What eventually happened is that I lost all my "password files" maintained by 1Password.
I thus proceeded to do a restore from the SuperDuper! backup to the SSD in the Mac Mini, using the backup I had done two days earlier. The restore went fine, but when I restarted from the SSD, there were some strange things that happened. First, one of my alias icons (for Outlook) changed to just a Microsoft Outlook folder. I could still launch it like before, but I sure felt that was strange. I eventually replaced it with the usual looking alias icon (after some effort).
Second, the memory usage with just starting up the machine and getting to the desktop increased by quite a bit. Prior to the problem, when I would start up the machine, there would be over 2 gig of memory free (out of the 4 gig in the machine). But, after the restore, there was less than 1 gig free! I tracked it down to the memory usage of an item called "kernal task". So, to take care of that issue, I re-ran Onyx, and it cleared things up. Now, the memory usage is back to normal, like before.
About the only remaining issue I have is that when I do a restart (not a shut down, and then a start up), the menu bar in the Finder is "invisible" (the dock is fine). If I click on the "invisible" menu bar, though, the menu items then appear, like normal. (Anyone know how I can get this back to normal?)
In any event, I hope this will be a lesson to everyone, like it is to me. First, of course, is to not get too ambitious in removing prior versions of software and "associated" files. Secondly, be aware that a restore could possibly have some issues. And third, on a previous board that I was on, quite a few of those folks chastised me for using a product like Onyx. Well, I am certainly glad I use it. It definitely proved its' worth for me earlier today. And, it's free!
Of all the maintenance apps I tried Onyx is the best IMHO.