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No reason to go off like a bomb...

Dave, please replace the word
"virus"
in my post with
"virus- and wormlike malware and trojans".

The remaining observations and advises are written from the viewpoint and experiences of a Software Engineer.
I think I made it clear that you just can use your Mac without any maintenance. I just thought I could write an answer going 'deeper' for the people willing to go beyond the Documents-folder.

Anyone else offended?
Should I just stop posting here?

> I thought I just step into the Twilight Zone?
>
> So much misinformation here,
>
> There are NO Viruses for the Mac.
> The only thing that the Mac OS finds itself is known Trojan horse
> programs.
>
> These are not viruses but instead malicious programs that you must run
> and give permission to do any damage.
>
> Line by line comments below.
>
> Dave
>
> On Sep 15, 2011, at 3:09 AM, T wrote:
>
> > The bad news: Mac OS gets slow, gets 'dirty' and gets viruses.
> >
> Completely false
>
> >
> > The good news: It's much more unlikely on Mac than on Windows. You
> > can 'just use it' for longer time with fewer problems.
> >
> >
> True
>
> > > How to 'clean' Mac book pro?
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Make a last (Time Machine) backup before starting the Mac from an
> > Install CD or USB Stick. Format the drive and install Mac OS.
> > I'm doing this roughly every two years.
> >
> > > Do we need to format it and reinstall the os?
> > >
> >
> It would seem that you intend to give or sell your Mac and want to
> wipe all info from it if this is the case then yes you should, boot
> from the "system DVD", run "Disk Utilities", choose the drive, choose
> erase the disk, choose "security options" and "zero out all data", if
> you are really afraid of your data being recovered select, "7 pass" or
> "35 pass". These will take a very long time but even the FBI can't
> recover info from that. Then reinstall a fresh copy of the OS.
>
> > Yes.
> > A fresh install is the only safe way to defrag files over 20 MB and
> > get rid of thousands of old cache, driver, temp-files, startup and
> > kernel extensions from programs that are not used anymore.
> > Searching and deleting them by hand would take hours and is
> > dangerous for the stability of the OS and other programs, if you
> > delete the wrong files. And defrag-tools could damage your
> > filesystem and/ or costs extra money.
> >
> > > In gen what are the maintaining guidelines for keeping it virus
> > free and long smooth operation?
> > >
> > The most common (of the few) viruses are found by Mac OS itself.
> > Just use the Mac OS 'Software Update' to get the newest virus
> > definitions and the Security Bugfixes.
> >
> >
> Incorrect information, see above "There are no Mac Viruses"
>
> > For a 'normal' use of Mac OS no maintenance is needed.
> >
> >
> True
>
> > But if you try out many programs/ utilities/ extensions and record/
> > work with a lot media files (like me), I advise you to do two checks
> > from time to time or if you think the Mac is slower than usual:
> >
> > - One is to use the program 'Activity Monitor' and sort the listed
> > processes by three columns: "CPU Time", "Active Memory", "Private
> > Memory". Look each time if a process uses a lot more cpu/ memory
> > than the others. I search Google for help to get rid of it (or to
> > learn that I better should not touch it :-)
> > Most of the time the wasteful processes are the ones you should not
> > delete... like Safari, iPhoto or EyeTV
> >
> >
> Don't bother with this as most things you will not know what they are
> anyway.
>
> > - The second uses Spotlight to search for big files which were
> > temporary and were not deleted. Or cache files gone wild ("Oh, there
> > are the missing 5 GB" ;-). Or personal files like movies which could
> > be moved to an external harddisk.
> > To find ALL files you have to add the search options to show 'hidden
> > files' and 'system files'. To find only the big files use the option
> > 'greater than 200 (or maybe 500) MB'.
> > The reason for this is to keep as much of the harddisk space free
> > for the OS to cache, save and auto-defrag. Some people suggest 10%
> > or 20%.
> > My experience is that it gets really slow if the free space falls
> > below 10 GB.
> >
> >
> Spotlight does not even search for the files mentioned above, "cache,
> temporary..."
> Keeping your files in the proper places means you don't have to use a
> program to find them.
> Keep your files in the "documents" folder and make sub folders to keep
> them organized.
>
>
>

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