Once your drive is backed up, repaired and ready for action, it is a good idea to clean out some of the things that may be bogging down your system. Without going into the details of all of these, I will simply say that I recommend the following titles. Please check them out and decide which one makes sense to you.

[url=http://jimmitchell.org/projects/yasu/]YASU[/url] (shown below) from Jim Mitchell Designs

[url= http://www.koingosw.com/products/macpilot.php]Mac Pilot[/url] from Koingo Software
[url=http://www.nonamescriptware.com/]CacheOut X[/url] from NoName Software
[url=http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.html]Cocktail[/url] from Maintain
Remember to go into your System Preferences and reset your Energy Saver settings after running these titles as some may clear a few settings.

The "removal business": TidyUp, Yank, AppZapper

Older applications that may have seemed cool at one time could just be left untouched and taking up valuable disk space. Dump what you don't use and save the installer and the serial #/license code. In order to be certain that you have removed as many of the items on your system that were installed for the application as possible, there are some software titles that help you do this quite easily.

[url=http://www.hyperbolicsoftware.com/TidyUp.htm]TidyUp[/url] by Hyperbolic Software
[url=http://www.matterform.com/mac_software/uninstaller/]Yank[/url] by Matterform
[url= http://appzapper.com/]]AppZapper[/url] (shown below)by Austin Sarner & Brian Ball

Preferences

There is a great little shareware item called [url= http://www.jonn8.com/html/pt.html]"Preferential Treatment"[/url] to look at your .plist/preference files and remove some things you may not realize are bogging down your system. Now, as with any product of this type, be certain that you know what your are removing before you remove it. It is fairly simple to do a Google search (incl. "OS X" when searching) to find out what something might be.

Update your stuff

You gotta love [url= http://www.versiontracker.com/subscribe/]VersionTrackerPro[/url] ... 'nuff said.

Power issues or PRAM Jam? Portables or desktops

If you have a Mac Book Pro, Mac Book, Powerbook or iBook, delete the powermanagement preferences plist file found here:

Library>Preferences>SystemConfiguration>com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Move it to the trash, reboot, empty trash. Desktop models may wish to clear parameter random access memory (PRAM) by shutting down your Mac and rebooting holding COMMAND+OPT+P+R until you've heard the third startup chime (may take a few moments to complete) and release. Most people have found that clearing PRAM is no longer a required item under OS X, but there are instances where it may, in fact, be helpful depending on the configuration of your Mac and what is connected to it.

Running security updates, OS updates, or anything in the SUCP

Backing up your Mac before installing any update is always a great idea and you may wish to wait a few days until the online tech sites have a chance to troubleshoot each release. Using the software update control panel (SUCP) is fine for looking at what your system need is great, but I recommend the following method before any updates are installed:

- Download the stand-alone updater or "COMBO" OS updater from Apple's website (this replaces, not updates, some of the important components in your system in some cases and has proven to be far more reliable.

Back up your drive/files
Disconnect your external hard drives and peripherals
Run your preferred repair utility (DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, etc.)
Run YASU or similar cache/repair permissions utility
Download and install the update (if an OS update, download the COMBO installer and NOT the SUCP)

After final reboot, repair permissions again using Apple's Disk Utility
So, let's summarize what was covered…

° Back up your user files
° Repair your drive
° Free up some space
° Clear your caches, etc..
° Rebuild your mailbox(es)
°  Repair permissions
° Install Apple and third-party updates from stand-alone updaters (Apple updates, not via SUCP)
° Repair permissions AGAIN

Some great links you may find helpful (alphabetical order):

http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
http://www.macfixit.com
http://www.macosxhints.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1AppleFreeTech
http://macs.about.com/
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

Again, the key is to keep on top of this stuff while you do not have any significant problems (that you may know of) and to address any potential items that may slowly become a problem. As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention..."

I'm certain that many of you have your own routines, or maybe no routine at all. There are a lot of great experts out there who have a lot more in-depth information on this subject as well. Further, we know that there are plenty of great products in freeware, shareware and commercial software that address many of these issues. I hope that you'll post some comments about what you do, what products you like and why. 

Important: If you are a vendor or software developer and want to comment, please identify yourself and don't "plant" commentary. We WANT to hear from you, and from the general public, but this is not a PR forum for "Blog'vertisments." "Blog'verts" will be removed.

For more info: If you are looking for technical support, to find some general help, to contribute from your own experiences and/or to learn more about Mac maintenance you can get it free from The Apple Groups Team (TAGteam) tech support group, [url= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1AppleFreeTech]1AppleFreeTech[/url]. For more information on The Apple Groups Team free network, go [url=http://www.applegroups.org/ ]here[/url].

Disclaimer: The products listed here were chosen for inclusion in this article based on actual testing and offered greatest success rate during evaluations conducted for this article. Your results may vary. Use any of these items and/or techniques is entirely at your own risk. Daniel East and Macsimum are not responsible in any way for the results of any individual, group or business based on the use of these methods or suggestions herein. Please consult the websites for each vendor and the product manuals for your product(s) for additional assistance or contact your local Apple authorized dealer. Thank you.