FITS - Preventative Maintenance

To keep your Apple workstation in top condition, here are some simple procedures you can perform, together with our recommended maintenance schedules, starting with the things you should do every day.

The suggested schedules are for a typical Mac owner. If you use a lot of publishing, video or multimedia applications, you may need to perform these procedures more often.

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Backing up your data is the only way to recover from disaster. If your hard drive fails, the files it contains will be lost for ever.

The simplest back-up method is to copy important files to a diskette or removable hard disk. Permanent back-up archives should be created using recordable CDs or magneto-optical (MO) drives. If you have a server on your network, consider at least storing your most critical files on one of the server’s hard drives instead of the local workstation drives.

Back-up software will make backing up your files easier. You can use:

Sometimes when a program is closed it leaves a small residual amount of memory allocated (known as memory leakage). This memory is not available for other applications or program data to use. Eventually, depending on how many programs are opened and closed, a significant amount of memory may be used up in this way.

If the memory gets seriously low and you try to open a large document or launch an application that uses lots of memory, the residual memory can prevent the new data from loading correctly. This can cause freezes, out-of-memory errors and applications that crash. Having to restart by powering off and on without closing the computer properly can lead to hard drive corruption and more serious problems in the future.

Restarting the computer flushes the memory completely, so you can start afresh with all your memory space available.

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Once each week you should run Disk First Aid (it comes free with your system software) or a commercial hard disk diagnostic and repair utility to eliminate any errors and corruptions. These can occur for any number of reasons, and eventually they will cause the drive to fail.

To check (and repair) your internal hard drive, you will need to start up your computer using something other than the internal hard drive as the ’boot disk’ (the drive that contains the system software currently running the machine). You can use the Disk Tools diskette that came with your computer (the Mac looks to the diskette drive first when searching for usable system software) or your system software CD (holding down the ’C’ key during start-up forces the machine to use the system software on your CD-ROM).

Be sure you are using the newest version of Disk First Aid for your computer by visiting the Apple website and downloading the latest version. And, for more advanced software that will repair a wider range of hard drive problems and provide additional diagnostic/repair benefits, consider purchasing a commercial or shareware package.

Viruses generally are not a problem for Macs. When last counted, there were only about 63 known Macintosh viruses. If you do get a virus, however, it can eventually erase data files, system files, fonts and applications.

There are commercial virus removers suitable for use on Macs. Check the guide to installing antivirus software to determine the best approach to dealing with viruses. Even if your Apple computer has been infected with a virus, there is a feature built into the QuickTime settings that will prevent the virus becoming alive.  To do this, you open up the QuickTime Settings control panel, and find the ‘Enable AutoPlay’ (or ‘Enable CD AutoPlay’) option and ‘uncheck’ the box to turn it off. Restart your computer to implement the changes. If your computer does not have a QuickTime Settings control panel, you are using an older version of the QuickTime software. Only QuickTime v2.5 or higher contains this control panel. Visit the Apple website to download the latest version. Without it, your computer is at risk of infection.

In addition to backing up your data files daily, once a week you should back up your system, applications, fonts and utilities folders. Backing up these files will allow you to recover from catastrophes much faster. Be sure to check for hard drive corruptions and virus infections before backing up or your back-ups may have the same problems.

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The desktop database consists of two invisible files that remember everything stored on your hard drive, and how the Finder should display them. This is no easy job, especially when you have thousands of files. Sometimes, especially after forced restarts or system crashes, the desktop database gets corrupted. The most obvious signs of corruption are file icons that do not look right, missing files, aliases that are unable to find their originals, or data files that cannot find the original application which created them.

To rebuild your desktop, restart your computer. Then, as soon as you hear the start- up chime, hold down both the ‘Option’ key and ‘Command’ (Apple) key on your keyboard. Eventually you will see a message asking if you're sure you want to rebuild the desktop. Click on ‘Yes’. The computer will then rebuild the desktop database for every mounted disk. Each disk and drive contains its own database.

Apple's built-in ‘desktop rebuild’ command attempts to rebuild the database using the existing database information. If portions of the database are severely corrupted, the bad parts can still be present in your new database. There is a free utility called TechTool from MicroMat that helps make rebuilding much easier. It completely erases the desktop database and rebuilds it from scratch, eliminating the possibility of including corruptions in your new database.

Computers produce static electricity, which attracts airborne dust, smoke and other debris. These can build up on your monitor screen, stick to the casing, or be sucked inside the computer by the fan. In addition, the natural oils and perspiration on your hands can also get inside your mouse or left on your keyboard keys.

The following should be part of your monthly routine:

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When you create and save a new document, the computer writes it onto the hard drive wherever it finds a big enough space. If you make changes to that document and save again, the computer only saves the parts that have been changed, and it writes those changes somewhere else on the disk. Over time, all these changes can result in a single document that consists of many little pieces scattered around your drive. That is called disk fragmentation.

When a disk is fragmented, your computer cannot access or store files efficiently and may slow down as the drive has to work harder to load and save files. The extra work may reduce the life span of your drive, while the desktop database has more items to keep track of, which increases the risk of database corruption.

To defragment a drive:

The process of defragmenting picks up all the files on your disk, joins the various pieces back together into one file, and places them back on the disk in a neat and orderly fashion.

You can reduce disk fragmentation by using the ‘Save As’ command as the ‘Save As’ command creates a brand new file on the disk, all in one piece.

Parameter RAM (PRAM) is a small memory chip on your computer's motherboard that remembers the parameters (settings) you've chosen in various control panels, such as screen display options, mouse speed settings, memory settings, network connections, desktop image settings and clock settings. If your PRAM gets corrupted by improper shutdowns or two applications that try to control the same settings, the computer can act strangely - as if it has forgotten how you like to work.

To zap the PRAM:

To make PRAM zapping easier, use the free MicroMat TechTool utility, which completely erases the contents of the PRAM so you can start afresh.

The PRAM is able to remember your settings, even when the machine is turned off, because a small battery on the motherboard provides just enough electricity to let it remember things. If your computer frequently loses the PRAM settings the battery may be dead. Some Macs will not even start up if this battery dies.

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Most Apple service providers recommend that once a year or after every 2,000 hours of use you should give the computer a thorough clean and then erase the hard drive and reinstall all your applications and system software. A process called a ‘clean sweep.’

A clean sweep will need to be carefully planned.

Read this section very carefully before opening the computer casing.

Before working inside a computer, you must discharge all static electricity from yourself and your work area. Failure to do so could permanently damage your computer. Computer shops sell inexpensive grounding wrist straps for this purpose. If you do not have a grounding strap, follow these steps to discharge all static electricity:

On some models, the motherboard slides in and out of a hole in the back of the computer. Do not remove the motherboard until you have simultaneously touched both the computer's metal frame and also the work surface where you intend to rest the motherboard. The work surface may have its own static charge.

Warning!

Although the entire clean sweep process can take several hours, when you have finished you will have a ‘brand new’ computer that is completely bug free and stable.

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