Cnet Utility Quiz--Mac Maintenance, better or worse?

paul

<a href="http://www.cnet.com/software/0-429667-8-20684360-7.html?tag=st.sw.429667-8-20684360-1.arrow.429667-8-20684360-7"; target="_blank">Take a look</a>



look at questions 5 and 6 especially.



In 5 they say that a hd defrag is necessary... now i have been under the impression that it isnt necessary in Mac OS X... is this correct?



In 6 this seems to be another windows-only problem...(or at least one of the solutions seem to be)



why didn't CNET show macintosh alternatives?



I can understand where there might be a conflict of interests for them... so why doesn't a Pro-Mac site make their own tests that shows how retarded some of these options are? hell, why don't we do it right here in this thread!?



make a less then 10 question quiz that asks about regular maintenance you do (or should do) on your mac.



also as a side note... is it more or less work/intrusive/necessary then on the PC side of the fence...



Edit: typos



[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: Paul ]</p>

ghost_user_name

For Question 5, yes, Mac OS X does fragment files and free space. Some people report that it is less severe than with OS9 installs, but the fragmentation *will* crop up from time to time under regular use. If your drive is UFS formatted, I believe file fragmentation is doesn't occur, but free space can still become fragmented.



For Question 6, yes, that's another Windows thing. There are no manual adjustments for virtual memory in Mac OS X (unless you do some low-level hacking around in the terminal).



I actually thought that was a pretty dumb quiz. There weren't nearly enough varied options for answers even for Windows users. I suppose this quiz is targeted more at the dumb average Joe of the Windows world. After all, if someone actually need advice about whether or not to get "ZoneAlarm", he isn't exactly a pro. Pfft.



I'd say that regular maintenance is far more necessary on Windows-based PCs than on Mac OS X. The number of times I've had to "fix" my friends' PCs is much greater than the number of times my Mac has needed maintenance.



[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>

quick

Question 7 should be:



7. Whenever I buy a new computer, I...

• don't use my old data anymore.


• print all my old documents, and recreate them from scratch on the new machine.


• remove the harddisk from my old computer and insert it into the new one.