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Frequently Asked Questions |
TinkerTool System strictly complies with Apple's security guidelines and is fully integrated in the security mechanisms of Mac OS X. The identification as system administrator is valid for all applications that are currently running in the same session, but only for a limited amount of time. If TinkerTool System has to perform a privileged operation after the configured security time interval is over, Mac OS X will automatically ask for re-identification. If you think this time interval is too short, you may want to modify the authorization profiles of the operating system. See Apple's documentation on Mac OS X for more information about this.
No, it only reduces the launch time of applications that have been recently installed but have never been launched before. Mac OS X automatically optimizes each application when it launches it for the first time. Under normal circumstances, it is not necessary to run system optimization manually.
No, this is quite normal. Apple's analysis of permission settings is based on the information stored in the installation receipt files. The receipt files describe what the correct permission settings are for the installation of system components. When the system is running, some permissions will automatically change because this is necessary to run certain services. In these cases, there will be differences between the permission settings during installation and the permission settings in the live system. Additionally, some receipt files contain contradictory information because they contain case-sensitive file names while Mac OS X may have been installed on an case-insensitive file system like HFS+ (Mac OS Extended). For this reason, the permissions of files that have been updated by Mac OS X installers that use different file name capitalizations and different install permissions will be toggled between the contradictive settings.
No, unfortunately this is a widely held misinformation. In fact the opposite is true. Resetting permissions should be done on a live system to make sure you are accessing the hard disk with the exact same drivers the currently installed operating system version is using.
Because this could put your system into serious trouble. The swap files usually contain parts of main memory which are currently needed by running applications and components of the operating system. These parts have been "swapped out to disk" because your computer temporarily needed more memory than was physically available in RAM. Deleting swap files means that you are erasing parts of the memory currently in use by running applications. A negative effect might not be seen immediately because the data contained in the swap files comes from inactive memory parts of these applications, but if the applications reactivate those memory blocks a short time later, they might not be able to get their data back. This could cause crashes, operating system malfunctions, and serious data loss.
Removing swap files doesn't make any sense. Mac OS X removes and shrinks swap files whenever possible and automatically optimizes file sizes. If it is not possible to free files in the running system (because some applications or system components still have memory blocks in use in some parts of the swap space), excessive parts will be automatically deleted the next time the system is restarted. It is also not recommended to deactivate swap files because this wouldn't have any positive effect.
While it is very useful to have a full toolset of maintenance functions at hand to repair and optimize Mac OS X, it is not recommendable to use all these tools without specific reasons. Every maintenance function may have negative side effects. For example, the feature to clean the cache files has the negative side effect that it will slow down the system temporarily and the user might lose data like web page icons for her bookmarks. The feature to repair permissions may have the undesired effect that it readjusts some privilege settings of operating system files your system administrator had changed for good reason.
Mac OS X does all necessary book-keeping and maintenance on its own. There is no need to run additional maintenance tools unless it has become necessary for a specific reason. Use the following table as a guideline when to use which function of TinkerTool System:
| Feature | should be used when |
| Run system maintenance script | the system is not running 24/7 but it is used as a network directory server or NFS file server, or the user works regularly with BSD command line programs |
| Reset permissions | you have used an installer of doubtful quality or made a mistake while changing access permissions for operating system files |
| Repeat system optimization | the system crashed while installing software with the Apple Installer |
| Clear lookup cache | after you connect to or disconnect from a network (including the Internet), some applications show unexpected delays or the spinning rainbow cursor |
| Repair CUPS | printer entries are disappearing, or the error messages 1282 / "server-error-service-unavailable" are displayed |
| Remove cache files | applications or system components behave erratically and all other attempts to solve the problem have failed |
| Remove font cache files | there is a long delay between login and the launch of the graphical user interface, or several Font Book features are failing, or deactivated fonts appear in Carbon applications, or some character glyphs are displayed incorrectly. |
| Remove log archives | you received a warning that the system volume becomes full or the system volume is losing free storage space for unknown reason |
| Remove Finder info files | your system is full of .DS_Store files but you don't want to store folder view settings |
| Remove AppleDouble files | you want to clean up non-HFS file systems and don't need any resource forks for the affected files |
| Remove Macintosh support files from an entire volume | you want to give a removable disk or other storage media which is no longer needed on the Mac to a user of a "non-Mac" computer system |
| Remove CUPS files | a print job has failed |
| Remove core files | you received a warning that the system volume becomes full or the system volume is losing free storage space for unknown reason |
| Verify integrity of preference files | applications crash or behave erratically for unknown reason |
| Preference Panes | the System Preferences application shows incorrect icons or labels in the overview of the different panes |
| Repair help | Help Viewer has crashed |
| Repair Finder translation | the Finder displays system folders in English although you don't have English selected as primary language |
| Rebuild Launch Services database | "open with" features are failing, the Finder lists duplicate applications, or invalid icons are displayed for documents |
| Remove Recent Items | you want to protect your privacy |
In very rare cases this can happen for computers equipped with multiple sound output devices. If you have upgraded from TinkerTool System 1.2 to version 1.3 or later while the mute setting was enabled, please try the following procedure to solve the problem:
If this is still not working, Mac OS X has a problem controlling the master volume settings of your installed audio devices. This is a technical problem independent of TinkerTool System. In this case, try the following procedure as a workaround:
No. Under certain circumstances, MacBook and MacBook Pro computers sometimes seem to "forget" that their startup chimes have been switched off. This problem seems to occur when the portable system experienced an internal anomaly with its battery or power management. Because this effect is directly related to hardware, and no operating system or user program is running when a MacBook is switched on, it is not possible to resolve this problem by TinkerTool System or any other application.