Changing settings

Feature Categories

The settings and maintenance features of TinkerTool System are sorted into several categories:

• Maintenance allows you to access maintenance features Apple has built into Mac OS X.
• Clean Up lets you remove files that may cause trouble under certain circumstances.
• Files has features to enforce the deletion of files and to recreate special Finder settings.
• System Setup gives you access to an advanced set of operating system settings not available in System Preferences.
• Startup allows you to set special startup options for Mac OS X.
• Login makes it possible to set preference values for the login panel of the operating system.
• International can remove installed language packages from folders or volumes.
• User contains features only applicable to a single user account, including preference verification and privacy features.
• Applications is used to perform maintenance operations on software packages
• ACL Permissions can work with advanced permission settings only available in Mac OS X Tiger
• Info is able to display specific hardware and manufacturing information for your computer and allows you to access all log files.

To select a category, select its symbol in the toolbar of the main window, or choose one of the menu items under View.

Change a System Setting

To change a system setting available in one of the categories, just press the respective buttons. Because all settings available in TinkerTool System can have serious implications on Mac OS X and all users working with it, the operating system might ask for an administrator password to verify that you have the necessary right to do so. The application strictly follows Apple's Security Guidelines for Mac OS X, so the password panel may reappear from time to time depending on the security profile configured for your system.

If you have been correctly identified as system administrator, all settings can be changed. The following rules apply:

• The settings you change with TinkerTool System take effect immediately unless stated otherwise.
• Each setting is automatically saved by the operating system and is still effective after restarting the computer.
• The only exception are the network tuning settings: They only become persistent when you press the button Make Permanent. You can remove saved network tuning settings by pressing the button Remove permanent customization. In this case, the network settings will be set to Apple's defaults the next time you start Mac OS X.

Dangerous Settings or Features

Some features and settings of TinkerTool System may have undesired side effects, or may put your data and the integrity of the operating system to a certain risk. Those features are marked with a yellow caution sign.

Read the notes specified next to the caution sign very carefully before using any feature of the respective option pane.
Data loss may occur!

Returning to Safe Factory Settings

If you have made a variety of permanent changes to operating system settings and now like to return to an "untouched" set of preferences, TinkerTool System allows you to revert all changes to Apple's factory defaults in one single step. By factory defaults we mean the settings which are found in a "fresh and clean" Mac OS X installation.

Note that it's not possible to decide whether a change on operating system settings has been made via TinkerTool System, via the command-line, or with the help of another system utility. All settings which can be permanently changed by TinkerTool System will be reset to default values.

To use this reset feature, select the menu item Reset > Reset all permanent changes to system settings…. It is strongly recommended to restart the computer after the reset procedure has been performed. This will ensure all changes will actually take effect in all running applications.

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