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TinkerTool System Version History

Release 1.87 (Build 080616)

This is a maintenance update which reacts to recent developments in Mac OS X Leopard and fixes minor problems.

The feature to remove language packages has been accelerated.
Added a feature regarding a bug in Mac OS X Leopard which can cause the startup language setting to be corrupted under certain circumstances when the system has been restored from a Time Machine backup. TinkerTool System can now repair the language setting in case it has been damaged.
Added a workaround for a packaging problem in the Java SE 6 update for 64-bit Intel systems which could lead to an endless file scan when removing language packages from the Java Virtual Machine framework.
Added a workaround for the problem that certain third-party background applications could manipulate the shutdown sequence of Mac OS X Leopard in a way which could cause the feature to mute the startup chime not to become effective.
Support for cleaning the Internet browser caches of Safari 3 and Shiira 2 (or later) has been removed. Those browsers have their own powerful cache cleaning features already integrated. Previous versions of Safari and Shiira are still supported for cleaning.
Support for cleaning the caches of several obsolete Internet browser versions has been removed. This affects Chimera, OmniWeb prior to version 5, Opera prior to version 9, iCab prior to version 4. Support for Desktop Web Browser has been removed entirely because up-to-date versions no longer use any file-based caches. Support for non-Firefox versions of Mozilla-based browsers has been updated to now support Netscape® Navigator 9.
The mechanism to detect ambiguities in machine production dates has been optimized. Computers built in 2008 are now always displayed with their correct dates of production.
Corrected a problem where the column "size" of the statistics table of the feature to remove language packages could only be sorted alphabetically instead of numerically.
Corrected a problem of interim build 080325 where users of Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.x) could not use the feature to remove language packages.
Corrected a problem where Mac OS X Leopard opened TCP/IP port 12345 for diagnostic purposes when the feature to mute the startup chime has been used with build 080205. (The port was only opened. No part of TInkerTool System could receive or send data on this port.)
Small changes and optimizations in the user interface.

Release 1.85 (Build 080205)

This is a maintenance update which optimizes specific features, especially for use with Mac OS X Leopard. The update is recommended for all users of Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

The function to remove language packages now additionally supports up-to-date applications which are using language markers in compliance with the new standards ISO 631-2 and RFC 3066bis.
It is now possible to remove English language support for applications that have not been designed with English as their primary language (not for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther).
Many new log files of Mac OS X Leopard can now be monitored via the Info pane of the application.
Corrected a problem where Portuguese for Portugal could not be selected to become the startup language for Mac OS X 10.5.
The feature to mute the startup chime now additionally supports damaged Leopard installations which don't perform correct shutdown sequences.
The feature to clean the online cache for the directory services client has been reenabled for Leopard installations.
It is now possible to delete files and the original permission settings of operating system components when the user explicitly states to take that risk.
The scan process when searching files for cleanup tasks has been accelerated considerably. It is now feasible to scan entire system drives with several 100,000 files.
Many small changes in the user interface.

Release 1.8 (Build 071107)

This version adds support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Support for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar has been removed. Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later is now required to run the application.
The thinning feature now additionally allows to create binaries which only contain code support for specific processor types, instead of code support for specific processor families. For example, an application which contains code support for all PowerPC processors and secondly for PowerPC G5 processors in particular, can now be thinned to contain G5 code only.
TinkerTool System detects Leopard applications which are protected by digital seals. Operations which could break a seal (making the affected application unusable) are avoided automatically.

Release 1.72 (Build 070914)

This is a minor maintenance update which does not include new features.

Enhanced application behavior when the user tries to deinstall a third-party application into the Trash in cases where that application had created a named Unix pipe.
Corrected a problem affecting Intel-based Macintosh systems where the application could include additional files with names beginning with very special characters into the deletion set when the user selected a feature to delete .DS_Store files.

Release 1.71 (Build 070529)

Due to a packaging error, the features to set Access Control List permissions (ACLs) on Tiger, and to modify the hard drive sleep interval on Tiger systems using customized energy saver profiles were not operational in release 1.7 when using a PowerPC-based Macintosh computer. This maintenance update fixes the problem.

Users of 1.7 who have Jaguar, Panther or an Intel-based Mac are not affected by the problem and don't need to download this upgrade.

Release 1.7 (Build 070509)

Added new feature to let Mac OS X analyze the contents of files, independent of their type codes or file name extensions.
Added new feature to modify type and creator codes of files.
Added new feature to make file system objects visible or invisible in the Finder.
Added new feature to prevent Mac OS X from automatically activating selected hard drive volumes. (Tiger only)
Added new feature to prevent Mac OS X from automatically waking portable computers in sleep mode when the display lid is being opened. (Tiger only)
Added new feature to repair the System Preferences application if icons or labels have become corrupted (Jaguar and Tiger only).
Added feature to clean the caches of Opera version 9. Support for Opera version 6 was removed.
Added new feature to automatically reset permanent changes to system-wide settings to Apple's factory defaults.
When running with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, TinkerTool System now uses the unified display style for its control window.
The feature to remove code support for certain processor families from applications can now create log files. It also adds a Finder comment to thinned applications.
The feature to remove Services menu items now displays the items in the user's preferred language.
The feature to remove unused preferences files now allows to select between predefined time periods, controlling which preferences should be considered as being too old.
The feature to verify the integrity of preferences files now additionally detects corrupted or empty preference folders.
The feature to repair the translated display of folders in a user's home folder has been moved from the Files to the User pane.
The system info display now uses better descriptions for computers with replaced mainboards.
The network optimization feature now supports additional settings for delayed TCP acknowledge which Apple has introduced in Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later.
Corrected a problem with misleading warning messages shown while preparing the removal of language support packages.
The application now uses better error messages for cases where applications cannot be thinned for technical reasons.
Corrected a problem where some third-party applications could not be thinned.
Many small enhancements in the user interface and in the reference manual.

Release 1.6 (Build 061229)

Due to legislational changes, all pricing notices regarding Value Added Tax had to be modified on January 1, 2007.

Release 1.6 (Build 060719)

Added new feature for the deinstallation and clean-up of applications which have been installed by "drag and drop". The deinstallation assistant helps to find all components that belong to a given application. The components can selectively be sent to the Trash or be deleted immediately. Compared with other tools of this kind, TinkerTool System offers much thorougher clean-up levels which not only remove components for one user account, but for all user accounts of a computer or for whole network installations. Deinstallation reports can be stored or printed. The deinstall helper can also assist in the removal of widgets, screen savers, preference panes, Internet plug-ins and QuickTime plug-ins.
Added new feature to "thin" Universal applications and other software components like widgets, screen savers, preference panes or plug-ins. The code support for these components can be displayed and the user can remove support for selectable CPU architectures, saving storage space.
Added new feature to selectively remove entries in the Services menu of Mac OS X. The user can manipulate given applications to no longer offer their service entries in the menu. TinkerTool System creates backup copies of the menu items, so the original status can be restored at any time.
The user control to specify paths, folders or files was enhanced in all parts of TinkerTool System. Icons are displayed for all selected file system objects. Names and BSD paths are displayed more user-friendly.
The feature to deinstall language support packages can now additionally remove language support for widgets.
Corrected an issue of an early build of version 1.51 where the language list in the International pane did not restore the user's preferred selection for language deletion when the application was relaunched.
Corrected an issue of an early build of version 1.51 where the MTU option was not offered for WLAN cards when running Panther or Tiger.
Corrected an issue where the user could not always select or deselect some entries in the detail overview for Access Control List permissions.

Release 1.51 (Build 060420)

This is a maintenance release, reacting on technical changes found in recent OS and firmware updates from Apple. It only adds a few new functions.

Added new feature to delete native resource forks.
Added new feature to display system management information of Intel-based computers, including CPU, cache and memory details, mainboard and enclosure info, connector, slot and jumper lists.
The function to set an individual volume for the startup chime of Intel-based computers had to be removed because Apple introduced a bug in the Intel version of Mac OS X to make it fully compatible with the PPC version. TinkerTool System now offers an identical "mute startup chime" feature for all Macintosh systems, independent of their architecture.
The function to set the MTU value of Token Ring and IP over FireWire network interfaces (which was hidden for Panther and Tiger since release 1.2 of the application) is now available again for all versions of Mac OS X.
The function to set a background image for the login window now warns the user if s/he is attempting to set an image file with inappropriate permission settings.
For all delete operations of the application, the tables showing the list of objects that are about to be deleted will now use additional tool tips to make long file paths easier to read.
The compatibility with applications that create "self-made" login items which miss alias information and contain a tilde marker, has been enhanced. Those special login items are now considered to be valid if they refer to existing objects.
The preference setting for offering evaluation mode has been enhanced.
The warning dialog for incompatible operating system versions has been enhanced.
Corrected a problem where the list of installed languages was not updated under all conditions after the user had deleted some of the language packages.
Corrected a problem where the application window showed an incorrect height after the user had changed the ppi resolution setting for the Aqua user interface.
Corrected a problem where delete operations on folders were executed much slower than usual under very particular conditions.

Release 1.5 (Build 060124)

Added feature to enable or disable Spotlight (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to display the storage consumption of Spotlight metadata (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to remove or reset Spotlight indexing data. (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to enable support for Access Control Lists on disk volumes (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to define Access Control List permissions for files and folders (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to change POSIX permissions for files or folders (Tiger or later only).
Added features to handle inherited Access Control Lists (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to display the effective permissions a selected user has on a selected file system object. (Tiger or later only).
Added feature to clean the online cache of the lookup subsystem.
Added feature to repair certain defects in the printing subsystem (Jaguar and Panther only).
Added feature to set the Maximum Transfer Unit for Airport cards.
Added options to clean the caches of Opera 8, Flock and Desktop Web Browser.
Added feature to clean the download and attachment cache of Apple Mail.
Added feature to clean all hidden Macintosh support files on removable volumes which should be given to non-Macintosh computers.
Added option to select the system's default strategy for the activation of volumes that are connected while no user is logged in. (Panther or later only).
Added option to select the system buffer size for socket communication.
Added pre-programmed network tuning feature to optimize for broadband Internet connections with high latencies.
Added option to modify the physical ppi resolution value for screen output (Tiger or later only).
Added option to disable the Sleep button in the login window (Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later only).
Added option to set the font size for additional text added to the login window (Jaguar and Panther only).
Added option to select the initial status display in the login window (Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later only).
Added option to establish an additional delay before accepting logins (Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later only).
Added option to select the background picture for the login screen (Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later only).
Added feature to detect and remove out-of-date login items.
Added option to compute the total size of storage space that would be reclaimed when removing selected language packages.
Added feature to omit Adobe® applications when removing undesired language packages.
Added feature to remove PostScript Printer Description files in unwanted languages.
Added feature to verify the integrity of the system folder for temporary files.
The feature to mute the Macintosh startup chime has been extended to control the volume of the chime independent of the setting for the master audio output channel. This feature is only available on Intel-based Macintosh systems with Extensible Firmware Interface.
The info panel has been updated to include all features of all currently known Macintosh systems.
The MPU information panel has been redesigned.
The application now additionally remembers all previously selected settings in the Files and International panes between restarts.
The feature to enable Quartz Extreme on unsupported graphics cards is no longer supported when using Tiger.
Added a workaround for the problem that some folders could not be deleted at first attempt by the Force Delete or Force Empty Trash features when the folder was located on an NFS server running Mac OS X Tiger.
The user interface on the pane to remove unwanted language packages has been enhanced.
The application now detects if the user is trying to run it inside a FileVault volume which is not supported by Mac OS X's security model.
Corrected a problem where the application accepted the deletion of system files on systems running a non-update installation of Mac OS X Tiger.
Corrected a problem where the sleep interval for hard drives could not be set reliably if the user had established a named power-management profile for Mac OS X Tiger.
Corrected a problem where some of the options of the login window preferences were displayed with an incorrect state immediately after TinkerTool System had been launched.
The application now detects if the system contains specific broken audio drivers of third-party vendors which cause the volume control of Mac OS X to fail. This includes cases that break Mac OS X's and TinkerTool System's capability to control the startup chime.
A problem with the German user interface in the "Force Empty Trash" dialog was corrected.

Release 1.4 (Build 050401)

Added feature to clean the font cache of Mac OS X.
Added feature to delete obsolete preferences files of applications which have not been in use for over a year.
Added the option to deactivate the Sudden Motion Sensor on recently released PowerBook systems.
Added option to keep linguistic components, like spell checking, speech and summary dictionaries when removing language support files.
Added option to automatically select all volumes when enforcing complete deletion of the Trash contents.
Hidden Finder information files and fork emulation files can now be removed at the same time.
The Info pane now additionally displays the boot ROM version of the system.
The application was modified to support future operating system versions.

Release 1.35 (Build 041209)

This is a maintenance update of TinkerTool System which adds only a few new features.

Added feature to delete archived copies of the login accounting database together with log archives.
Added feature to delete entries for recent items in AppleWorks 6. This is a maintenance procedure recommended by Apple to establish a workaround for a defect in AppleWorks which prevents its recent items menu from working correctly when used with Mac OS X. This feature is only supported for English and German language versions of AppleWorks.
The tool now remembers your last preferred settings to clean caches and to remove recent items.
The tool now activates the network optimization settings even if no network is connected at operating system startup time. This allows users to make a connection later, with the optimized settings already established.
The feature to delete language packages can now automatically handle applications which come with incorrectly packaged frameworks that use infinite loops of symbolic links.
The feature to mute the startup sound now uses better protection against cases where the audio drivers are not working correctly. To activate this change, users should deactivate, then reactivate the mute feature.
Fixed an aesthetic problem where the report sheet which displays the results of the integrity check for user preferences could be resized beyond intended limits.
Fixed a problem where the master volume was muted when the Fast User Switching feature was used in Panther and the application's setting to mute the startup sound was active at the same time.
Fixed a problem where not all temporary CUPS files could be deleted depending on the permission settings of the current user.
Fixed a problem where cookies of Camino could only be removed for old versions of Camino, not for up-to-date ones.
Improved behavior when dropping Finder objects into a file name field while the field contents was selected at the same time.

Release 1.3 (Build 041012)

Added feature to check the integrity of all active preference files. A variety of different problems with preference settings can be detected.
Added feature to display more than 48 log files kept by Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server
Added feature to repair the Mac OS X Help Viewer
Added feature to correct the translation feature of the Finder
Added feature to rebuild the Mac OS X Launch Services database
Added feature to remove recent items in the Apple menu, recent servers in the Finder, and recent items in all Mac OS X applications
Added feature to display user account core information
Added feature to display technical and manufacturing information about the computer, including production date
Added feature to display technical information about personalized processor cards (PowerMac G5 only)
Added feature to create symbolic links
Added feature to lock or unlock a large number of files
Added feature to remove print job files which have not been correctly deleted by the system
Added feature to remove core dump files
Added feature to clean cache files for device drivers and kernel extensions
Added support for cleaning cache files of new browser versions, including FireFox, OmniWeb 5, Opera 7 and Shiira
Added developer feature to emulate the programmer's switch with the power button
The feature to remove language packages has been accelerated considerably
Fixed a problem where some language support files might not have been removed if they appeared in a certain order in nested bundle packages
The language removal feature now additionally processes language packages which mistakenly use NeXT-style language identifiers for Apple tier 2 languages instead of correct ISO 639 labels
Corrected a problem where the language removal feature could confuse Traditional and Simplified Chinese packages
Corrected a problem where no error message was displayed by the language removal feature when an application was detected which contained an invalid bundle description
The feature to mute the startup chime was extended to better support systems with multiple audio devices
The reference manual was revised completely. A table was added to the FAQ section which gives a simple guideline when to use which maintenance function
Minor changes in the user interface

Release 1.2 (Build 040202)

Added feature to mute the startup chime of Macintosh computers
Added feature to set display preferences of the login window
Added preference settings to hide or include specific user categories in the login window user list
Added preference setting to disable activation of the Darwin text console (Panther only)
Added preference setting to display additional text in the login window
Added feature to remove language support packages from folders or volumes. 151 language variants can be selected.
Added feature for the removal of emulated resource forks. It is now possible to remove orphaned "dot underscore files" as well.
TinkerTool System is now saving and restoring the top left corner position of its window instead of the bottom left position to avoid confusion when reopening the application.
TinkerTool System now remembers the last used preference pane between launches.
When running on Panther, the tool now visualizes the selected pane icon in the toolbar.
When running on Panther, the MTU controls are no longer available to avoid conflicts with Panther's MTU options.
The online documentation has been extended considerably.
There is more graphical feedback when dropping objects to the folder fields.
The registration panel now automatically corrects invalid values when users mistakenly paste line ending characters into the data fields.
Minor changes in the user interface.

Release 1.1 (Build 031018)

Based on user feedback, several features have been optimized or slightly changed:

An additional evaluation mode has been added that allows to test the application without a registration key. If the user decides to enable evaluation mode, the application can be launched and used without any restrictions four times on the same computer. After evaluation time is over, the application will fall back to demonstration mode.
All user interface elements where folder or file names can be specified now additionally accept drag & drop.
The Quartz Extreme pane now shows the detailed state for multiple graphics cards or multi-monitor solutions.
Safety checks for the force-delete functions have been slightly relaxed: The application now accepts the deletion of non-empty folders or bundles if the user sets an additional checkmark to allow this. The forced "empty trash" feature no longer checks if the trash contains locked files.
The function to remove cache files has been substantially accelerated.
Several warning and error messages have been rephrased.
The registration panel has been redesigned completely.
Minor changes in the user interface.

Release 1.0 (Build 031007)

First official version of TinkerTool System.

What's new? TinkerTool System Version History