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Thread ID: 29966	2003-02-07 06:58:00	Advise	Millsie (3111)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
119037	2003-02-08 11:10:00	> The first option is to rebuild the desktop and I > think you do this by restarting the computer while > holding down the Command and Options keys, then > selecting that option from the on-screen menu. This > only takes a few minutes to run but could take a > little longer if it hasn't been done for long time. > It is the most common cause of MAC slowdown over > time. Billy, sorry to be so thick, but do you mean the Apple and Alt keys? I don't have any keys called Command and Options on my iMac. Also I have a folder called MRJ Cache and one called MS Intenet Cache which are in my preferences folder. The MRJ Cache contains 184 Internet Exlplorer documents but when I click on any of them, it just brings up a blank page on IE which looks fairly useless to me. Can I throw all these IE docs away because they are taking up loads of space.The folder called MS Internet Cache contains one .waf file which brings up a error message when I click on it. Sorry to appear so stupid, but I used to have live in apple support till I divorced him.:p	Pollly (1416)
119038	2003-02-08 13:27:00	To rebuild the desktop hold down Command (Apple) and Option (ALT) keys together. You can trash the MRJ cache it is just a record ofjava and you can also trash the MS Internet Cache from preferences as well. As there seems to be some interest in general Mac housekeeping I have given some more information and details below which will help keep things running smoothly. Desktop Rebuild If the Desktop file becomes too large, the computer may have difficulty reading it efficiently and speedily. This can cause the Finder to access files more slowly. Rebuilding the Desktop file can clean up old information and speed up Finder access. 1. Start (or Restart) the computer. 2. Before the screen lights up, hold down the OPTION-COMMAND keys simultaneously. 3. Hold these keys down until a message appears asking if you want to rebuld the desktop. 4. Release the keys and click "OK". 5. Allow the computer to restart normally. The rebuilding process will take several minutes, depending on the size of your hard drive. Allocating memory Unlike OS X older mac systems do not automatically manage memory requirements of a program and sometimes it is necessary to increase this especially if strange thing are happening or you are getting frequent type 2 or 3 errors. To adjust the memory available to a program first make sure tho program is closed, see item on closing programs. Find the folder the program is in and then click on the program icon once to hilight it. Go to File/Get Info/Memory Increase the preferred size by 2000k or whatever you need but it depends on how much Ram you have installed and how much is available for allocation. Close the screen by clicking in the top left corner and restart your program. Closing Programs When you click in the top left corner of a program and it disappears, the program is not actually closed and is still using system resources. If you select the Finder in the top right corner you will see it still listed there. To close a program select it in the Finder and the go to File/Quit Keep a watch on the Finder to avoid having too many programs open at once as they will use up all available memory unless of course you have a large amount of installed Ram. Force Quit If a program stops responding or freezes up it is sometimes possible to close this program only to avoid doing a complete restart on your computer to get things working normally again. To do this hold down the Command (Apple key) and Option keys together and press esc. Restart the program but if you are still having trouble shut down the computer and restart. Managing Memory Modern Mac systems are designed to operate with Virtual memory turned on as programs use less memory for operation. To check or adjust Virtual memory go to Apple menu/Control panels/memory It is normal on Power Mac’s to have virtual memory on and the amount selected in the box to be 1m more then the built-in memory. If you need extra memory to run a particular program or run several programs at once it is quite acceptable to increase the number in the box to to make this virtual memory available for use. There may be a decrease in speed for some things but generally it works verey well. Disk First Aid Apple supply a useful tool which can repair many hard disk problems and it is a good idea to run it from time to time to keep things in good shape. It is usually found in the utilities folder but you have trouble finding it go to File/Find and search for Disk First Aid Select your Hard Disk and click on verify or repair. Clearing Cache in Web Browsers To clear History and Cache Internet Explorer - Edit/preferences/Advanced Netscape 4.xx - Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Cache Netscape 7 - Clear cache. Edit/preferences/Advanced/Cache Clear History. Edit /Preferences/Navigator/History. Opera - Edit/Preferences/History and Cache Netscape 4.xx Messenger Compact Database Clean up wasted space by selecting all yor mail folders in turn (inbox trash etc) and then select Edit/Get info and click on Clean up wasted space. Netscape 7 Mail - select File/Compact database. Outlook Express Compact and Optimize the Database You should occasionally compact and optimize your email message database. It can grow to huge proportions, because "deleted" files are not fully erased from the hard drive, even after you empty the "deleted items folder." They are partially still there, slowing down OE and taking up space on your hard drive (particularly the large messages with attachments. Once you have archived and/or deleted many messages you can compact and optimize the files in each identity by holding down the option key while starting OE5. Keep the option key depressed until you see a window appear. Select "YES" and OE5 will compact and optimize the files in the identity folder. This may take some time so be patient. When this is done got to the MS Users Data usually found in the Documents folder. Look for Main Identity and trash Messages and Data base which have (rebuild) beside them and when the trash is emptied this will then increase Hard Disk space available. Caution - Do not trash the messages and data base that are currently being used, these will NOT have rebuild showing.	Jim B (153)
119039	2003-02-08 22:56:00	Hi Jim, Thankyou, thankyou thankyou for your most excellent instructions to Pollly's question. I can't believe what difference it has made to my little iMac. I appreciate your sharing of your knowledge very much. One thing though, what is the purpose of turning the virtual memory on as I have a sneaky suspicion it has allways been switched off right from new. Would this be the cause of it becoming sluggish? Kind regards, Millsie	Millsie (3111)
119040	2003-02-09 00:12:00	Thank you so much for all the great advice, much of which I have already followed and it has made a big difference to the speed and efficiency of my computer . Especially turning on my virtual memory . This used to be turned on but was turned off at the advice of my son after I’d had extra memory installed but I can’t remember what his reasoning was behind this . I think he thought I didn't need it any more . . . I have a question about Outlook Express . You mention about optimizing my e . mail message database . I have tried to find those messages by going into my Outlook Express folder from my harddisk, but there is nothing that looks like a database file or anywhere that is storing the data from all my e . mails . And you go on to say: “Once you have archived and/or deleted many messages you can compact and optimize the files in each identity by holding down the option key while starting OE5 . Keep the option key depressed until you see a window appear . Select "YES" and OE5 will compact and optimize the files in the identity folder . ” What do you mean by ‘each identity’ and ‘identity folder’ . I can’t find any of these either . Will optimizing my e . mails mean that I can still find back all the text and attachments? Thank you . . . :)	Pollly (1416)
119041	2003-02-09 01:40:00	Identities are when you set up another OE for use by someone else which gives a completely seperate OE with its own mail folders. You do this by going to File/Switch Identity If you haven't done this then don't worry about it, you will just have Main Identity showing in Microsoft user data. Microsoft userdata is usually in the Documents folder on your Hard Disk If you can't find it go to File/Find and type in Microsoft user data This will show in the top pane, click on it and it will give you the path to where it is. If you start up OE while holding down the Option key and you click Yes to Compact the database you will not lose any data. If you click No and then Yes to do a Complex rebuild then you might loose some data. To free up the space you have created you then go to Microsoft user data as described above and select Main Identity in there. Trash messages and database that have rebuild beside them. Do NOT trash the messages and data base files that you have just created and are currently being used, these ones do not have rebuild beside them.	Jim B (153)
119042	2003-02-09 02:27:00	Thanks for that Millsie, glad it helped. Virtual Memory increases your memory by using space on your hard drive. However, Virtual Memory does much more than this. Not only does Virtual Memory increase your Mac's memory, it also decreases the amount of memory that the MacOS uses. Programs that use PowerPC native code also use less memory when Virtual Memory is turned on. Virtual Memory uses your hard drive for memory which is much slower than built-in memory but it does allow you to run programs which you would not be able to do unless you installed more built in memory. Installing more memory is the preferred option but cost is always a factor. I have Virtual memory set high and don't notice any great slowdown with most programs If you only have 64MB then it is likely you were running out of memory to run programs effectively. If you had plenty of RAM say 128MB then Virtual Memory should be turned on and set to 129 in the box there.This is the ideal as it is not actually using space from your hard drive this way but is allowing programs to run with less memory required. In your case I suspect 64MB is not enough and would certainly cause programs to become sliggish if you were running short of memory and you would probably be best to select 80 or 100 in virtual memory. To see how your memory is being used open the programs you usually have running and select the Finder in the top right corner and click on Finder here. Go to the Apple menu and click on About this Computer. You will see here the amount of Built in Memory, amount you have selected in Virtual Memory and the Largest Unused block. You will see the programs you have open and the amount of memory you have allocated to a particular program. The way to allocate more memory to a program I decribed in the previous email. On the bar alongside each you can see the amount of memory each program is actually using. If it is using most of the bar then you should consider allocating more memory to it as when it starts to run short you can expect problems such as not responding or it may just quit with an error type 1, 2, or 3 The Mac OS showing here will be using all the bar as you can't allocate memory to it as it just uses what it needs but you can change the amount needed in Control Panels/Extension Manager and creating a new set in there with extensions disabled which you don't need. This will free up some memory by doing this. If the Largest Unused Block is getting to a figure of around 5MB or lower than memory is getting short. You will need to increase the amount in Virtual memory or close some programs you are not using to free up some memory so you can carry on with what you are doing. Just a point on closing programs, they will not always release all the memory allocated to them when they are closed and you can see this in About My Computer if you add up what is allocated and what is unused, it does not come to the total available. This can occur if the programs are closed in a different order to what they were opened. If it is a problem just restart the computer and it wil all come right. All this information is just for OS 8 to 9 obviously. Mac OS X is a completely different system	Jim B (153)
119043	2003-02-09 03:32:00	Thank you for that information Jim. You have been enormously helpful. Unfortunately I am still rather in the fog about Outlook Express clean up. Despite searching with File/Find (Now called Sherlock) I was still unable to find anything called Microsoft user data, or anything remotely resembling a folder where my e.mail data could be stored. Therefore I have not yet compacted the database of Outlook Express in the way you suggest in case doing this is going to loose me my e.mails which at the moment I can only access and read from within Outlook Express itself. I reckon they must be stored somewhere on my harddisk, but I can’t find them. By the way I’ve got MacOs9.1. Sorry I didn’t say that earlier. I tend to be a bit of a hoarder where e.mail are concerned, so if I took the trouble to throw away irrelevant ones, I am sure I could free a lot of space up like that. :)	Pollly (1416)
119044	2003-02-09 05:05:00	Jim B: I think it's time for a Mac FAQ :D	-=JM=- (16)
119045	2003-02-09 05:10:00	Jim B - after reading through your generously shared expertise on Macs I thought I would draw your attention to a post further down the page that has not yet received an answer. You may have missed it due to its header but the topic concerns a Mac problem. May be too late now since it is several days old, but just thought you might be interested in looking at it. The subject is Print Drivers: pressf1.pcworld.co.nz	tommy (2826)
119046	2003-02-09 06:41:00	No I did not see that one, probably a bit late now. It is much as described, install the computer software and then go to Apple menu/Chooser and select the installed printer icon	Jim B (153)
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