Maintenance 1.3.8

Maintenance is a tool that you can use in order to perform management jobs to your Mac.

The first thing that the application asks is your own user password because it refuses to work without it. This is a security measure because it needs root access to your system.

The interface is pretty simple. You can check all the tasks that it should or shouldn't run there. There are these main categories: Maintenance, Cleaning, and Reset.

The 'Maintenance' category does all the maintenance stuff where you can verify and repair permissions, execute maintenance scripts, or optimize the system. The optimization can work as an update or you can do a complete optimization.

The 'Cleaning' section works with logs and 'CrashReporter', as well as application, font, system, and kernel caches. It cleans them very good. Maintenance erased my entire Firefox cache and the font cache of The GIMP for example.

The 'Reset' area can restore the original settings of the LaunchServices database, the Mac Help, the display of folder and contents, sidebar of the Finder windows, and the Spotlight Index. This feature works very well too.

The 'Preferences' panel is very simple and effective. You can find there some settings about the interface (Aqua/Brushed Metal and transparency), settings for the software update, and settings that allows maintenance to run on your account or on all accounts. There is an 'Advanced' button in order to check your HDD's S.M.A.R.T. It doesn't display any S.M.A.R.T. information. It pops up a window where it specifies whether everything is or isn't OK.

Pluses: it is a powerful maintenance tool.

Drawbacks / flaws: it is very slow while performing the maintenance job and restart is required at the end. You have to be careful what options you pick when using the 'Reset' area.

In conclusion: it is a pretty good tool for your Mac. The price of $0 is awesome.

version reviewed: 1.0.7