Does Mac get junk files left behind like Windows?

[joeeye]

Since I'm new to Mac I want to take care of it, I hear I don't really need virus protection, but do I need any type of software protection like LavaSoft? like to comb out and get rid of adware & spyware files like I have to do with Windows.

Plus does my Mac need RegScrub? like I have on my Windows XP to fix corrupt files, any even the files that get left behind from deleted programs that never fully get deleted.

I thought I may have heard that there is a virus type of protection for Mac, but I have not even looked for it yet to see if there is such a thing.

If you can please share what kind of maintenance I need for my Mac Laptop I'd like to hear from you, thanks, Joe

[Ginsu543]

My understanding is no. OS X does a much better job of localizing program files to their respective folders so that if you want to uninstall a program, all you have to do is trash the folder it's in. You don't need an uninstaller to hunt down all the .dll files Windows programs scatter all over your C: drive.

[stlouis1]

i would assume theres some sort of temp files either way though. i dont really know

but i know in linux, debian for example. theres a deborphan command to clean out unused packages

[Nataku]

There is some leftovers that get dumped, But they are extremely small.

[joeeye]

I was asking because I swear when I now open Firefox it's so slow where before I know it was a lot faster.

So I was wondering if there was something like that I could look to first in diagnosing what changed making my Mac laptop seem slow to open from the dashboard.

[Nataku]

I was asking because I swear when I now open Firefox it's so slow where before I know it was a lot faster.

So I was wondering if there was something like that I could look to first in diagnosing what changed making my Mac laptop seem slow to open from the dashboard.

Using "disk utility" and checking your HDD for permission mistakes would be the first step. Then getting a software to defrag it is next.

[joeeye]

Using "disk utility" and checking your HDD for permission mistakes would be the first step. Then getting a software to defrag it is next.

I think I'll look at MajorGeek.com for this, do you think it might be there to load? otherwise I'll try the Apple web site.

[Nataku]

I think I'll look at MajorGeek.com for this, do you think it might be there to load? otherwise I'll try the Apple web site.

Disk Utility is preinstalled on your system in the folder Applications>Utilities

[chris000001]

let me know when you find a good defrag utility for os x tiger, i have been looking everywhere for one, and cant find one.

as for firefox, that has always been horrendously slow on the mac

[Nataku]

as for firefox, that has always been horrendously slow on the mac

as far as page load time, It's looks the same to me on my mac.

[AKHandyman]

Look into Diskeeper for that defrag utility ... I use Diskeeper 2007, but I do not know how it will work on a Mac ... I just bought my wife a MacBook Pro 13" and it is literally two days old ... but she wants me to double check everything and I thought I'd look into loading up this invisible defragmenter program ... EDIT ...ahhh Diskeeper does NOT support Mac OS 10 Tiger ... :(