Last update: Wednesday, October 1, 2003

1. MEMORY FRAGMENTATION ON ALL PRE OS X MAC'S
Memory on a mac running os 9.x or earlier gets fragmented similar to fragmentation of files on a hard disk.
The result is freezes and hang-ups and slowdowns and weird behavior and error messages from programs that have nothing to do with what you are doing.

• Don't quit a program unless you absolutely have to, you can close windows(W) just don't quit.
  
• Load applications first that are less likely to be quit before the next restart of your computer
  
• Quit applications in reverse order, in which they were launched
  
• Start your browser last because it is most likely to crash!
  
• Don't use virtual memory > max out the ram.
  
• If you have to reopen a big program like PhotoShop or after effects that you had to quit before, first restart.
  

2. RAM
A big part of running any computer with power-hungry editing software is maxing out the ram and turning off virtual memory, AppleTalk & filesharing.
Balance RAM allocation (get info) between programs and make sure that there is enough space left for the Os To do this, first quit the program if it's running. Then click once on the icon of the program itself (not on an alias to it). Select Get Info from the File menu, and then select Memory from the pulldown menu in the Get info window. In the new pane, at the bottom, are three boxes with numbers in them - the one you want to change is the last one, labeled Preferred. For most programs, an increase of 50% is a good starting point; for small apps like control panels and printing software, doubling is okay; for browsers, email apps, and graphics apps, try at least doubling or tripling to start with. Replace the old number in the box with the new one - no commas - close the window, and you're done.

You may not be aware of it, but you could have bad RAM. Chances are you don't, but often times you're not aware that the problems you're having with your Mac are related to bad RAM.
Symptoms of bad RAM include applications unexpectedly quitting at random times (generally when the application needs to "think" about something and use RAM), and windows popping up with nothing in them when you launch an application or open a window in the Finder.
Unexplained lock-ups requiring a restart -- that is, the entire system freezes and stops working altogether -- can also be a symptom of bad RAM. It can also be a bad sign if an application crashes and provides an error of type 1, 2, or 3 that can't be solved by adjusting the RAM allocation of the application.
So what do you do?
Your Mac performs a memory check every time it starts up, but that isn't enough. If it were, it would take quite some time for your machine to boot. Download an application called Gauge Pro, originally from the now-defunct Newer Technologies. Check it out and replace if necessary.

3. DON'T PLAY GAMES ON A WORK COMPUTER
Don't install too much software, an Ideal computer has just one program installed on it,
The more programs you install the bigger the chance that you get conflicts resulting in erratic behavior of programs.
The best tactic is to have specialized computers for different tasks like editing, graphics or office/internet and network them.
If you have to mix different tasks on the same computer there are 2 ways to make it run a lot smoother & faster.

• Make an extension & controlpanel set for certain programs.
  Simply go into extensions manager, duplicate your set, give it the name of the program that you want to run and turn everything off except the stuff you need to run a that program.
• Every time you run this program switch to its extensions set & restart
  USE CAUTION WHEN USING EXTENTIONS MANAGER
  
  • don’t make any changes to your extentions manually (by moving stuff in the system folder)
    
  • don’t make a new set without first restarting
    If you don’t stick to these rules, extentions manager will keep crashing
    (when it crashes –trash preferenses + all the set’s except for the mac os ones)
    
• If you have more than one partition or drive attached to your computer you can also install a second OS on that other partition.
  Example: To run Final cut pro & After effects smoothly with as much speed possible I have an external drive with a clean version of the OS installed on it and the only programs installed there are FCP & AE. So whenever I want to use those programs I restart with that partition as the startup disk.
  

4. LOG
Keep a log next to each computer to keep track of
Programs that get installed/uninstalled/updated
Crashes and what you where doing just before the crash
Workarounds
Backup/virus-check schedule
This log comes in very handy when you have a problem that keeps coming back.

5. BACKUP
Backup project files (avid & fcp) daily
Weekly back up of all changed information and files that can't be redigitised, to CD-r or DVD-ram.

6. SAVE
If your working with AVID or FCP set auto-save to 15 minutes
On AVID an FCP I also make a duplicate of the sequence that I'm working on after each big change.
Daily I drag project files on a media drive outside the main CPU.
With programs like Photoshop, After effects, Pro-tools save after each completed task and do lots of save-as, with a version number that goes up.

7. OPTIMIZE SYSTEM SETTINGS
-Turn menu blinking off in the general controls controlpanel
-Turn off AppleTalk, File Sharing, and Program Linking and disable their extensions (Users and Groups and File Sharing control panels, File Sharing extension).
-Make sure calculate folder size is turned off in finder preferences (if you still see folders being calculated then turn it off in view of that drive) Calculate foldersize slows your mac down because it uses all unused time for the calculations just like when you are indexing in the background.
-Disable unnecessary extensions and control strip modules, either with the Extension Manager or manually if they don't show up there. If you don't want to disable any extensions by hand, there is a hack at ResExcellence to make all extensions and libraries show up in the Extension Manager. Don't delete any extensions once you have disabled them unless your computer runs fine without them and you're certain that you'll never need them again. Extensions that you can disable include:
a. Printer drivers you don't need.
b. The Iomega Drivers and Tools extensions (if you don't have a Zip drive).
c. Any plug-ins and libraries you don't need (like those that come with Internet Explorer and Netscape Conference, but only delete these if you've already deleted the programs they go with; use Get Info or the Extensions Manager to find what they're for).
d. All FreePPP extensions, control panels, and control strip modules except for PPP Menu (if you're running OS 8 or above with built-in Internet).
e. The LaserWriter extensions and system extensions (if you don't use a LaserWriter).
f. The AOL Instant Messenger extensions including IdleTime (if you've already deleted the AIM program).
g. The Launcher control panel.
h. The Speech control panel and extension (if you don't use your Mac's speech capabilities).
i. Apple Photo Access (if you don't use Photo CD's).
j. Clipping Extension (if you have OS 8 or above).
Delete the modem scripts that you don't use (they're inside the Extensions folder).
Delete the Input Sprockets for devices you don't have (they're inside the Extensions folder).
Use a desktop pattern instead of a picture.
Lower the number of colors displayed by your system. You can do this in the Monitors and Sound control panel. This can provide a substantial speed boost. Thousands of colors are fine for almost anything. 256 colors provides an even bigger speed boost, but the decrease in image quality is noticeable.
Rebuild your desktop at least once a month. Your system stores information about your files in the desktop database. When you rebuild it, your Finder will run faster. To rebuild the desktop, hold the Command and Option keys down while you restart your computer. Continue to hold them until you see a dialog where you can confirm that you want to rebuild the desktop. It may take a while to rebuild, especially if you have many files on your hard drive.

8. TROUBLESHOOT
When a program freezes, the first thing I do is force quit and then trash the preferences or first restart and then trash the preferences. (Sort the preferences by date to get the ones that where just used on top!)

9. FIREWIRE DRIVES