Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag

Only Leopard Runs Routine Maintenance Tasks after Startup or Waking from Sleep

Charles Moore - 2008.09.04 - Tip Jar

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

Thanks to feedback from several readers, we now know that Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" will run the routine maintenance cron jobs after startup or waking up if the computer was off or asleep when they were scheduled. Earlier versions of Mac OS X do not do this.

OS X System Maintenance Routines

From Jeff:

It's easily verified that the daily, weekly, and monthly cron scripts will run at the first available time slot if they miss their overnight executing times by opening "Console.app" from /Applications/Utilities and looking at the entries for "daily.out," "weekly.out," and "monthly.out" under "/Library/Logs." (UPDATE: The logs may sometimes be found in "/var/log" instead. ed)

My system sleeps overnight, and it's easy to see that all three of these cron scripts are executed sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. (about the time I get up and wake up the computer), and, therefore, there is no need to "force" these scripts to run manually.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Well, that clears that up. I don't get into the Console a whole lot.

Charles

Cron Jobs Run on Wakeup or Startup

From Ian:

"I have heard, but haven't been able to confirm as yet, that recent versions of OS X have been configured to run the cron jobs at a different time if the computer was asleep or off during the regular scheduled time."

That seems to be the case in 10.5.4. The "daily" script ran a little after nine when I fired up my 'Book this morning.

Thanks, Ian.

Charles

Running OS X System Maintenance Routines

From David:

Hi Charles,

You asked for info re. system maintenance. This is what I know. According to this article at Macworld, if your computer is asleep at night, "Leopard is smart enough to run the missed scripts the next time you wake up your computer. (Tiger is supposed to do so, as well, although this automatic feature didn't work as well.)"

The Macworld article is dated June 2, 2008, but Apple has this support document, last modified July 18, 2008, which says "Mac OS X performs background maintenance tasks at certain times if the computer is not in sleep mode. If your computer is shut down or in sleep at the designated times, the maintenance does not occur." The document says Mac OS X 10.5 is one of the Products Affected.

We're through the looking glass here, Mac users.

Take care,
Dave Lillo

Hi Dave,

See Jeff's note above, which would appear to verify what Macworld said.

Charles

Using Anacron to Run Routine Maintenance

From Nancy:

Dear Charles,

I enjoyed your article in Miscellaneous Ramblings about the value of running routine maintenance utilities, and I plan to forward it to friends who are new to the Mac.

I use Onyx as well, but wondered if you were familiar with Anacron.

It is a freeware application that runs the three cron scripts in the background whenever your computer is awake, without having to remember to launch Onyx and trigger the scripts manually. It runs under both Leopard and Tiger, and earlier versions are available for Jaguar and Panther as well. I have used it for a couple of years now with no problems.

Best,
Nancy

Hi Nancy,

I hadn't heard of that utility.

Sounds handy, although I guess Leopard does that now automatically without any third-party help.

I notice that the Anacron site has posted a notice reading:

"Note: This version of Anacron will run on MacOS 10.5 (Leopard) but it is not needed, as the Leopard launchd will run skipped jobs when the machine is next awake."

Charles

Go to the Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag index.

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Miscellaneous Ramblings ©1999-2009 by Charles W. Moore. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.