Degunking Your Mac [Paperback]

Joli Ballew (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

Degunking Your Mac covers the latest operating system (OS X Panther) and earlier versions, including OS 9. It provides the essential tips and tricks to help all Mac users bring their computers up to top performance. This book is a huge time saver because it's organized according to the special twelve-step degunking process that will improve the performance of any Mac. The book includes a handy degunking chart that will help users really focus on what they need to do to clean their Macs. All of the crucial degunking tips and tricks are in the book, including how to degunk Macs that run dual operating systems, how to better manage hard drives that get gunked up with all types of media files, how to properly optimize the desktop, how to manage fonts properly and get rid of unneeded "font gunk," how to properly get rid of the extra stuff that OS X installs, how best to deal with spam, how to fix and improve the Dock and Desktop, and much more. The book provides proven degunking maintenance tasks that users should perform on a regular basis to keep their Macs running at optimum levels. Mac users really need this book because it will help them get organized (and stay organized), optimize their workspace, solve clutter problems, and keep their Macs running fast and smoothly.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I think this book will stay close to my Mac and will be referred to frequently. It’s terrific! -- Alaskan Apple User's Group (rating of 5 Mooses!)

If your Mac is in need of a rejuvenation, check out this book to make it run faster and better! -- Rachel Smithey, reviewer for Focus on Macs (5 star review)

This modestly-priced book really can help you get a lot more out of your Mac for a better computing experience! -- Charles Moore on Applelinks.com

Your beloved Mac has gunk, I guarantee you. I once thought my baby was gunk-free, but I was wrong. -- Blogcritics.org book review by Morgaine Swann

From the Publisher

Mac users are loyal to their Mac--and for good reasons. The Mac provides a stable OS, user-friendly apps, and infinite uses of media. Millions of Mac users deal with many types of media files and because of this their machines can get overloaded in no time at all. Because the Mac runs efficiently (even when under a bit of stress), users might not realize how their Mac is slowing down or becoming harder to use. Unfortunately, Mac users often don’t have easy access to tech support to help them with maintenance, security issues, and troubleshooting tasks. Degunking Your Mac provides easy tips for Mac users that will help prevent problems and reduce headaches--and keep their machines running well for many years.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Paraglyph Press; First Thus edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932111948
• ISBN-13: 978-1932111941
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,796,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a full time writer, digital enthusiast, Windows and iPxx fanatic, and Droid user, among other things. I'm a Microsoft MVP, and hold several Microsoft certifications including MCSE, MCTS, MCDST, and others. I've written almost 50 books on topics ranging from Windows to Photoshop, to Phones to iPads, and even on to making your Windows PCs run better and faster. Beyond writing, I teach classes at several local community colleges and am the IT Academy Coordinator at Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, Texas.

When I'm not writing or teaching, I work part-time at North Texas Graphics, a screen printing, embroidery, and graphics company, and participate in various blogs, beta programs, newsgroups, and online communities. I also make a daily trek the LifeTime Fitness, where I spend an hour a day on the elliptical, bike, treadmill, or free weights.

Please visit my Web site at http://www.joliballew.com and feel free to contact me anytime at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE DEGUNKERS, September 2, 2005

By 

John R. Vacca "Tech Write Independent Reviewer" (Pomeroy, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Degunking Your Mac, Tiger Edition (Paperback)

The source of "gunk" is the way users use their Mac--not the machinery itself. But, a lot of Mac users don't think their machines have gunk. Author Joli Ballew has done an outstanding job of putting together a book that shows you how to keep your Mac running at tip-top speed as long as possible and to make you more productive along the way.

Ballew begins by helping you to determine whether your Mac is really gunked up. Next, the author introduces a proven 12-step program to degunking success--a program that can really and truly get your Mac performing like new again. Then, she explains how to get rid of- or degunking files that shouldn't be in your Mac. The author continues by showing you how to locate and get rid of unwanted applications, including beta applications, unnecessary programs and unnecessary Mac OS X applications. In addition, the author next covers Tiger's new Spotlight feature, including how you can use it to organize data and create Smart folders. She also focuses on getting you working more efficiently by personalizing what you access every day. The author next shows you how to degunk the Dashboard. Next, the author shows you how to degunk new features, so that they don't drive you crazy. Then, she shows you how to manage or eliminate your font gunk. Ballew continues with a discussion of how to degunk your iPod. Next, the author shows you how to prevent spam first, keep what you do get under control, and formulate a plan for reducing or eliminating spam altogether. Then, she covers e-mail housecleaning in more detail, and how to clean up and organize your legitimate mail with spam that gets through your defenses. In addition, Ballew continues by discussing how you can degunk the startup process and optimize the hard drive, so that your Mac runs as efficiently as possible. Next, she explores Software Update; as well as, available software upgrades. Then, she introduces you to the different types of hardware you can acquire to beef up your system. The author then shows you what tools are available to help you maintain your Mac and what tools can be used to search for, find, and fix errors with hard disks, permissions, and similar issues. She then shows you how important it is to secure your Mac and what built-in and third-party utilities and software are available to you. Next, she covers how to back up data, with emphasis on creating a backup strategy and sticking to it. Finally, she shows you how to get started with Automator.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of showing you how to follow the basic steps outlined in this book on a regular basis, with the results of giving yourself an insurance policy and saving yourself from encountering aggravation down the road. So, the belief here is that degunking your Mac will make your time on your computer more efficient, more productive, and maybe even more enjoyable.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the non-technical Mac user, August 21, 2005

By 

Eric Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Degunking Your Mac, Tiger Edition (Paperback)

I reviewed a previous edition about a year ago. It was pretty good, but I thought some of the degunking advice/suggestions/techniques were a bit odd. I gave the book to a non-technical family member, who loved it. She passed it on to another family member who also loved it. I lost track of it after that.

So, looking at the book through a non-technical lens, this is a great book to help keep your Mac up and running smoothly. There is lots of good advice around the various features and applications you would normally use. For example; How to keep email spam to a minimum; How to find extra disk space if you're running low; How to keep the Dashboard cleaned up. This book also serves as a great way to explore and understand the various features provided by your Mac and the included applications. It also suggests quite a few 3rd party applications (free or relatively inexpensive) to assist you with the "degunking" tasks.

I guess to sum it up; this isn't exactly for the Slashdot crowd. However, if you're a new Mac user, a home user, or a non-technical user (i.e. no one politely refers to you as a computer geek) this should at least be on your "flip-through-it-at-the-book-store" list. For me, I will be sending it off to a family member. Based on prior experience, they're going to love it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So much to degunk, so little time!, September 8, 2005

By 

M. Thoelecke "Mac Grandma" (Chicago area, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Degunking Your Mac, Tiger Edition (Paperback)

My new iBook G4 is already gunked up, so I am finding the book a treasure trove of help! The book's beginning pages I found long and redundant; I just wanted to get on with the degunking. The most important message for me at the start was to degunk in the order the book outlines. It has taught me much about what unnecessary items (for me) come loaded onto the Mac at purchase, i.e., foreign languages & fonts I can't use. As a long-time Mac user, I feel qualified to highly recommend the book for its orderly presentation, user friendliness and practical matters. In fact, I'll try to go through it again over time to see what else might have sneaked into my Mac.
M. Thoelecke