There you go, Anna, this man knows what he's talking about, question is, do you? To try to clear things up a bit, RAM or memory, is a chip that the processor uses to store and access frequently used data that is useful in running software. It usually comes in multiples of 128 Megabytes (MBs) i.e. 128, 256, 512, 768, etc. RAM loses everything it has on it when the power is switched off. The hard drive is used to semi-permanently store data, and is usually measured in Gigabytes (1024 Megabytes). I say semi-permanently because you can delete the data at will or replace it with other data, but it doesn't lose anything when the MAC is switched off. Itsagroup is quite right, you can view your disk size and usage that way, but if you want to tidy the disk up it's a good idea to repair permissions and repair the disk using Disk Utility. This won't free up mush space, you need to plod through the different directories and remove files you don't use (but be very careful you don't remove something vital just because you don't recognise the file name) to do that.
There are two easy(ish) "safe" ways to clean your hard drive, there may be more, but these are the most straight forward, I think. One is to re-install your operating system and applications from scratch, but you must be very sure you back-up any files you don't want to lose onto a CD or DVD or USB stick. You then choose the "clean install" option from the installation menu that appears when you click on "options" in the window that appears when you insert your MAC OS disk and follow instructions from there. The second is to download and install an application called "Hazel" which will sense when you delete an application and prompt you to also remove any separate files that are associated with that app and no others. Then you just go through your applications folder and move any apps you don't need or use/want to the trash, and Hazel will open a window asking if you want to delete any associated file also. Hazel also costs $21.95 from Noodlesoft here: http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php but the good news is, you can download and use it for free for 14 days if you like. Please note it has several other functions, but "App Sweep" is the one that does what I'm describing. Also, please note that it's only compatible with Tiger (10.4), or Leopard (10.5) Well, I think that's probably more than enough for you to digest for now, good luck again, Frank. 2009/4/24 <[email protected]> > Apple > 'About This Mac' tells you total installed physical memory > Click on your hard disk in the Finder and select File > Get Info from the > Finder menu to see Total Capacity, Available & Used. > > Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor will show you how much of your > hardware's RAM (memory) is available, how much in use and so on. It also > shows how much memory is being used by each individual application. > > As I mentioned in another post, a handy little application like iPulse will > tell you all of this just by moving your mouse over various areas of its > window - neat. Find it here: http://iconfactory.com/software/ipulse > > I hope this helps. > > Stephen > > On 24 Apr 2009, at 16:16, anna churchill wrote: > > Lord. this all just reminded me i need to check how much memory i have > left. > > i forgot where i click to get current available memory status! > > i see the about this Mac; it says Processor 1.2 Ghz, Memory 768 MB DDR > SDRAM, L2 Cache 512. > > But i cant find my way to where it gives you current available memory. last > time i checked a couple years ago i had used about half. > > > > --- On *Fri, 24/4/09, tcrooks <[email protected]>* wrote: > > From: tcrooks <[email protected]> > Subject: [sussex_mug] Re: Mac attack > To: "Sussex Mac User Group" <[email protected]> > Date: Friday, 24 April, 2009, 8:59 AM > > > > On 23 Apr, 19:44, anna churchill <[email protected]> wrote: > > > My iBook G4 > is nowt 4 years old and I havent upgraded a thing and still > runs like a top! > > > > Of course we know I do nothing extravagant > > Anna, As it should be! > > We have 2 iBook G4s and they continue to give faultless service to the > family for email, web browsing, IM'ing, and other basic usage. Falling > behind on things like TV programme streaming as streaming bandwidth > deployed increases. I'm intending to use one of the iBooks as a server > when my twins push off to uni for as long as it, as you say, runs like > a top! > > > > > > When the oil runs out, they're all bike lanes. - Anonymous > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
