On 30.12.2010, at 01:21, Brian Ferguson wrote: > >> It [my MacBook Pro 17''] is in fact amazingly slow right now. I used Migration Assistant so I may have brought some old issues with me from my old G4. > > Migration Assistant is excellent but it will transfer all of you ..plist Preference files as well. > APP > This can cause problems; you may now have duplicate copies but, more likely, some of these are very old. First of all, I wish you Brian and all the others here a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thanks for drawing my attention to duplicate copies. > >> 1) The startup process is very slow. I press the power button and … nothing happens. After 7 seconds I hear a low click and then a loud chime. It takes 55 seconds until I see the Desktop. I guess this is normal because I have 500 GB hard disk and it is nearly full (I always try to keep about 20% free, now I have 50 GB available). Besides I am running MaxMenus which always need some time to load as well as a few menu bar applications. The Dock is also full (= 86 applications and folders, is that perhaps too much?). > > No wonder it's slow. Far too little space; no, far too much garbage. > I suggest you get an external FireWire HD and transfer files to there and use it for backup. I guess I could transfer most of the videos, they take up 200 GB on disk. > >> I have been using Spell Catcher X 10.3.7 (<http://www.rainmakerinc.com/>) for some time and I suspect this software to be responsible for some instability I have been experiencing lately. >> >> Is anybody here using Spell Catcher X? > > Not since 1999, or earlier. (-: > > Why don't you utilise the built-in spell checker which comes with the system. I do. I was just testing Spell Catcher X and I wanted to see if it has changed much since I used it last time. I used it under System 7 and 8. The dictionaries they provide are not very relyable (at least the German dictionary). Sometimes you can write a word that actually doesn't exist in reality and the spell checker fails to detect it. The inbuilt OS X spell checker will highlight the word as wrong. > > Go to System Preferences/Language and Text/Spelling/Setup. (…) I just did that now and to my surprise I found out that English had been disabled. Obviously Spell Catcher X has changed the settings behind the scenes without asking me. I have been wondering why English texts were not correctly spell checked by me in the last few days. > But better still, buy for UD$15 this PDF: > > "Take Control of Exploring & Customising Snow Leopard from Take Control" from Tidbits.com. > > Here is an extract from it: (…) > > Then follows a detailed method of setting-up your own internal spell checker, customised for your language too. I've always wanted to set up my own (Icelandic) spell checker. :-) > > Here's more: > (…) > Correct Spelling Automatically (…) Now type behaviour (a British spelling) followed by space, and watch it correct itself to behavior. I use Typinator for that kind of stuff. > > I haven't checked Permissions lately, but there was a time when a multitude of them were 'repaired' only to return. As advised by others more knowledgeable than I, 'let it be'. I started up from another disk today and "repaired" them. As I ran Disk Utility immediately again afterwards they were all back again, apparently all wrong again. I even "repaired" the permissions with MacPilot but that did not make any difference so I can't blame Disk Utility anymore for this. > > Disk Warrior? Also last used about 1999. I know there have been later versions, but... > And since you HD is so full I don't think it would help. > > Do you really need to store files on 95% of your operating HD? Where would you set the limit? 10% free? 20% free? I guess 100 GB free space would be enough. Best wishes, Ţorvarđur