TinkerTool System 2.0 - Change advanced OS X settings and more. (Shareware)

TinkerTool System is an application similar to System Preferences. It allows you to change advanced operating system settings and gives access to internal maintenance features built into Mac OS X.

The following features are available in TinkerTool System:

• Run the periodic system maintenance scripts by simply pressing a button
• Reset the permission settings of Mac OS X system files (*)
• Repeat the installation step "Optimizing System Performance"
• Clean up cache files of the Internet browsers Safari, Internet Explorer®, Netscape®, Mozilla, OmniWeb, Camino, Opera version 6, and iCab
• Clean up cache files for the current user
• Clean up cache files for the whole system
• Remove archived copies of system log files
• Remove Finder information files (.DS_Store files)
• Remove resource fork emulation files ("dot underscore;#34; files)
• Force-delete single files or empty folders
• Enforce emptying of the Trash if the Finder is unable to do this
• Restore the localization settings for your private home folder in case you have updated from Mac OS X 10.1 or have deleted, then recreated some folders
• Restore the alias for accessing the Desktop of Classic from Mac OS X
• Set the energy saver options for hard disks to specified values
• Tune the network options, including MTU size for each network interface, TCP and UDP receive window sizes, and TCP transmit window size
• Enable Quartz Extreme for a wider range of graphics cards
• Enable or disable file system journaling for Mac OS X Extended volumes
• Enforce diagnostic or safe startup mode for the operating system
• Make the system use only one processor or a limited amount of memory for diagnostic purposes
• Let the system log kernel panic messages directly to screen in case the automatic panic log recovery doesn't work
• Change the base system language effective during startup and login without having to reinstall the system (*)

TinkerTool System is fully compliant with Apple's security guidelines for Mac OS X. It does not need an installer and does not require special system packages to be installed. To launch the tool, no administrator password is needed.

The features marked with an asterisk (*) are available without any restrictions even if TinkerTool System runs in demo mode. In evaluation mode, all features are available.

WHAT'S NEW

Version 2.0:

For users of TinkerTool System 1.x, TinkerTool System 2 is a paid upgrade. Version 1 remains available and can be used on the operating systems Mac OS X Panther (10.3), Mac OS X Tiger (10.4), and Mac OS X Leopard (10.5). Version 2 can only be used with Mac OS X 10.5 or later operating system versions.

• The application was rewritten completely and has a redesigned user interface.
• The program follows Apple's latest security guidelines for system tools that need to use privileged operations.
• Added a new feature to integrate panes of TinkerTool into TinkerTool System. Users of the system tool no longer need to launch both applications separately.
• Added context help buttons for all features. The user can open a mini manual page describing when and when not to use a certain feature. If a feature represents an official troubleshooting procedure recommended by Apple, the help text also provides Internet links leading to further documentation available from Apple.
• Added a new security feature where users can enable a preference to limit Mac OS X's authorization to one single operation of TinkerTool System only, and not reusing it for other applications in the same login session.
• Added a unique new feature to avoid the removal of caches during a cache troubleshooting procedure. Administrators can now deactivate caches in a test phase and then decide if cache contents should really be removed permanently, or if the previous cache configuration should be restored. This way, the negative side-effects of cache cleaners can be avoided if possible.
• Added a new pane to automatically solve typical problems of Leopard systems by “one click” operations.
• Added a new feature to upgrade the local user and group account database with a workaround recommended by Apple when accounts have been taken over from Tiger to Leopard. This fixes several compatibility problems with the Leopard Finder when handling permission settings.
• Added a new feature to automatically remove a lock attribute from external disk drives.
• Added a new feature to automatically fix problems with hard drives disappearing in the Finder.
• Added a new feature to automatically repair the Input Palettes list in the International pane of System Preferences.
• Added a new feature to block any kind of program execution on selectable disk volumes. This is useful when connecting external disks of foreign operating systems.
• Added a new feature to control extended options for AFP authentication panels.
• Added a new feature to manage the system-wide permission filter for applications running on the graphical user interface. Mac OS X uses the filter to control what permissions will be set for newly created objects. The system-wide filter was designed by Apple as a workaround for the problem that the user-based permission filter is defective in current versions of Mac OS X Leopard. This feature requires Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later.
• Added a new feature to control if Mac OS X should keep a print job history.
• Added a new feature to redirect the Automatic Software Update function of Mac OS X to a user-defined server.
• Added a new control pane which collects all system settings which apply to mobile computers only.
• Added a new feature to control the Safe Sleep feature of mobile Apple systems.
• Added a new feature to clean a user account from Flash® cookies (LSOs) and Flash® settings.
• Added a new feature to guide the user to the controls for handling Flash® security settings.
• Added a new feature to clean the font cache of Microsoft® Office applications.
• Added a new feature to display and remove quarantine information from files.
• Added a new feature to clean a network user account from outdated computer-specific user preferences which refer to decommissioned computers.
• Added a new feature to remove third-party preference panes from the Other section of the System Preferences application.
• Added a new feature to activate hidden preference panes for the Mac OS X Archive Utility and Disk Image handling.
• Added a new feature to display and modify the user's list of learned words of the Mac OS X spell checking subsystem.
• Added a new feature to sort an Access Control List canonically.
• Added a new feature to let the user modify the order of Access Control Entries in an Access Control List.
• Added a new feature to get limited access to the SUID, SGID and sticky permission attributes of file system objects.
• Added a new feature to mark selected disk drives as not supporting Spotlight. This can be helpful in situations where Spotlight privacy settings do not stick.
• Added a new feature to remove the Spotlight search index for visited web pages from a user account.
• The feature to run the system's periodic maintenance scripts will now display the last times when either Mac OS X or somebody else has executed each script.
• The feature to shutdown Spotlight has been reinstated for users of Mac OS X Leopard.
• Error descriptions for problem situations that occur while running a privileged operation now contain much more details.
• Features to clean the system from certain files now allow that individual items can be excluded from the delete operation, using a preflight list.
• The modification of HFS attributes and visibility markers is now also possible for system files not owned by the current user.
• The features to clean the system from outdated preferences files now support additional options to move files to an archive folder.
• The feature to verify the integrity of login items now detects duplicate items.
• The feature to clean privacy-related user data from Safari has been reinstated for Safari 3 and later.
• By user request, the feature for code thinning can now process multiple applications or whole folders during a single run. The application will perform a detailed analysis and a precomputation of possibly gained storage space before any code thinning takes place.
• By user request, the feature for code thinning can now keep backup copies of thinned applications in an archive folder.
• By user request, the feature to mark thinned applications by Spotlight comments can be switched off.
• The user interface for displaying and changing POSIX and ACL permissions has been redesigned completely.
• When removing all Access Control Entries from an Access Control List, the list can now be removed completely instead of keeping an empty list.
• Certain operations on permissions can now be propagated onto a whole hierarchy of files and folders.
• When propagating ACL permissions, the application will now create implicit (inherited) ACLs instead of using explicit ACLs if technically possible.
• The contents of the system information panel can now be printed or be exported as HTML text file.
• Outdated features only applicable to Panther and Tiger installations have been removed.
• The reference manual has been rewritten and redesigned.
• Many other small additions and enhancements.

REQUIREMENTS

Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later

DEVELOPER

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