OnyX 2.1.1

'OnyX' is a maintenance tool program that allows you to access and use hidden Mac OS X features.

This tool needs to run under administrative privileges. Every time you start it, you need to provide your password and run it under an administrator account.

At start up, the first thing that the program verifies is the S.M.A.R.T. of your hard drive(s). This feature can be disabled, but you should probably leave it checked. Another thing that can be verified at startup is the volume. This action is optional and you probably shouldn't use it in the automatic setting, because it prolongs the OnyX startup. Use it only if you want to run maintenance scripts or other things like that.

The interface is very well structured and you can use it without any trouble. Nevertheless, some features shouldn't be used without reading the product's documentation or you may get a Mac OS X that won't behave well. The entire interface is divided among buttons that have a suggestive functionality, such as Parameters, Maintenance, Cleaning, Automation, Log Files, Unix Utilities, Info, and Preferences. However, those buttons don't affect your system. They just open panels that allow you to do these actions. Every panel is structured into tabs, which extend the functionality of the interface in a positive manner.

The 'Parameters' area allows you to set various Mac OS X parameters. My favorite is the possibility to use an animated background. The interface says that using this functionality requires a relatively powerful computer. My opinion about this functionality is that it has a fair use of resources.

The 'Maintenance' area allows you to run various maintaining scripts that make your Mac work better. It also has an optimization area, where you can choose between 'update' optimization and 'complete optimization'.

The 'Cleaning' area can wipe out any unnecessarily data. It can also clear your browser's cache or cookies. Securely deleting the files from trash is the feature that I liked the most in this area. The secure delete action is a time consuming activity, because it rewrites the files three times before deleting them.

The 'Automation' area allows you to execute actions from other sections fast. It has features from the maintenance area and from the cleaning area.

The 'Log Files' area allows you to view tones of log files from your system. Those things can be boring, if you have no idea what those logs do. Thus, maybe you should skip this part, if you are not a hardcore computer user.

The 'Unix utilities' area is interesting. It allows you to use features that are typical for UNIX applications. The best feature is allowing you to search for the application's manual and export it as a PDF file. I tried to export the gcc manual and I was quite impressed by the 100 pages document that was outputted.

The 'Info' area gives you some information about your Mac. The information provided is about the computer, the hardware, the disk, the system, or the user. The disk section is the only one that allows you to change something. It turns off journaling your disk. This is a settings that you shouldn't modify, if you really don't know what you are doing. Turning off journaling of a file system can lead to data loss or corruption of your file system, if the system fails or crashes.

The last item that you can find into this list is the 'Preferences' panel that is also available into the application's menu. This section allows you to modify some of the default settings of OnyX, as well as allowing you to restore the default settings in case something was wrongfully modified and you just can't find it.

Pluses: it's an all-in-one maintaining tool. It gives you access to hidden Mac OS X features.

Drawbacks / flaws: it's a beta version, so it might crash. Some features must be used with extreme caution.

In conclusion: This application has so many features that I just can't write about all of them. My reaction after testing this software was "are you kidding me? An entire box of fun toys free?". Yes, the software and the fun toys are free.

version reviewed: 1.7.8 b2