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Mac OS X  |  System / Utilities  |  Other System / Utilities  |  PrefsOverload

PrefsOverload

PrefsOverload - 5.3.1

Detect unnecessary preference files and delete them.

All Time: (3.0)
This Version: Not rated (0.0)
Current Version: 5.3.1
Release Date: 2003-09-03
License: Shareware
Downloads (this version): 4,171
Downloads (all versions): 170
Price: $15.00

Information Related to Version:

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Product Description:

PrefsOverload is a full-featured tool for managing the Preferences Folder, which contains your various ?Preference Files". Preference Files are those files in which applications store their settings and other information. After System 7, all these files have been enclosed in the "Preferences Folder". Preferences are important files, but sometimes they can turn out to be completely unnecessary. This can occur, for example, when their mother application doesn't exist--or no longer exists--on your computer. Over time the Preferences Folder will slowly grow and may become filled with files created by trashed demo applications, or applications used for a short time only or not used at all. The trouble is that all these unused or unusable files still continue to take up valuable disk space! Another problem is that sometimes an application may fail to start-up because it happens to have a Preference File that has become damaged, or "corrupted". In such a case you will need to delete this file, after which the application will create a fresh Preference File and will run as it did before the problem occurred. PrefsOverload was designed to resolve both problems. It can browse the Preferences Folder, allowing you to detect unnecessary preferences files, thanks to the information it gives you. Or it can display a list of probably unnecessary or damaged Preference Files, allowing you to delete them or to put them into the trash. Also PrefsOverload allows to search for specific Preference Files, by their type/creator or their creation/modification date and so on?

Main Features:

  • Runs on MacOS Classic and MacOS X
  • Accurate scanning, based on mother application, modification date and internal preferences database.
  • Not only displays if a file is possibly unnecessary, but also displays a rating on the side.
  • Finds damaged preference files
  • VERY fast scanning
  • Scans for non-standard Preferences folder, so you can scan Preferences folders of all operating systems on your computer (including MacOS X) and of all MacOS X users, logging in as root user.
  • Full PDF help included
  • Runs on PowerMacintosh and 68k machines

What's new in this version:

  • Fixed a bug that prevented folder exclusion from working correctly
  • Minor interface changes and improvements

Operating System Requirements:

This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:

  • Mac OS X 10.2
  • Mac OS X 10.1
  • Mac OS Classic

Additional Requirements:

  • PPC
  • Mac OS 7.6.1 - OS X 10.1.5 or higher

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Feedback Summary:

This Version:
Overall Rating: Not rated (0.0) Features: Not rated (0.0) Support: Not rated (0.0)
Ease of Use: Not rated (0.0) Quality / Stability: Not rated (0.0) Price: Not rated (0.0)
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PrefsOverload CommentaryUse with a healthy bit of caution - Version: 5.3.1, 4/23/2006 03:56PM PST

Mathue
I used this software well aware of it's abilities. As an experienced computer user I found that PrefsOverload's effectiveness at finding unused preference files isn't terribly good. It's clear that if you used the recommended setting that you'd have your hands full afterwards, the 'slider' setting system while neat and clever ultimately isn't very controllable.. The usefulness of this utility is rather slight. It's not a tool for a newbie, it has too many false positives and the newbie would pretty much trash their preferences. In many ways a person would be safer manually pruning their prefs.
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PrefsOverload ReviewDangerous to newbies,… - Version: 5.2, 4/25/2003 12:56AM PST

(3 of 5 users found this comment useful)

Xeater
cumbersome to any knowledgeable user. App gave me a list of "unnecessary" preferences containing MANY critical preferences. If deleted, I would have lost preferences to important apps, or even lost registration information. The rules used to determine if a preference is unnecessary are cryptically set using a mystery slider. GUI is kludgy, and the tacky sketch of a happy construction worker giving the thumbs-up needs to go. And get this--when "idle" (dormant, doing absolutely nothing, no disk access, nothing), prefs overload used ~40% of my CPU cycles! Utter garbage! I still can't believe that the developer expects to be compensated for this awful heap of code.
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PrefsOverload Reviewprefs overload--caused me… - Version: 5.2, 2/13/2003 04:12PM PST

(0 of 1 users found this comment useful)

triplefinger
many problems and reinstalls...oi. be cautious. I deleted some things which the program rated VERY safe to delete. needless to say, PO was wrong.
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