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Syslogd Overwhelming Your Computer?

If your Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) system is unexpectedly sluggish, logging might be the culprit. Run Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities/ folder), and click the CPU column twice to get it to show most to least activity. If syslogd is at the top of the list, there's a fix. Syslogd tracks informational messages produced by software and writes them to the asl.db, a file in your Unix /var/log/ directory. It's a known problem that syslogd can run amok. There's a fix: deleting the asl.db file.

Launch Terminal (from the same Utilities folder), and enter these commands exactly as written, entering your administrative password when prompted:

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd

sudo rm /var/log/asl.db

sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd

Your system should settle down to normal. For more information, follow the link.

Visit Discussion of syslogd problem at Smarticus

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Published in TidBITS 838.
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17 Jul 2006 | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article

Take Control News/17-Jul-06

by Adam C. Engst Send Email to Author

Backups Ebook Updated to Cover Intel Macs and More -- Need a rock-solid, up-to-date backup strategy to protect your important data? Turn to version 1.3 of Joe Kissell's popular Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, which now extends its detailed discussion of different backup strategies, media, and software, along with over 20 pages of step-by-step directions for the popular Retrospect backup program. Changes in version 1.3 include:

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/backup- macosx.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0014-TB838- TCNEWS>

  • Info about backing up videos purchased from the iTunes Music Store
  • Tips about backing up Windows files when using Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop
  • A sidebar about Amazon's S3 remote data storage service
  • Details about booting Intel Macs from USB and FireWire drives
  • A tip about overcoming difficulties when booting from a FireWire drive
  • A variety of minor updates and clarifications

If you own a previous version of the ebook, you can update for free; click the Check for Updates button in the lower left of the ebook's first page to find a download link. You'll also see a special 50 percent discount off the purchase of Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac, which can be used as a companion volume to Take Control of Mac OS X Backups to avoid problems and keep your Mac running in tip-top condition.

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/maintaining- mac.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0032-TB838-TCNEWS>

 

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