Mac Restart let you automatically restart your Mac at a prefixed time.
This is a requested job for Mac server wich run continuosly and after some time can have trouble...you know.
Restarting regulary guaranties a correct functioning of the system.
How to setup Mac restart
Simply start Mac Restart and select ‘Preference…’ fom the ‘Edit’ menu
Select the ‘restart at ‘ check box and insert the time you like your Mac will execute a restart.
You can select from ‘Soft Restart’ and ‘Hard Restart’ to choose the restart method.
The ‘Soft Restart’ is quite polite and will quit all your application via Apple Event before restarting as if you select the ‘Restart’ command in the finder.
The ‘Hard Restart’ is instead quite ‘brutal’.
It restart your Mac without advising your running applications.
Try both metod and select the better one for your purpose.
Flash before restart is the time before the program start to flash a • circle in the main window informing that restart time is approching.
All the setting value will be saved on disk in the preferences file when you confirm the preference dialog.
In that way the selected setting will be used also after a restart (even a hard restart).
The Mac Restart window
Mac Restart displays a window reporting at wich time your Mac will be restarted and using wich method.
A flashing black dot on the right will inform the user that the computer is going to restart.
The dot start to flash an amount of time before the restart as indicated in the preference dialog.
If you like to restart your Mac at regular time, make an alias of Mac restart and put it in the ‘Startup Items’ in the system folder.
Every time Mac Restart will restart the Mac, at the startup process Mac restart will be launched again and it will use automatically the value stored in preferences.
Additionals commands
It is possible to restart the computer immediately using the ‘Util’ menu.
Confirm you want to restart and the computer will be restartd without having to set a restart time.
You can choose betwen the two available restart methods.
This menu is provided mainly for test purpose.
Using others applications
For its nature Mac Restart is a program realized to stay in the background waiting for the restart moment (usually in the night).
To this purpose when Mac Restart goes on the background it changes the time it require to the CPU for itself, leaving the process power to the other applications.
In this way Mac Restart can be used on very busy server without disturbing their work.
Troubleshoting
Very often users email me message saying Mac Restart causes trouble on their server when the restart process runs.
Very often we discover the troubles were caused not by Mac Restart but by programs running when is time to restart.
You can watch the restart sequence using the ‘Util’ menu and using the restart sequence you prefere (soft or hard) and watching wat happen to find the problem.
At restart, every program which is running will be requested to quit (via AppleEvent).
Often, on server, programs are interconnected ad some of them don’t like to quit before some other.
So changing the startup sequence of the programs you usually run, also the quit sequence should change and trouble can be avoided.
…do you know how to change a startup sequence of alias programs putted in the Startup Items folder in your System Folder. Don’t you?
Shareware
In case you don’t know what is shareware…
Think at shareware as the most direct distribution method, directly from the producer to the user, avoiding distribution costs.
Shareware means freedom of action for developers and very good software with very good service at low prices for users.
The shareware community on the Macintosh side is very strong, both from the developers side and from the users side.
Developers work hard to provide state of the art shareware program and users respect their work.
This doesn't happen on every platform.
Also this make great the Mac, its users.
Registering
If you like Mac Restart and use it, please register.
Shareware registration for Mac Restart is:
Single User License...............US$ 6
Site License.............................US$ 110
World Wide License...............US$ 420
To register you can use Kagi
Kagi
To Pay via ‘Kagi’ use the included 'Register' program.
'Kagi' is the major shareware registration service at the moment and I think you already know it because Kagi Service is used from a lot of shareware authors.
By the way if you don't know it yet this is a brief explanation of how Kagi service works:
Kagi is a company located in U.S.A. specialized in collecting shareware fee and sending them to authors.
Using Kagi service you can select the payment method you prefer from :
Cash, Check, Invoice, VISA, Mastercard, American Express, First Virtual.
Payment are handled via:
normal mail, email, fax, (free USA phone number coming soon).
(Provided card number is automatically encrypted for secure trasmission).
To use the Kagi service use the register program, fill in the data and save the form obtained.
You can send the form via the net or print it and send it via ordinary mail or via fax.
Note: Using Kagi Service do not request additional payment from the users. Shareware fee is the same. (The author pay Kagi the service)
After Kagi receive your payment the author is informed by Kagi within few hours and you will receive your personal registration directly from the author.
Internet
Mac Restart Web Page
Roberto Panetta maintains the 'Tension Software Shareware Page' at this address:
http://www.kagi.com/panetta (USA)
http://www.mclink.it/personal/MC5230 (Europe)
From Tension Software Shareware Page you can read information about the last version of Mac Restart (and other SW by the same author ) and download it.
Contacting the author
To contact Roberto Panetta send mail to:
panetta@kagi.com
Legal Note
Copyright
Mac Restart is copyright Roberto Panetta. All rights reserved.
No modification of the program and of the documentation included is permitted.
Warranty
Mac Restart is supplied 'as is'. The author hereby disclaims all warranties related to this software, whether expressed or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The author will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, or for any claim by any other part, even if the author, or an agent of then author as been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall author' liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risks as to the quality and performance of the software.
Distribution
This software can be distributed in any 'shareware' form the distributor likes, such as CDs, floppies or via network, as long as the package has all the file of the original package included and unmodified.
If you are a shareware distributor and you distribute my software I like to know that.
Inclusion in commercial packages are prohibited without previous authorization.
