switchere here: what does this do?...

fanger · 16 Nov 2008 at 12:35

running Disk utility verify permissions / repair permissions please?

Thank you.

Fillado · 16 Nov 2008 at 12:44

Under UNIX based operating systems (OS X, Linux etc.) permissions define who can do what with a file. For example if you can open it, write to it, delete it and so on.

With regards to OS X, when a program is installed using the package install application (for example, Office 2008, iWork, iLife, Flash, all system updates and system stuff) then it installs the files with correct permissions. Sometimes these permissions can get changed from what they should be, so you can verify and repair them

fanger · 16 Nov 2008 at 13:00

Thanks for your reply.

How would those permissions get changed and what is the impact of those changes on:

security
disk performance

Many Thanks,

iSam · 16 Nov 2008 at 16:00

Won't affect disk performance as far as I know. If you are the admin, you can restrict the access to certain files for other users by changing the permissions.

LordSplodge · 16 Nov 2008 at 18:34

fanger said:
How would those permissions get changed and what is the impact of those changes on:

Many Thanks,

Disk performance isn't an issue.

What mostly happens is an Application starts behaving odd because another badly programmed Application messes with the permissions.

99% of the time you don't need to worry about these things. OS X can handles itself.