Repairing Disk Permissions

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:55:47 -0500

There are a great many things that can happen along the way that users have no control of. It could be the program you just installed, or that fact that your mail program keeps crashing. Repairing Disk Permissions can fix a multitude of issues, but how and why?

Rogue installers — applications that temporarily change, but fail to reset, permissions on System-related files or folders during a software installation — are a primary cause of permissions-related problems. Accordingly, you should run Repair Disk Permissions after installing any third-party software that employs its own installer.
There are other simple problems that can cause issue with your computer, System Crashes, Software lockups, power outages, application installers, and even emptying the Trash. So how do I know when I need to repair my Disk Permissions? The safe bet is this, if you just installed software, had a system crash, or notice your system is running slower. These can all be signs that it is time to repair.
So how do you repair your Disk Permissions? It very simple actually, go to your Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities Folder. But wait your asking yourself, I don't know what all those forward slashes stand for? No worries, just double click on your Macintosh HD that is on the desktop, it will open a window, in that window you will see the Application Folder. Double click on that and it will take you one level further into the applications folder. Once you are there you will see a folder called Utilities, double click on that. Once you have done that you will see many icons look for the one called Disk Utility and double click it to open it.
Now that we have that open here is what you do. I would suggest that you close any other applications that you have running. On the left side of the the Disk Utility application your will see whatever drives you have attached to your computer, one of those will be you Macintosh HD drive. Select that drive and make sure the First Aid tab is selected across the top of the application. Now the question is this, do I verify the disk before I repair? you could but you don't have to. Click on the Repair Disk Permissions button, and let it do its thing. It could take a few minutes so now is a great time to go grab a coffee and enjoy some you time.

-A special thanks to Brett Clark for this contribution

Tech Notes

Repairing Disk Permissions