Documentation 0632-1969/2 TinkerTool System 6 Reference Manual ii Version 6.99, July 21, 2021. US-English edition. MBS Documentation 0632-1969/2 © Copyright 2003 – 2021 by Marcel Bresink Software-Systeme Marcel Bresink Software-Systeme Ringstr. 21 56630 Kretz Germany All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be redistributed, translated in other languages, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. This publication may contain examples of data used in daily business operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business enterprise is entirely coincidental. This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. 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Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 What is TinkerTool System 6? . 1 1.1.1 About the different functional areas of TinkerTool System 6 . 2 1.1.2 System Requirements . 3 1.2 The Security Policy of TinkerTool System . 3 1.2.1 Confirming a privileged operation . 4 1.2.2 Technical Details for Advanced Users . 6 1.2.3 Removing outdated generations of the security component . 6 1.3 Basic Operations . 7 1.3.1 The control window of TinkerTool System . 7 1.3.2 Searching for features by keywords . 9 1.3.3 Using the Touch Bar . 9 1.3.4 Context Help . 10 1.3.5 The Dock Menu . 10 1.3.6 Fields for file system objects . 10 1.3.7 Understanding when Changes Take Effect . 11 1.3.8 General Preferences . 11 1.3.9 Reverting All Permanent Changes to System Settings . 15 1.3.10 Searching for Software Updates . 16 1.4 System Integrity Protection . 16 1.4.1 Technical Background . 16 1.4.2 Disabling Protection . 17 1.5 Privacy Policy Settings of your Mac . 18 1.5.1 Background Information . 18 1.5.2 Privacy Settings affecting TinkerTool System . 18 1.5.3 Changing the privacy settings (macOS Mojave only) . 19 1.5.4 Changing the privacy settings (macOS Catalina or later only) . 20 1.6 Integrating TinkerTool into TinkerTool System 6 . 21 1.6.1 Enabling Integration . 21 1.6.2 Disabling integration . 22 iii iv CONTENTS 2 System Maintenance 23 2.1 The Pane Maintenance . 23 2.1.1 System Optimization . 23 2.1.2 Clear Directory Cache . 24 2.1.3 Locate Database . 26 2.1.4 Shared User Folder . 27 2.2 The Pane Caches . 28 2.2.1 Introduction to caching . 28 2.2.2 Unprotected and Protected Caches . 29 2.2.3 Using the Cache Maintenance Functions . 29 2.2.4 Font Caches . 33 2.2.5 Icon Caches . 34 2.2.6 Drivers and Kernel Extensions . 34 2.2.7 XPC Cache . 38 2.3 The Pane Time Machine . 39 2.3.1 Time Machine Basics . 39 2.3.2 General Notes when Working with the Time Machine Pane . 39 2.3.3 Maintenance After Replacing a Data Source of Time Machine . 40 2.3.4 Backup Verification and Statistics . 43 2.3.5 Working with Local Snapshots . 46 2.3.6 Deleting Time Machine Backup Data . 48 2.3.7 Retrieving Time Machine Logs . 50 2.4 The Pane Issues . 51 2.4.1 Resolving Issues with the macOS Software Update Feature . 51 2.4.2 Resizing Disk Images . 53 2.4.3 Erasing the Partitioning Info of Disks to Resolve Issues with Disk Utility . 56 2.5 The Pane Diagnostics . 58 2.5.1 Evaluate RAM Size . 58 2.5.2 Test Finder Copy . 63 2.5.3 Inspecting Optical Disks . 66 2.5.4 SSDs . 68 2.5.5 Performing a Quick Test on Cooling Fans . 70 2.5.6 Login Time Accounting . 72 2.5.7 Check Time Machine . 74 2.6 The Pane Emergency Tool . 77 2.6.1 Introduction to the Emergency Tool . 77 2.6.2 Printing the Instructions . 78 2.6.3 Instructions to Launch the Emergency Tool . 78 2.6.4 Using the Emergency Tool . 81 2.6.5 Old Versions of the Emergency Tool . 81 2.7 The Pane Install Media . 81 2.7.1 Operating System Installation . 81 2.7.2 Requirements . 82 2.7.3 Downloading Installer Apps without the App Store (macOS Catalina or later only) . 83 CONTENTS v 2.7.4 Creating Install Media . 83 2.8 The Pane Info . 85 2.8.1 System Information . 85 2.8.2 Malware Protection . 89 2.8.3 App Blacklist . 91 2.8.4 Driver Blacklist (macOS Mojave only) . 93 2.8.5 Classic Logs and Reports . 95 2.8.6 Modern Logging and Tracing . 98 3 File Operations 105 3.1 The Pane Files . 105 3.1.1 Link . 105 3.1.2 Protection . 107 3.1.3 Attributes . 108 3.1.4 Quarantine . 110 3.1.5 Contents . 111 3.1.6 Force Delete . 113 3.1.7 Nesting . 114 3.1.8 Extended Attributes . 117 3.2 The Pane Clean Up . 120 3.2.1 General Policy when Deleting Files . 120 3.2.2 Hidden Support Files . 120 3.2.3 Log Archives . 123 3.2.4 Crash Reports . 124 3.2.5 Orphaned Files . 125 3.2.6 Aliases . 128 3.2.7 Removable Disks . 129 3.2.8 Core Dumps . 131 3.3 The Pane Applications . 131 3.3.1 Uninstallation Assistant . 131 3.3.2 Let TinkerTool System search for software of a specific type (macOS Mojave only) . 133 3.3.3 Removing software components and associated files . 135 3.3.4 Privacy . 137 3.3.5 Security Check . 139 3.4 The Pane ACL Permissions . 143 3.4.1 Introduction to Permissions . 143 3.4.2 POSIX Permissions . 143 3.4.3 Additional Permission Markers . 145 3.4.4 Access.