Tinkertool System 2

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Release 2 Version 3.7 (Build 180626)

This is the final version of TinkerTool System Release 2. After exactly nine years, distribution of new licenses has stopped. The software is no longer in active development and has been superseded by the successor products TinkerTool System 4 and TinkerTool System 5. Sales information within the application has been modified accordingly.

TinkerTool System 4 is a paid upgrade for users who purchased a license for TinkerTool System Release 2 before July 1, 2013 or after October 16, 2014. TinkerTool System 4 is a free upgrade for users who purchased a license for TinkerTool System Release 2 between July 1, 2013 and October 16, 2014. Jul 24, 2019 TinkerTool System is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers. The application makes use of a self-adapting user interface which automatically adjusts to the computer model and to the version of macOS you are running. TinkerTool System 4 is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers. The application makes use of a self-adapting user interface which automatically adjusts to the computer model and to the version of OS X you are running.

Release 2 Version 3.62 (Build 180410)

Added new user interface to the product activation and evaluation features in order to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (EU Regulation 2016/679).

Release 2 Version 3.61 (Build 160518)

Added new registration features for licensing with immediate gratification and volume licensing.

Release 2 Version 3.6 (Build 151002)

  • Added support for Safari 8 for Yosemite.
  • Added support for Safari 9 for Mavericks.
  • Added support for Safari 9 for Yosemite.
  • The information pane was updated to recognize the latest Macintosh models.
  • Corrected a problem where the menu item to go back to the preceding control pane did not work as expected.

Release 2 Version 3.5 (Build 141216)

  • The Info pane now supports the latest Macintosh model series.
  • Enhanced compatibility of the feature to remove language support files with applications that use incorrectly sealed symbolic links to simulate multiple language packages.
  • Enhanced compatibility with OS X Yosemite as far as this makes technical sense. For OS X 10.10 or later, use of the next product generation “TinkerTool System 4” is strongly recommended, however.
  • Added new sections to the reference manual.

Tinkertool System Mac

Release 2 Version 3.4 (Build 140716)

  • By request of many users, panes of TinkerTool 5 can now be integrated into the application (TinkerTool 5.3 or later is required). As a result, support for 32-bit computers had to be removed. Users of such systems should keep version 3.31.
  • Corrected a problem where information about the system enclosure was not displayed correctly as part of the system management overview.

Release 2 Version 3.31 (Build 131105)

  • This update resolves several issues with the user interface when preparing applications for code thinning under OS X Mavericks.
  • The application now uses more detailed error messages for combinations of operating system and tool versions where integration of panes from TinkerTool is not possible.

Release 2 Version 3.3 (Build 130918)

  • This version adds support for OS X Mavericks.
  • The Internet privacy feature adds support for Safari 7 and Firefox ESR 24.

Release 2 Version 3.2 (Build 130711)

Tinkertool System 2017

  • Added new feature to remove files and folders which no longer have a known owner.
  • Added new feature to remove all or selected Extended Attributes from files or a hierarchy of folders.
  • Added new feature to control the standby feature and standby delay time of mobile computers which support this.
  • Added feature to optionally restart the Finder after the Launch Services databases has been rebuilt.
  • Added feature to authenticate as administrative user when opening protected log files.
  • Added feature to clean up the login item list of the current user when using the application uninstall assistant.
  • Added feature to directly remove Access Control Lists from a hierarchy of folders.
  • When deactivating, cleaning and reactivating personal caches, the cache areas of sandbox-protected applications will now also be processed. This applies both to the full application and to the standalone emergency tool.
  • When using the select button in path entry fields, the currently selected object is now preferred as default over the previously selected folder.
  • Enhanced handling of different character encodings when reviewing the contents of log files.
  • Enhanced presentation of detail info when reviewing entries of the Xprotect malware detection feature.
  • Enhanced performance when selecting users and groups in environments with thousands of accounts.
  • The feature to clean Mac App Store log files has been removed because it is no longer used by default in up-to-date operating systems.
  • The feature to clean resource forks has been removed because it has been superseded by the feature to remove Extended Attributes.
  • Added preparations for future operating systems.
  • The reference manual has been revised completely. Both the online help and the printable version also have new designs and layouts.

Release 2 Version 3.1 (Build 121121)

  • Added support to the Internet privacy cleaning features for Firefox for Organizations (ESR) version 17.
  • Enhanced Internet privacy feature when cleaning cookies of Safari and DEVONagent.
  • Enhanced model detection for new Macintosh systems introduced in October 2012.
  • Enhanced user interface when trying to run the application in 32-bit mode on a 64-bit operating system.
  • Corrected a problem which could prevent the System pane from launching when detecting a disk volume with an invalid name.

Release 2 Version 3.0 (Build 121017)

  • Added new feature to remove outdated lock files when verifying the integrity of preferences files.
  • Added new feature to remove HTML5 databases and HTML5 local storage of Safari as part of the Internet privacy functions.
  • Added new feature to display the current status of the operating system's anti malware protection system.
  • Added new feature to the standalone emergency tool to reset all preference settings of the login window or login screen.
  • Added startup setting for OS X Mountain Lion, enforcing the power control for displays to behave more like Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
  • Added startup setting for OS X Mountain Lion to disable the “dark wake” features of the operating system.
  • Added settings for Lion and Mountain Lion to enable legacy authentication modes when connecting to old AFP file servers.
  • Added setting for Lion and Mountain Lion to disable the Bonjour Sleep Proxy feature independent of the Wake-On-LAN settings.
  • Added setting for Mountain Lion to enable or disable the Time Machine feature to create local snapshots.
  • Added setting for Mountain Lion to restrict the App Store application to its OS X Software Update component only.
  • Added workaround for a technical defect of OS X Mountain Lion to avoid that the preferences subsystem of the operating system ignores commands when the application works with a high number of preference settings within a short time interval.
  • The application is now starting significantly faster for users with a high number of Safari cookies. Access to cookies in the Users pane is postponed until they are actually needed.
  • The feature to uninstall applications now supports preference lock files.
  • The feature to verify the integrity of preference files now supports programs using an application sandbox.
  • Enhanced support for cleaning Microsoft® font caches on systems running Office:mac version 14.2.3 or later.
  • Clarified technical description of HiDPI mode for systems actually equipped with a Retina display.
  • Due to critical issues with Apple's login screen software on Mountain Lion, the settings to control features of the login screen are no longer supported until further notice when running OS X 10.8 or later.
  • Corrected a problem where displaying the user interface of an integrated copy of TinkerTool did not allow a mix of languages.
  • Corrected a problem where the emergency standalone tool offered to run a file system check with OS X 10.8 more than once, although Mountain Lion is not capable of handling this.

Release 2.95 (Build 120720)

  • Added full compatibility with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
  • Added feature for one-click registration.
  • Added Internet privacy support for Opera 12.
  • Added Internet privacy support for iCab 5.
  • Added Internet privacy support for Safari 6.
  • Added feature to enable or disable the web interface of the printing subsystem.
  • Added many new log file categories to the Info pane.
  • Added compatibility with system installations where users have intentionally destroyed the Apple spellchecker.
  • Added support for removing sandbox containers when uninstalling applications.
  • Simplified the user interface to call the operating system's maintenance scripts.
  • Enhanced the user interface for systems with SSD installations and Retina displays.
  • Corrected a problem where the login screen setting to control display of the “other users” button was displayed incorrectly after launching the application.

Important: Due to changes imposed by Apple's “Gatekeeper” feature, the security component of the application works slightly different. If you are using two or more of our following system utilities, you should update them all in parallel in order to avoid mutual conflicts: NFS Manager, Sync Checker, TinkerTool System Release 2. For detailed information, please see the chapter Release Notes in the reference manual.

Release 2.91 (Build 120424)

This is a maintenance update which ensures full compatibility with Mac OS X 10.7.4.

Release 2.9 (Build 120229)

  • Added new feature to review and delete individual cookies stored by Safari or other Mac OS X applications. Users can configure an optional search pattern list which allows to remove cookies of certain sites or with certain contents semi-automatically.
  • The Internet privacy feature now supports the ESR version of Firefox 10 (“Firefox for Enterprise”). Support for other versions of Firefox has been removed.
  • Added Internet privacy support for Camino 2.1.
  • Enhanced Internet privacy support for Opera 11 and DEVONagent 3.1.x.
  • Removed Internet privacy support for outdated web browsers like Shiira, Flock, Opera 10 and Camino 2.0x.
  • Enhanced support detecting screen savers based on Quartz Compositions.
  • Enhanced support for deleting recent items in Dock menus.
  • Added new time option to search for outdated preferences files which have not been in use for more than 2 years.
  • Changed the user interface and enhanced protection mechanisms when cleaning outdated preferences files.
  • Changed the user interface for the repair of the system volume in the standalone emergency tool to reflect known limitations of Mac OS X Lion.
  • Corrected a problem where the program kept updating the security component after the user had made manual changes to the /Library folder.

Release 2.85 (Build 110906)

  • Added support for Firefox 6.
  • Added support for Google Chrome 13.
  • Added support for the pane integration of TinkerTool 4.7.
  • The feature to suppress the startup chime has been updated for users of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It will no longer be offered for users of Lion.
  • The feature to empty the Trash has been enhanced and supports more cases where the Finder fails.
  • Corrected a problem where cookies of Safari could not be cleared after an upgrade to Safari 5.1.

Release 2.8 (Build 110718)

  • This version adds support for the operating system Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
  • Support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has been removed. Mac OS X 10.6 is now the minimum requirement to use the application.
  • All components of the application now support full 64 bit operation.
  • Added new one-click feature to control the visibility of the user's private Library folder.
  • Added support for Firefox version 5.
  • Added a new to-do window that is displayed when the standalone emergency utility of TinkerTool System is no longer up-to-date and should be replaced by a new version.
  • Added support for the HiDPI screen settings of Mac OS X Lion.
  • The tables to exclude disk volumes from automatic mounting and from the execution of programs now support dragging. The tables additionally try to keep track of previously seen volume names for volumes that are currently offline.
  • The option to control display of the button “Other” of the login screen was enhanced to support three different states.
  • The description of the meaning of SUID and SGID permission settings for folders has been clarified.
  • Panels to select user or group accounts can now be closed by selecting an entry via double-click.
  • Search fields in the application can now be activated by a cmd+alt+F keyboard shortcut.
  • Corrected a problem where the application suggested the deletion of symbolic links when cleaning broken aliases in cases where specific versions of the Mac OS X Finder had created incorrect alias markers when copying folders.
  • Corrected a problem where the permission of files could not be modified to set the user or group account “nobody” as the owner.

Release 2.7 (Build 110316)

Note: If you are updating from a previous version and had TinkerTool integrated into TinkerTool System, you must update TinkerTool as well. Version 4.5 is required for compatibility with TinkerTool System Release 2 version 2.7.

  • Added new feature to clean the diagnostic logs of the App Store application.
  • Added new feature to clean folder hierarchies from broken aliases.
  • Added new privacy feature to remove the Recent Folders entries from the Finder.
  • Added support to clean privacy-related items from the web browser of DEVONagent 3.
  • The display of system management data for Intel-based Macs was updated to comply with the latest version of the DMTF industry standard.
  • Small optimizations in the user interface.
  • Added support for integrating the new program TinkerTool Classic Generation 2 for users of Leopard.
  • Corrected a problem where crash logs of other applications could not be cleaned when the crashed application had specific name patterns or crashed several times per second.
  • Corrected a problem where the date of production was not displayed correctly for particular portable Macs built in 2010 and 2011.
System

Release 2.6 (Build 101214)

Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version and had TinkerTool integrated into TinkerTool System, you should upgrade TinkerTool as well. Version 4.4 is required for compatibility with TinkerTool System Release 2 version 2.6.

  • Added support for Microsoft Office:mac 2011.
  • Added support for cleaning privacy-related data of Camino 2, Chrome 6, Chrome 7, Chrome 8, Flock 3, and Opera 11.
  • Added support for inspecting optical disks on legacy drives which don't support DVD media.
  • Added a workaround for a compatibility problem of Mac OS X 10.6.5 which could cause optical disk inspection to fail with an “unknown sense code” error.
  • Launching the application and loading its panes has become faster.
  • Several small optimizations in the user interface.
  • Corrected a user interface problem related to the code architecture thinning of applications where it could be difficult to deselect certain architectures of an architecture family in certain cases.
  • Corrected a problem where preparing applications for code-thinning might have shown an estimated zero storage gain on PPC computers.
  • Corrected a problem where the wrong type of deletion mode could be selected in certain cases when removing preference settings for decommissioned network computers.

Release 2.5 (Build 101014)

  • Added new feature to detect and delete temporary user preference files which have never been in use. It is part of the feature to check the integrity of preference files.
  • Added new feature to clean the system from crash report files.
  • Added new feature to launch applications in a specific language, different from the standard language selected in System Preferences.
  • Added new control to access the network configuration setting to enable or disable IPv6 Privacy Extensions.
  • Added support to clean privacy-related items of the future version 4 of Firefox.
  • Added keyboard navigation for the pane icon overview in the main control window. Full keyboard access must be enabled to use this feature.
  • To enhance support for small screen sizes, icons for panes optionally taken over from TinkerTool will now appear in the User section, not in a separate category.
  • Added support to integrate the iTunes 10 pane of TinkerTool.
  • Added support to remove “LSSharedFileList” preference files when uninstalling applications.
  • Enhanced support to display manufacturing data of Apple computers refurbished in Europe and the latest MacBook Pro models.
  • Corrected a problem where startup of the International pane could fail when an application has been blacklisted for language-removal, but this application had been removed.
  • Corrected a problem where login items could not be dragged into a different order when the Login Items pane of TinkerTool had been integrated into TinkerTool System.
  • Corrected a problem where removing Recent Items entries from applications did not work as expected for specific applications when using Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Release 2.4 (Build 100827)

  • This release adds a new emergency tool to TinkerTool System which can help to repair and troubleshoot Mac OS X installations even if the entire graphical user interface, or the user account of the system administrator are no longer operational. The new standalone utility adds the following features:
    • Verifying and repairing the startup disk before startup.
    • Verifying and repairing the system's folder for the storage of temporary objects.
    • Verifying and repairing specific permission settings of the code integrity checker of Mac OS X.
    • Verifying and resetting permission settings of operating system files, independent of the graphical user interface.
    • Performing an automatic quick check and repair procedure to ensure a sufficiently good state of the base operating system.
    • Deactivating corrupted preference files for a user account.
    • Deleting user-related Input Managers.
    • Deactivating and reactivating cache contents of a user account.
    • Deactivating and reactivating all preference settings of a user account.
    • Deactivating corrupted system preference files.
    • Deleting system-wide Input Managers.
    • Deactivating and reactivating the contents of system-wide caches.
    • Resetting network-managed preferences (MCX).
    • Removing third-party startup objects.
    • Cleaning the swap space.
    • Disabling automatic login.
    • Uninstalling the emergency tool, independent of the graphical user interface.
  • Added a new pane to install, update, or remove the emergency tool.
  • Added a new feature to inspect technical details of optical disks, like manufacturer, compliance with recording standards, or session layout.
  • The dialog sheet to propagate permissions will now remember the last set of permission categories selected by the user.
  • Small changes in the user interface.

Release 2.3 (Build 100608)

  • Added new feature for Snow Leopard to update the database of the UNIX command “locate” at any time.
  • Added new Diagnostics pane.
  • Added new feature to evaluate the memory usage statistics of Mac OS X for assessing if the RAM size of the computer is appropriate for its workload.
  • Added new feature to check if the Finder is affected by defects which can lead to data corruption when copying files.
  • Added Safari 5, Opera 10, and Google Chrome 5 to the list of supported browsers when cleaning privacy-related user data.
  • Added new “deep clean” feature to remove hidden entries for Recent Items which could allow experts to recover visible entries for Recent Items that had already been deleted.
  • Added new feature to the Uninstall Assistant to detect dependent files when removing Preference Panes and Widgets.
  • Added 11 new items to the list of system logs which can be reviewed.
  • Added a workaround to protect the application against a known defect related to the communication between Mac OS X and third-party file systems activated via MacFUSE which could cause TinkerTool System to quit itself when launching.
  • Corrected a problem which could cause TinkerTool System not to remove certain types of WebKit (Safari 4 version) caches when uninstalling applications.
  • Corrected a problem which could cause TinkerTool System not to handle additional options for the automounting of disk volumes correctly when the options had been configured by a different application and the volume names contained spaces.
  • Many small enhancements in the user interface.

Release 2.2 (Build 100222)

  • Added new feature to open documents “by creator code”. This is helpful for Snow Leopard users who are using legacy documents or applications which don't support modern UTI mechanisms yet. TinkerTool System R2 can work as an application launcher which respects application-bound documents.
  • Added new feature for Mac OS X Snow Leopard to enable or disable the system's automatic maintenance for the locate database.
  • Added new feature to display all metadata Spotlight has collected about a file.
  • Added the Internet browser of DEVONagent 2 to the set of web browsers where privacy-related files can be cleaned.
  • Added new ”one click repair' feature for Mac OS X Snow Leopard to resolve a particular system issue which causes slow startups.
  • Added new feature for Mac OS X Snow Leopard to trigger network automounts for cases where the Finder fails to do this.
  • Added new startup option for x86 processors to keep all processor cores powered up even if they are idle.
  • Added support for TinkerTool 4. Version 4.0 has now become the minimum version to integrate TinkerTool panes into TinkerTool System.
  • Enhanced support for handicapped users when displaying or interacting with file system path entry fields.
  • The feature to propagate POSIX or ACL permissions through folder hierarchies now uses a more consistent behavior when handling symbolic links.
  • Clarified behavior of the slider to set the timeout for putting hard drives to sleep. The actual supported maximum time is 179 minutes, not 3 hours.
  • Added a workaround for a conflict with System Preferences which could cause the control to mute the startup chime not to become active under certain conditions.

Release 2.11 (Build 100114)

Tinkertool System 6

This is an interim update which adds minor enhancements only.

  • Added feature to show the dates of last access in the candidate list when removing old preferences files.
  • Added workaround for a problem in the SMBIOS emulation of VMware® Fusion®. This enhances compatibility when using the program on Mac OS X Server sessions running inside a virtual machine.
  • Several small changes and optimizations in the user interface.
  • Enhanced animation of panes integrated from TinkerTool 3.92: A possible flicker effect seen under certain circumstances when switching between TinkerTool panes is now being avoided.
  • The application now tolerates certain incorrect permission settings in the system which are caused by a defect of the security architecture of System Preferences 7.0 (Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard). The dialog that the security subsystem needs repair is now being suppressed if possible.
  • Corrected a problem where the date of manufacture of specific Apple computers was displayed incorrectly when launching the program after January 1, 2010.
  • Corrected a problem with muting the startup sound where the audio volume of the operating system could be set to a hearable volume during startup although the user had manually deactivated all audio in the Sound pane of System Preferences.
  • Corrected a problem in the Clean Up pane where deselecting items in the list of objects prepared for deletion could cause the application not to respond.
  • Corrected a packaging problem where performing a thinning operation on the application itself could cause the Startup pane no longer to load.

Tinkertool System 2 3

Release 2.1 (Build 090826)

  • This version adds support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
  • By request of many users, this version adds a printable PDF version of the reference manual. The manual is available as a separate, free download in English or German (approx. 150 pages each).
  • Added new system information categories, displaying the 32 or 64 bit capabilities of the processor, and 64 bit operation mode of the Mac OS X kernel.
  • Added new startup preference to enforce booting the kernel in 32 or 64 bit mode if possible.
  • Added new system information field that displays the unique identification code (UUID) of the computer.
  • Added a new preference to display memory sizes within TinkerTool System either in classic style, as Kibi units, or using standard units.
  • Added a user option to let the application automatically reopen the last used pane when starting, similar to TinkerTool System 1.
  • Added new feature to let the user define an optional blacklist of software bundles which should be ignored when removing language packages.
  • Added new login setting to hide or show mobile user accounts.
  • Added new login setting to enable or disable external user accounts.
  • Added new login settings to enable the screen saver for the login screen (Snow Leopard only).
  • Added operating system filter for the setting to define a customized Software Update Server.
  • The user interface to reset permissions on the system volume has been redesigned. Status messages will now be shown in the user's preferred language.
  • The feature to remove Macintosh-specific data from removable disks has been significantly accelerated. The typical case of cleaning DOS-formatted memory sticks containing more than 100,000 files will now be handled much faster.
  • The application now automatically corrects problems with the system's login preferences in case they have been damaged by a low-quality “multifunction utility”.
  • Enhanced status messages for systems where the weekly maintenance script needed a long time to run.
  • Enhanced error messages for cases where Apple's certificate revocation server is down.
  • Corrected a problem where the security environment of the application could not auto-repair itself under very special circumstances.
  • Corrected a problem where removing words from the user's spell checker dictionaries did not work as expected.
  • Corrected a problem where clicking on a subsection header in the table of ACL permissions could cause the application to quit unexpectantly.
  • Corrected typographical errors in the documentation and user interface.
  • Many other small additions and enhancements.
System

Release 2.0 (Build 090626)

For users of TinkerTool System 1.x, TinkerTool System 2 is a paid upgrade. Version 1 remains available and can be used on the operating systems Mac OS X Panther (10.3), Mac OS X Tiger (10.4), and Mac OS X Leopard (10.5). Version 2 can only be used with Mac OS X 10.5 or later operating system versions.

  • The application was rewritten completely and has a redesigned user interface.
  • The program follows Apple's latest security guidelines for system tools that need to use privileged operations.
  • Added a new feature to integrate panes of TinkerTool into TinkerTool System. Users of the system tool no longer need to launch both applications separately.
  • Added context help buttons for all features. The user can open a mini manual page describing when and when not to use a certain feature. If a feature represents an official troubleshooting procedure recommended by Apple, the help text also provides Internet links leading to further documentation available from Apple.
  • Added a new security feature where users can enable a preference to limit Mac OS X's authorization to one single operation of TinkerTool System only, and not reusing it for other applications in the same login session.
  • Added a unique new feature to avoid the removal of caches during a cache troubleshooting procedure. Administrators can now deactivate caches in a test phase and then decide if cache contents should really be removed permanently, or if the previous cache configuration should be restored. This way, the negative side-effects of cache cleaners can be avoided if possible.
  • Added a new pane to automatically solve typical problems of Leopard systems by “one click” operations.
  • Added a new feature to upgrade the local user and group account database with a workaround recommended by Apple when accounts have been taken over from Tiger to Leopard. This fixes several compatibility problems with the Leopard Finder when handling permission settings.
  • Added a new feature to automatically remove a lock attribute from external disk drives.
  • Added a new feature to automatically fix problems with hard drives disappearing in the Finder.
  • Added a new feature to automatically repair the Input Palettes list in the International pane of System Preferences.
  • Added a new feature to block any kind of program execution on selectable disk volumes. This is useful when connecting external disks of foreign operating systems.
  • Added a new feature to control extended options for AFP authentication panels.
  • Added a new feature to manage the system-wide permission filter for applications running on the graphical user interface. Mac OS X uses the filter to control what permissions will be set for newly created objects. The system-wide filter was designed by Apple as a workaround for the problem that the user-based permission filter is defective in current versions of Mac OS X Leopard. This feature requires Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later.
  • Added a new feature to control if Mac OS X should keep a print job history.
  • Added a new feature to redirect the Automatic Software Update function of Mac OS X to a user-defined server.
  • Added a new control pane which collects all system settings which apply to mobile computers only.
  • Added a new feature to control the Safe Sleep feature of mobile Apple systems.
  • Added a new feature to clean a user account from Flash® cookies (LSOs) and Flash® settings.
  • Added a new feature to guide the user to the controls for handling Flash® security settings.
  • Added a new feature to clean the font cache of Microsoft® Office applications.
  • Added a new feature to display and remove quarantine information from files.
  • Added a new feature to clean a network user account from outdated computer-specific user preferences which refer to decommissioned computers.
  • Added a new feature to remove third-party preference panes from the Other section of the System Preferences application.
  • Added a new feature to activate hidden preference panes for the Mac OS X Archive Utility and Disk Image handling.
  • Added a new feature to display and modify the user's list of learned words of the Mac OS X spell checking subsystem.
  • Added a new feature to sort an Access Control List canonically.
  • Added a new feature to let the user modify the order of Access Control Entries in an Access Control List.
  • Added a new feature to get limited access to the SUID, SGID and sticky permission attributes of file system objects.
  • Added a new feature to mark selected disk drives as not supporting Spotlight. This can be helpful in situations where Spotlight privacy settings do not stick.
  • Added a new feature to remove the Spotlight search index for visited web pages from a user account.
  • The feature to run the system's periodic maintenance scripts will now display the last times when either Mac OS X or somebody else has executed each script.
  • The feature to shutdown Spotlight has been reinstated for users of Mac OS X Leopard.
  • Error descriptions for problem situations that occur while running a privileged operation now contain much more details.
  • Features to clean the system from certain files now allow that individual items can be excluded from the delete operation, using a preflight list.
  • The modification of HFS attributes and visibility markers is now also possible for system files not owned by the current user.
  • The features to clean the system from outdated preferences files now support additional options to move files to an archive folder.
  • The feature to verify the integrity of login items now detects duplicate items.
  • The feature to clean privacy-related user data from Safari has been reinstated for Safari 3 and later.
  • By user request, the feature for code thinning can now process multiple applications or whole folders during a single run. The application will perform a detailed analysis and a precomputation of possibly gained storage space before any code thinning takes place.
  • By user request, the feature for code thinning can now keep backup copies of thinned applications in an archive folder.
  • By user request, the feature to mark thinned applications by Spotlight comments can be switched off.
  • The user interface for displaying and changing POSIX and ACL permissions has been redesigned completely.
  • When removing all Access Control Entries from an Access Control List, the list can now be removed completely instead of keeping an empty list.
  • Certain operations on permissions can now be propagated onto a whole hierarchy of files and folders.
  • When propagating ACL permissions, the application will now create implicit (inherited) ACLs instead of using explicit ACLs if technically possible.
  • The contents of the system information panel can now be printed or be exported as HTML text file.
  • Outdated features only applicable to Panther and Tiger installations have been removed.
  • The reference manual has been rewritten and redesigned.
  • Many other small additions and enhancements.

TinkerTool System Release 2 begins a new product line. The section above lists changes in comparison to TinkerTool System 1.9. For more information about the version history of TinkerTool System 1, please see the respective application of version 1.x.

TinkerTool System 4 is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers. The application makes use of a self-adapting user interface which automatically adjusts to the computer model and to the version of OS X you are running. All options available in the current situation are accessible via “panes”, very similar to the techniques you already know from the System Preferences application. The features are controlled via a single window which allows you to use the application as a general toolbox and First Aid assistant. This includes:

  • built-in maintenance features of OS X, usually not visible on the graphical user interface,
  • extended file operations, not available in the OS X Finder,
  • the possibility to access advanced system settings which are not visible in System Preferences,
  • genuine and unique features of TinkerTool System, designed to resolve typical real-world problems of administrators and to fix the effects of certain defects ('bugs') in the operating system,
  • an emergency tool to troubleshoot and repair OS X in cases where the graphical user interface is no longer starting correctly or the user account of the system administrator has been damaged,
  • features to protect your privacy,
  • functions to collect advanced information about the hardware, operating system, and applications.

Together with its sister program TinkerTool which is available at no charge, TinkerTool System is a perfect substitute for the following types of system utilities:

  • Finder enhancers,
  • Cache and font cache cleaners,
  • Tools to access hidden preference settings,
  • Applications to make objects invisible in the Finder,
  • Tools to remove international language support files,
  • Log file browsers,
  • Application uninstallers,
  • Single User Mode troubleshooting tools,
  • Spell-checker dictionary editors,
  • Trim enablers,
  • and many others.

Tinkertool System 2

TinkerTool System 4 contains all these functions, and much more, but at a reasonable price, and with proven quality. Click on the items in the menu above to learn more about the program and its features.

Tinkertool System 2010

TinkerTool System 4 is electronically distributed software. You can download the product and fully test it for a limited time before you decide to purchase an unrestricted usage license.