You will learn how to keep the Mac running smoothly with a series of tasks daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, plus get advice on preparing for Mac OS X updates. You'll also find a way to monitor your Mac to detect problems early and where to turn if a problem raised its ugly head. But the most important aspect of maintenance is a rock-solid backup strategy that protects all your important data in the event of disaster. To that end, Joe provides a quick comparison, different strategies, explains the pros and cons of each type of media, and help you choose the best backup program for your needs. You'll discover time-tested recommendations that help you organize, test, and maintain your backups, complete with instructions on how to restore after a crash. Important lessons you'll learn along the way including utilities have both duplicates and archives, the need for backup testing, and the importance of offsite backups. In this book you will find answers to questions like these: When is the Mac I tend to have problems?