Software Update will check for updates once a week by default, but the Mac App Store has to be manually checked for updates in OS X Lion. Updates can come in the form of general bug fixes, feature enhancements, and security fixes, and it’s so easy to do there is no excuse not to.

Periodically run Software Update from the  Apple menu, and periodically check the Mac App Store for updates of your apps there too. Keeping your Mac software up to date is vital. If any errors are found, they’ll appear in red, and thankfully Disk Utility is usually more than capable of handling such repairs on it’s own. Be sure to run Verify Disk not only on the drive itself (physical drive name), but also the boot partition (Macintosh HD).

This will be necessary if bad blocks are found or if the drive is corrupt. While you can verify the boot volume at any time, the best way to repair the boot disk is to boot from the recovery partition by holding down Command+R and running Disk Utility from there. This is probably the most important thing to do with Disk Utility. Nonetheless, it’s still a good procedure to periodically run, especially after installing or uninstalling a bunch of applications. Repairing permissions is good practice, though it’s never the cure-all that so many claim it to be. Disk Utility is included on all Macs and found in the /Applications/Utilities folder, the two necessary procedures will be under the “First Aid” tab and can be run one after another. Running Disk Utility every month or two is a good idea for two reasons: repairing permissions, and more importantly, verifying and repairing the hard drive.

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