Chapter 34. Repairing Disk Permissions

Did you know that the file and folder permissions on your Mac could be changed without you knowing it? Installers, applications, system crashes, and even unscheduled shutdowns can invisibly change the permissions on your Mac.

Don’t worry—it’s totally harmless most of the time. In fact, some installers need to change permissions before they can move files into your Applications folder. But if incorrect permissions are set for critical system files, applications may not be able to access the information, or users may be able to access too much information. That can translate into big problems down the road.

Fortunately, you can avoid these kinds of pitfalls by repairing disk permissions. This process looks at ...

Get Master Your Mac now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.