Smasher 1.6: Worth Having
Insider Software’s Smasher 1.6 adds a new ability: to automatically delete font cache files when you log out or restart. This is fantastic, because many problems that Mac-based designers have with applications misbehaving or crashing can be traced back to the cache files that store information about active fonts. The Mac system makes font cache files, Adobe products make them, Microsoft Word makes them… and Smasher removes them.
Smasher also clears the CUPS spool temp files that your Mac creates when you print, and which can get corrupted and stop your ability to print. (They also take up a huge amount of space on your hard drive.)
Smasher’s original purpose was to recombine your font files into logical families, find orphaned PostScript font files, and let you move screen fonts among font suitcases. It’s good for that as well. Smasher 1.6 costs $49.95, and I now recommend it as necessary protection for all graphic designers on Mac OS X. (Current Insider customers can get it for just $24.95.)
Jay Nelson is the editorial director of PlanetQuark.com, and the editor and publisher of Design Tools Monthly. He’s also the author of the QuarkXPress 8 and QuarkXPress 7 training titles at Lynda.com, as well as the training videos Quark includes in the box with QuarkXPress 7 . In addition, Jay writes regularly for Macworld and Photoshop User magazines and speaks at industry events.