hosts

The hosts file is used to point domains at an i.p although in most cases it will just be a list of 127.0.0.1 and a domain name such as mysite.local or mysite.hjb in my case.
For < 10.5 you used to use netinfo manager to add extra domains and didn't really use the host file, although in 10.5 (and probably later) you do use the host file.

locations:

/private/etc/

httpd.conf

The main apache config file. This is where all the setting for apache are stored. After making changed you need to restart web sharing in system preferences sharing for them to have an effect.

locations:

/private/etc/httpd/

php.ini

The main php config file. This is where all the setting for php are stored. After making changed you need to restart web sharing in system preferences sharing for them to have an effect.

locations:

/usr/local/php[4|5]/lib/

Sites folder

This is where your actual site files are stored and depends on if you are using the default osx install or a 3rd party install. I strongly suggest Marc Liyanage’s help here as it deals with plenty of plugins too including the always useful gd2 image library.

locations:

/Users/[username]/Sites/
/Library/Webserver/Documents/

It took me a while to get to the bottom of the problem after I started delaying application launch to ease memory use on startup.

I knew I needed iDriveMonitor to start at login, but I didn’t want it to start first because it seems to bog down os x when started along with multiple other apps.

But if I removed it from the login items and manually started it, it automatically added itself back to my Login Items. There is no option to stop it doing this built into iDrive. How annoying.

My solution was a really simple AppleScript, which starts it after everything else at login, and when it automatically adds itself to my Login Items, the script counts to 4 and then removes it.

So now iDriveMonitor launches last at login and isn’t allowed to add itself to my Login Items for more than a few seconds.

delay 2
 
tell application "IDriveMonitor"
	launch
end tell
 
delay 4
 
tell application "System Events"
	get the name of every login item
	if login item "IDriveMonitor" exists then
		delete login item "IDriveMonitor"
	else
		display dialog "IDriveMonitor login item doesn’t exist"
	end if
end tell

So you add them all to your login-items and you’re done right? Wrong.

If you simply add them all to your login items then when you log in, they all try to start at once and it all ends in a massive delay before you can use any of them or even any of your other applications. It isn’t unheard of to see the rainbow spinner of death on some machines.

My solution was to create my own simple applescript that starts all the things I want, in the order I want and with delays between then to keep my mac in a usable state.

Creating applescripts is actually much simpler than most people think.
First open Applications -> AppleScript -> Script Editor

Now I am going to give you a large headstart here, so you can copy and paste in the following code:

delay 2
 
tell application "Quicksilver"
	launch
end tell
 
delay 2
 
tell application "Things"
	launch
end tell
 
delay 2
 
tell application "GrowlHelperApp"
	launch
end tell

The code above adds a delay of 2, then opens the application “Quicksilver”, it then pauses for another delay of 2 and opens the application “Things”. There is then another delay of 2 and we launch the “GrowlHelperApp”.

It is important that you get the application names correct. I suggest either copying them from “System Preferences -> Accounts -> Your account -> Login Items” or you could head on over to your Applications folder or Utilities folder and copy the applications name from there (without the .app on the end)

When you are happy with your list of delayed applications click on the compile button in Script Editor. If you receive errors, check you have no sytax errors. If you get stuck then copy the code from above again and start over. If you you don’t have errors we are ready to save it all ready for use. Select “File -> Save As”, select File Format: Application, uncheck all other options and give your new application a name, mine is called Appause (get it?). Be sure to save your application to the Utilities folder.

So now you can remove all the applications you just put in your home-made application delayer from your existing login items and add your new app to the login items.

Open Login Items, click each application you want to remove followed by the minus [-] button.
Then click the plus [+] and browse to your utilities folder to find where you put your new app.

You should end up with something like this:

The only application I have had a problem with so far is iDrive. iDriveMonitor annoyingly adds itself back to your Login Items as start up. I found a solution though which sits in my home made Appause application too. See how to still be able to use iDrive but stop iDriveMonitor autostarting.

I had already tried the more simple method of selecting the troublesome window using apple-~ and then choosing Window->Zoom. It failed to solve the issue.

The following steps will return all your open windows back to the useable and viewable part of the screen.

1) Open System Preferences -> Universal Access
2) Check the box ‘Enable access for assistive devices’ (remember to uncheck later if you need)
3) Close System Preferences
4) Run Applications -> AppleScript -> Script Editor
5) Paste the following code into the top box
6) Click Run
7) Quite Script Editor

-- start code
property processesToIgnore : {}
tell application "Finder"
	set _b to bounds of window of desktop
	set screen_width to item 3 of _b
	set screen_height to item 4 of _b
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	set allProcesses to application processes
	set _results to ""
	repeat with i from 1 to count allProcesses
		set doIt to 1
		repeat with z from 1 to count processesToIgnore
			if process i = process (item z of processesToIgnore) then
				set doIt to 0
			end if
		end repeat
		if doIt = 1 then
			tell process i
				repeat with x from 1 to (count windows)
					set winPos to position of window x
					set _x to item 1 of winPos
					set _y to item 2 of winPos
					if (_x < 0 or _y < 0 or _x > screen_width or _y > screen_height) then
						set position of window x to {0, 22}
					end if
				end repeat
			end tell
		end if
	end repeat
end tell
-- end code

And that’s it. I use Tiger 10.4 but apparently you can also use this method in Leopard 10.5.