Lesson 15—Manage System Resources

Question 1

What are the four default top-level folders that are visible in the Finder?

Answer 1

These are the four default top-level folders visible in the Finder:
• Applications—Apps that local users can access
• Library—System resources that local users can access
• System—System resources
• Users—Local user home folders

Question 2

What are 10 common system resources? What purpose does each resource serve?

Answer 2

These are 10 common system resources and the purposes they serve:
• Application Support—Ancillary data that an app needs, such as help files or templates, might be in
this folder.
• Containers and Group Containers—These folders contain resources for sandboxed apps.
• Extensions—Legacy system extensions, previously called kernel extensions (kexts), are found only in
the /Library and /System/Library folders. Legacy system extensions are low-level drivers that attach
themselves to the kernel, or core, of the operating system. Legacy system extensions provide driver
support for hardware, networking, and peripherals.
• Fonts—Files that describe typefaces used for both screen display and printing. Font management is
covered later in this lesson.
• Frameworks—Shared code libraries that provide additional software resources for apps and system
processes.
• Keychains—Help securely store sensitive information, including passwords, certificates, keys, Safari
AutoFill information, and notes.
• LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents—Processes that launchd starts. LaunchAgents start up only
when a user is logged in, whereas LaunchDaemons start processes that always run in the
background.
• Preference files—App and system configuration information.
• Logs—Text files that contain error and progress entries from nearly any app or system service.

Question 3

What are the three supported system resource domains? What purpose does each domain serve?

Answer 3

These are the three supported system resource domains and the purposes they serve:
• User—Contains apps and system resources that are specific to each user account
• Local—Contains apps and system resources that are available to users on a local Mac
• System—Contains apps and system resources that provide basic system functionality

Question 4

What purpose does the ~/Library/Containers folder serve? What items are in this folder?

Answer 4

The ~/Library/Containers folder contains resources for sandboxed apps. macOS Big Sur creates and
maintains a separate container folder for each sandboxed app that a user can open. A sandboxed app is
more secure because it can access only items inside its container. Only items intended for sharing are in
a group container folder.

Question 5

How does System Integrity Protection help ensure that macOS Big Sur system resources remain
secure?

Answer 5

System Integrity Protection prevents users and processes with administrator or root access from
modifying core macOS Big Sur items. Protected items include the /System, /bin, /sbin, and /usr folders,
along with core macOS Big Sur apps.

Question 6

Which app should you use to enable, disable, or validate a font or to add a font to the local font library?

Answer 6

You can use Font Book to enable, disable, or validate a font or to add a font to the local font library.

Question 7

How can you identify duplicate fonts?

Answer 7

The Font Book app displays a small dot next to the name of any font that has duplicate resources.