It’s not unusual for a Mac or iMac to slow down after a few months or years of usage.
Computers have always been prone to getting bloated and clogged up with both user files and programs, and the modern age of large disks and memory have just allowed us to store more and more without thought to management of it all.
Here we’ve put together some tips on how to bring some life back to your Macbook/iMac without resorting to a hardware upgrade or replacement.
So let’s begin.
Check free space levels on your hard disk.
- Your Mac uses the very fast RAM (Random Access Memory) to load programs into and when it runs out of RAM it uses the much slower Hard Disk Memory.
If your hard disk is full, then your Mac will grind to a halt as it runs out of memory.
As a general rule, have a minimum free space amount of 3x the amount of RAM you have installed. So if you have 8GB of RAM, ensure you have 24GB or more of hard disk space.
This will ensure there is enough space for virtual memory, Safe Sleep (Hibernation) and system processes. - Check your free space by clicking the Apple icon in the top left corner and selecting ‘About this Mac’ then select the Storage.
- If you don’t have enough space, check your iTunes library as that is generally where we find the most clutter. Moving your library to an external drive can often alleviate disk space issues.
Check for startup programs under the user account and remove anything non-essential
- Open System Preferences, Users and Groups, select your account and click on the ‘Login Items’
- Select an application that is no longer required (2) and then click on the ‘-‘ icon (3) to remove it.
Disable visual effects
- Open System Preferences, Dock and change the “Minimize windows using” setting from Genie to Scaled
- Open System Preferences then Accessibility then Display and Reduce Transparency
Install software updates in the App Store
Updates can resolve bugs with performance sapping issues such as memory leaks, so keep your Mac up to date.
- Click on the Apple Logo in the top left corner of our scree, then on the App Store…
- Select the Updates Icon in the task bar and click on Update All to install updates
Close browser tabs to free up memory.
Every tab you have open consumes memory. So close unused tabs 🙂
Remove unused/old plugins in Chrome
- Open Chrome and click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner (under your name if you are signed in) then click on More Tools, then Extensions.
- Select any unused or unknown extensions then click the little rubbish bin to delete them.
Close unused applications
- Click and hold the mouse button down whilst it is over the Application icon you want to close until the popup window appears.
- Now click on Close. If the application fails to close you may need to force quit from the Apple icon in the top right of your screen.
Reduce desktop clutter – OS X treats each desktop item like a small window with its own memory footprint.
- Consider creating folders so you can store your programs and files by group.
Scan for nasties.
Gone are the days when virus’s were only in the realm of the PC. As Apple has gained greater market share it also gained higher visibility and risk.
Mac’s are actively targeted by virus authors and if you don’t have a virus scanner you are inviting disaster.
If you’re after antivirus for your MAC try ESET NOD32