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Let’s Face It—Macintosh computers look good. So good that there’s always that strong urge to dust off and wipe its screen as well as clean the keyboard. But while regular cleaning could keep your Mac looking shiny and sleek long after you bought it, it doesn’t do much for its actual performance. For that, a different set of actions is necessary.
No matter how advanced your Mac might be, over time it will get sluggish and slow. The following are some useful tips to get your Mac working like new.
- Reboot
This is probably the last thing you want to hear given that it has become the butt of numerous IT jokes over the last 3 decades. Whereas it is true that some IT support staff will tell you to restart your computer as a way to get you off their back, there’s actually real merit in rebooting your Mac especially when it is sluggish.
Restarting your computer clears the cache and initializes the hardware all of which can deliver a substantial payoff in terms of performance. Rebooting should be your first action when you have performance problems. It’s only if performance fails to improve that you should explore the other solutions below.
- Check the Activity Monitor
To check the Activity Monitor, go to Command-Space then type Activity Monitor and press Return. The Activity Monitor will provide information on Memory, Disk, CPU, Network and Energy use (in this regard, it’s not quite the same as rsyslog vs syslog ng on Linux systems). If your computer is slow, you’ll want to focus on the CPU and Memory sections first.
Look at th8970ce applications that take up the most CPU and memory resources. If you recognize any that you aren’t using at the moment, you can terminate it immediately and only launch it when you need it. Do the same for applications that are draining your battery power the most.
- Optimize Startup Programs
Like the name implies, startup programs are automatically launched when you power your Mac. When your computer is new, these programs may be too few to cause any deterioration in performance. Eventually though, the startup programs can become too many or too resource-hungry for your Mac.
In fact, some of the unused but resource-hungry applications you’ll see in the Activity Monitor will be startup programs. Cleaning up your startup applications not only ensures your computer starts faster but also improves the overall user experience.
You can audit your startup programs by going to System Preferences, then Users and Groups, clicking on your user name and deselecting any application you no longer need.
- Uninstall Applications
After going through the Activity Monitor and your list of startup applications, you can develop a preliminary list of applications that you’ll probably never need. This is just the beginning and you should go one step further by examining all installed applications on your Mac, item by item. This audit is unlikely to take you more than 10 minutes irrespective of the number of programs on your computer.
Do not only focus on the applications you never user. Pay attention to multiple programs that perform the same function. For instance, do you really need two or more music or video players? How about internet browsers? Probably not. Choose the one that best meets your need and uninstall the rest.
- Clean Up Your Hard Disk
Shrinking hard disk space can slow down your Mac. Uninstalling applications is a good step to freeing up disk space but that should only be the start. Cleaning up your hard disk will likely take you considerably longer than removing unneeded applications. You cannot delete folders without taking a look at the files and subfolders within them.
Depending on how much data you have on your hard drive, this exercise could take a couple of hours to complete. Make the most of third party apps that can quickly zero in on system-created junk files and folders that you certainly don’t need.
After months and years of use, every electronic device will run into performance problems. The Mac is no exception in this regard. The above tips will help you restore your computer’s speed to an acceptable level.