Clearcutting Through the Jungle
Like the font cache, Safari keeps its own stockpile of temporary files that need to be purged every so often to reach optimal speed. Simply press Option+Command+E in any open Safari window. For best results, relaunch the browser too.
What’s Your Preference?
You might not think a 4KB text document could have much of an effect on your favorite apps’ performance, but tiny preference files can wreak havoc on your system, leading to spinning beach balls and untimely crashes. You can tromp through the Preferences folder yourself to find the offending file or download PreferenceCleaner to keep your hands clean.
Start Me Up (or Not)
You
won’t find the massive amounts of bloatware that Microsoft crams into
Vista, but there might be a few unnecessary startup apps that are
quietly dragging down your system. Go check out your Accounts pane and
sift through your login items for any unwanted guests.
Just a Little Off the (Desk)top
Mac
users have been hearing this since the days of System 7. Of course, OS
X handles things a whole lot better--with none of those pesky monthly
rebuilds--but if you’re in the habit of cluttering your Desktop with
lots of photos and movies, it’s a good idea to organize them into
folders every few weeks, especially if your view options are set to
render icon previews.
Downsize Me
Just like a messy Desktop can slow things down, an overstuffed hard drive can drag down your Mac, too. With an extensive library of music and movies, even 250GB can fill up fast, so keep an eye on your available space. When there’s less than 20 percent remaining, you might want to buy look into some external alternatives.
Get off at the next bus stop
Peripheral devices such as printers, PowerMates and docks are nice to have on standby, but too many of them can cause a bottleneck that puts undue strain on your Mac. Most USB accessories don’t need to be tethered when not in use, so if your Mac is experiencing periodic slowdowns, try unplugging a few peripherals.
To Defrag or Not to Defrag
The merits of defragmenting a Mac hard drive have been debated since the days of OS 8, but there’s one thing no one will disagree with: It can’t hurt to tighten things up. iDefrag may be a little pricey, but it’s head and shoulders above the rest.
Stand Firmware You Are
They’re not as frequent as OS updates, but every so often Apple releases a model-specific firmware update to tackle a specific hardware issue. These downloads don’t always appear in Software Update, so remember to check out the Support section of Apple’s Web page for the latest release.
Wham, PRAM, Thank You, Ma’am
Like repairing permissions, resetting PRAM (parameter RAM) and SMC (System Management Controller) isn’t a universal cure for everything that’s ailing your Mac, but it’s good for fixing power issues, mouse lag or other settings that may keep your Mac from running at its best. Zapping the PRAM is easy--hold down Command+Option+P+R before the bong--but the SMC is a little trickier, so you might want to read Apple's support document.
Kimberly Carver
January 10, 2013 at 6:56pm
This is a still a good article even though it's quite old and is talking about an older OS X. But the tips are still pertinent (although some may just be under different names and such) so I'm glad it's still up. I personally have been using Magican to help my Mac keep running smoothly. It's free and I like that it has a fan control because my MacBook Pro (running Snow Leopard) tends to over heat. I wrote a review about it at The High Tech Society here: thehightechsociety.com/software-for-mac-magican-review/. I get no money from it since it is free lol, it's just one that I like. There are other good Mac cleaners that work well too like the SpeedUp Mac one and MacKeeper but for me Magican works well enough that I don't really need to buy one of the others. There are some things that can just be done ourselves, and I thank you bringing those out in your article too. Thanks for the info!
stuartbell
November 07, 2012 at 8:31pm
One must keep his Mac optimized and updated to maintain Mac Speed. The best way to optimize Mac drive is to delete the unnecessary files and applications from drive. One can use Mac cleaners like Stellar Speed Up Mac, to remove unnecessary stuffs from his machine.
powerobject
July 28, 2012 at 11:14pm
So hilarious:
"If you really want to Mac to feel faster, spend an hour working on a PC. Then go and give your Mac a great big hug"
Michael Wright
January 01, 2013 at 7:11am
OS X is overrated - not much to choose between Windows and Mac OS X. All Mac zealots squeal now.
Dorothy Dandridge
December 03, 2010 at 2:30am
It happens to everyone when your Mac got sluggish or slow you find yourself in no-mans land when you were working on some important project and your Mac just hangs.The possible reasons may be you have not enough free space or there may some unwanted data on your hard drive which captures the space.Anayways yesterday i check out a cool application Stellar SpeedUp Mac which has a FREE demo version so i tried the stuff.The Speedup Mac software is meant for removing unwanted data from your Mac drive and optimizing your Mac drive, having good features like SpeedUp Mac,Clean My Mac and an Uninstaller which comprises of uninstall widgets, as well as plugins.This software can clean your cache,temporary files,duplicate files and duplicate Language files...
FREE download is available here: http://www.stellarspeedupmac.com
MacsSuck
November 06, 2010 at 8:17am
My friend who owns a Mac asked me to help her last night as her Mac was so slow . . . surely not? Macs are AWESOME, aren't they? So I went to her house and spent an hour trying to figure out how to find out the capacity of her hard drive to ensure it had 20% free. Did the wonderful Mac Help system tell me how? No. Look at the hard drive itself. No? Hmmm. I thought Macs were easy to use and intuitive? Guess the only way to find out is to Google it. Then I read this article and tried to figure out how to actually do half the things it suggested. Again, TOTALLY counter-intuitive. WHO ON EARTH said Macs were so easy to use?
And what a MESS. The Dock is a disgrace. So cluttered and so difficult to switch back and forth between windows. When you minimize a program, the Toolbar is still at the top and detached from the program itself. And programs have Palettes everywhere! A complete and utter mess! It's like trying to work in a messy house. Doesn't Apple know how to create a nice, clean GUI? And what's with Maximize? Not all programs fill the whole screen when 'Maximized'. Doesn't Apple know what 'Maximum' means?
And Safari kept opening different Windows, so had to figure out which Window had which web page open. The whole thing was a nightmare. If you offered me a brand-new $2,500 Mac or a $500 PC, I would take the PC any day. Neither my PC at work nor my PC at home is slow, so Mac users are deluding themselves when they cry that PCs are slow and Macs are fast. It's down to Processor, RAM, & Hard Disk Speed. Windows 7 is a dream. Oh, and what about Defragging the Mac. Doesn't need it? Then why when everything was closed on the Mac (which we finally found out had 25% free) was it so slow? This article suggested defragging, but wait: you have to PAY to do that. No free utility. Does the Mac have ANYTHING that the PC does? Apart from deluded Acolytes? FINALLY. I know FIVE people who have bought Macs recently, and EVERY SINGLE ONE regrets it and wishes they had just stuck to a PC! Hmmm . . but aren't Macs wonderful?
Michael Wright
January 01, 2013 at 7:18am
Sounds like a windows zealot to me. Used windows for many years - many, many negatives - sloppy programming to say the least. However, I bought a brand new top spec iMac 27" in Nov 2010. It has proven a dog to run, constant crashes, lockups etc (sounds just like Windows to me). Total HD failure after 16 months. Can't search network drives, have to use arcane Unix commands in Terminal to achieve simple things.
I agree - Apple machines are greatly overrated - mind you, Windows is poor also. Ho hum! :)
JOEYBRYSON
November 02, 2010 at 3:26am
Sometimes people don't like talking and so you just have to leave them alone. I usually laugh, smile, nod and talk about what I think and feel. You can talk about yourself, but don't do that too much.
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mautzu
October 08, 2010 at 3:24am
it is a very good thing to have acces to a computer and to internaet but from time to time you have to make a
computer checkup to be sure that your computer is clean and work proper
GriswoldHarland
October 06, 2010 at 9:52pm
Our enemies , terrorists , N.Korea , Iran , Hugo Chaves , Castro , see us as divided and uncertain and that makes them bolder and more apt to do something really stupid .
Sound Proofing
Jacob Tanur
July 28, 2010 at 10:06pm
You cannot speed up a slow person. They may have a neurological deficit or disorder that makes them that way.
Speed Dating NY
OscarParker
July 20, 2010 at 4:26am
Here you can find what you should do step by step when you want to get music from ipod to your mac, make sure the process, then you can transter what you want to your mac.
OscarParker
July 20, 2010 at 4:22am
When you want to download youtube video or audio files to your computer,you may try this free youtube video downloader, it's totally free. It can automatically detects the internet videos and allows you to download full-length movies played in Safari and Firefox browsers on Mac OS instantly.
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HarrisonLogan
March 26, 2010 at 12:58am
Flip a coin they are basically the same, if you know the model number I Guess i would get the one with the higher number seeing that it will probably be newer.
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Earthy Warrior
March 22, 2010 at 1:10am
I'm pretty sure if you open the HDD icon it'll tell you how much space you have left.
Delete your old files, uninstall old programs you don't use etc to get more space.
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ManuelHuerta
August 23, 2009 at 12:12pm
I checked the iDefrag "Readme file" that came with the demo version, and they say that you should do a BackUp of all your important files, just in case, so that does not give me much security using this software, so I have 2 questions: Is there another way to defragment my mac besides using iDefrag or is it secure using it?, and How often should I defrag my mac?
macosx
August 14, 2009 at 8:09am
While System Preferences is open, take a look at a few other things. Apple has generously included a number of very useful features as preferences. Some, however, may not be useful to you, such as Universal Access (which offers help for visually and hearing impaired users) or Bluetooth (which allows certain devices to be used wirelessly). If you don't use these features, verify that they are turned off. This will save you some valuable RAM and processor resources.
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kevkevallen
June 14, 2009 at 10:22pm
Rendering icons in the Stacks in your Dock hog more memory than you might think, especially if you have a ton of stacks, and a lot of files in those stacks. Even alias's can hog memory if you have enough of them. Remember, when it comes to memory, every Byte counts!
gskibum
May 22, 2009 at 7:47pm
About 75% nonsense this article is.I'm amused as to how he confuses storing documents on one's Desktop (prior to OS X) with the occasional need to rebuild the Desktop File. That was an idiotic myth that still won't die.Documents stored on the Desktop had nothing to do with the pair of invisible files known as the Desktop File. They were completely unrelated and there was ZERO performance hit by storing files on one's Desktop.I’ve heard this claim going back at least to the System 6 days, and it has always been nothing but complete nonsense. Time after time people would mistakingly associate the pair of invisible files known as “Desktop DB” and “Desktop DF” with the Desktop folder. The only thing in common with the two invisible files and the Desktop folder are their names! Every volume, whether an internal hard disk, external hard disk, Zip disk, Benoulli or Syquest or whatever had this pair of invisible files. The Mac OS would store information within these files about the association between any given application and the icons associated with and it and documents created with it. Desktop DB stood for Desktop BNDL. These files could become corrupt which is where the old “rebuild your Desktop” troubleshooting step came from,There was in no file system association. I would dismiss out of hand any and all advice coming from a supposed Mac expert that makes such a claim as storing files on the Desktop wastes resources any more than storing files in say, the user’s Documents folder. It is a demonstration of just how little they understand the way the Mac OS works.Nothing but fluff articles like this are why I don't subscribe to this magazine.
nemodomi@comcast.net
May 07, 2009 at 6:57pm
I'm stunned by the large number of typos in this article. Are you guys professional or what? Seriously, I'd be embarrassed to have this kind of non-quality on my Web site if I were you. BTW I'm available for meticulous editing and proofreading services at very reasonable rates if you're interested, though I imagine, by appearances, that you're NOT. Good luck.
Jokotai
August 18, 2009 at 2:27pm
Your own post here is very poorly stated. So, first, don't post to random magazine forums in the hopes to drum up business for yourself. Second, if this is an example of your writing expertise, find another line of work. I've seen better editors in high school classrooms.
dmckill
May 06, 2009 at 12:43pm
Before you download Monolingual...PLEASE READ! I, as well as a few designers I work with, read this article and decided to try some of the space saving suggestions that we hadn't tried in the past. Upon downloading Monolingual and running the software, we found that we saved anywhere between 1GB and 3.5GB respectfully on our machines. The problems occurred after shutting down and restarting the next day. All of us had issues opening Adobe Acrobat (CS3 in Leopard) and one designer couldn't open ANY CS3 programs, while I, myself, couldn't open Microsoft Office. It was until we ran Monolingual that these issues/problems arose. We had to re-install the OS as well as the software to fix all the problems we ran into. If you're going to try this piece of software...BEWARE and definitely BACK-UP your data!!!!!
JustinMHas
May 18, 2009 at 8:03pm
Very true. I have an old PowerBook G4 and it had a kernel panic while running monolingual. I was running software update at the same time and you could make a case that monolingual wasn't the cause of the kernel panic, but it's definitely something to consider. Also, monolingual only freed up about 128 MB of space on my MacBook Pro, which could be a lot for some but isn't that much for a 150 GB drive.
edwinblaw
May 05, 2009 at 8:35am
I, too, have had Leopard, updated to 10.5.6, since issue. I also have 'Cocktail' but never used it. As a result of this excellent article, I did check and found the last script run was last July.
I also thought if it tried to run and couldn't it would then run when awakened. Apparently not so. I just used 'Cocktail' to set my 'run' to 1300 when the machine is usually awake but I am at lunch.
Thanks for the tip. I am also a Maximum PC avid reader and I see a similartiy and THAT IS a compliment,
Ed The only love you can buy is that of a dog.
garyedgar
May 01, 2009 at 12:23pm
I know it's harmless fun - but is it possible for this magazine/website to write an article just once without trashing Windows? It's just lazy and frankly for people who aren't blindly fanatical - not in anyway helpful. Just a suggestion.
dBraf
May 16, 2009 at 12:52pm
Different strokes - I didn't see that particular comment as Windows bashing, to me it was a reminder to 'keep things in perspective'. We now live in a consumer society that conditions us to be dissatisfied with what we have, to tempt us to 'buy more'. I have 2 'hot' Apples (iMac24+MacBookPro17) 4Gb each and i still find myself looking for more speed (why I'm reading the article) and it's only when I have to help a friend/colleague with a PC that i appreciate how lucky I am and how much extra stress they have to tolerate in their environment !
Gaursun
May 25, 2009 at 2:57pm
I agree. I just switch to Mac a few months ago. When I am at work on the pc's and dealing with issues for hours and sometimes days at a time that seem wholey unproductive, due to slowness, etc. etc. it is like a breath of fresh air to get home and I do want to bear-hug my Mac. Thanks to MIchael for the great tips on upkeep, this site is always wonderfully informative.
MacRob
April 29, 2009 at 1:07pm
I have had Leopard since the day it came out, and I have never had The scripts run unless the computer was on at the time they were scheduled. I usually shut down when I'm not using my Mac. I just checked my scripts, and the monthly hasn't been run since Feb 1, 2009. I'm going to wait until May to check again, then I'll do it myself if it doesn't take care of itself.OSX 10.5.6 on a MacPro.
Michael Simon
April 29, 2009 at 2:22pm
This is exactly what I'm talking about. The script(s) are supposed to run as soon as the computer wakes from sleep (assuming it was sleeping through the scheduled 3 a.m. maintenance) but that doesn't always happen. So, running them manually is a good habit to get into.
obvioustroll
April 29, 2009 at 6:31am
There hasn't been a need to run the daily, weekly or monthly scripts by hand since 10.4. These jobs are now managed by anacron and periodic (10.4) or by launchd (10.5) - in either case, if the computer is sleeping or off when the time to run a job passes, it will just run the job the next time it's started.
Michael Simon
April 29, 2009 at 8:46am
I included the scripts tip for a number of reasons. First, not everyone has Leopard, and the 10.4.3 "launchd" update was known to sleep on the job. Also, some people have reported problems with maintenance script automation after waking from sleep in Leopard. So, I think it's best to run them when things get slow, even if they might be redundant.
homemaderobot
April 29, 2009 at 6:06am
Check out a program called Xupport. While this can be a paid application, you do have the option of running it for free (which gives you a delay in loading, but its worth it). The program helps with optimizing your system, clearing caches, running maintenance scripts, disabling 3D effects or changing the color of your dock, managing virtual RAM, etc.
I use it at work mostly, but I also run it on my macbook every once and a while. You can find it in Apple's Download section.
