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#1 2007-04-03 5:47 pm
HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
I am using a 1.5 GHz powerbook G4. I only have 512 mb RAM, which I know is one of the reasons things are getting clogged up.
Recently, things have started getting sssssllllllloooooowwwwwww. However, I have not much new software that should be bogging my system down(requirements-wise), although my Hard drive is almost to capacity.
I've read the OS X does not need defragging. If so, I guess thats great, except now that my computer is slowing down, I dont have a usual course of action.
I plan to get more RAM, and I am constantly cracking down on HD space. What other steps can I take to restore snap and speed to my machine? I figure, I have the same operating system I did when I got the machine, so there must be many maintenance issues causing the slowdown. Its not as if new, more rigorous system requirements are the problem for me.
Basically, I don't want to wait 2 minutes every time I push F12. I don't want to wait 2 minutes everytime I plug in my iPod and change the volume around teh same time. Tabbed browsing should not make using the internet MORE time consuming for me. I'm not even going to try opening iPhoto.
Anyone know anything that can help me? Even better, anyone know anything that can help me that I dont have to pay for?
thanks in advance
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#2 2007-04-03 6:03 pm
- FutureDreamz
- 1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
- From: カナダ
- Registered: 2007-01-07
- Posts: 4511
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
Do you shut down/ sleep your Mac at night?
Thanks for clicking.
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#3 2007-04-03 6:05 pm
- Freakout Jackson
- Meme-free
- From: ::moderated like a mo-fo::
- Registered: 2001-08-21
- Posts: 6373
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
G4cubeguy wrote:
... although my Hard drive is almost to capacity.
1st thing I'd look at. Free up at least 10%
"Perhaps if there were more Americans who had the courage to stand up to idiocy maybe we wouldn't have such an awful country." ~ VegasACF
I couldn't deal with a clone of myself. I would probably kill him inside a week, and tell the police it was justifiable homisuicide, and tell them to sit around and hang out with me for a week to show them why. ~ Dan
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#4 2007-04-03 6:20 pm
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
I sometimes sleep it at night, and seldom shut it down.
I usually use a widget as an alarm clock that plays music at a specified time. Should I sleep my computer, but set it to wake itself up before the alarm?
I usually try to keep around 1.5 - 2 GB of space available, but will aim for another 5 or 6 on top of this. Its hard though, I never thought I'd NEED over 60 gigs.
I appreciate the help
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#5 2007-04-03 6:29 pm
- maleko
- Member
- From: Eugene, OR
- Registered: 2006-11-25
- Posts: 1221
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
I think its good to leave your computer on all the time, OSX runs optimization and maintenance scripts in the background. I'd run Yasu to clear caches and optimize, also repair permissions.
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#6 2007-04-03 6:45 pm
- Nefarious
- Tuning Fork
- Moderator
- From: 45°22"N 84°57"W
- Registered: 2002-09-30
- Posts: 7998
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
G4cubeguy wrote:
I sometimes sleep it at night, and seldom shut it down.
I usually use a widget as an alarm clock that plays music at a specified time. Should I sleep my computer, but set it to wake itself up before the alarm?
I usually try to keep around 1.5 - 2 GB of space available, but will aim for another 5 or 6 on top of this. Its hard though, I never thought I'd NEED over 60 gigs.
I appreciate the help
6 GB is my bare minimum. If you have Garageband or iDVD, you can try deleting that, or some of their "themes" and "loops".
When you get below 2 GB, you run a greater risk of file corruption.
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#7 2007-04-03 8:11 pm
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
i would say the problem is a cross between you RAM and your hard drive, when you have a hard drive that 85%+ full (that would be less then 9GB free on a 60GB drive) things tend to get fragmented, you start to run out of large empty spaces on your drive, and that fragments large files, and they cannot be defragmented on the fly as there is no single block of free space that can hold the file
when you only have 512MB you end up with a large swap file, because the drive is full it gets fragmented quickly, and that happens to be the file that just cannot be fragmented as it leads to huge performance problems
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#8 2007-04-03 8:31 pm
- FutureDreamz
- 1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
- From: カナダ
- Registered: 2007-01-07
- Posts: 4511
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
Nefarious wrote:
G4cubeguy wrote:
I sometimes sleep it at night, and seldom shut it down.
I usually use a widget as an alarm clock that plays music at a specified time. Should I sleep my computer, but set it to wake itself up before the alarm?
I usually try to keep around 1.5 - 2 GB of space available, but will aim for another 5 or 6 on top of this. Its hard though, I never thought I'd NEED over 60 gigs.
I appreciate the help6 GB is my bare minimum. If you have Garageband or iDVD, you can try deleting that, or some of their "themes" and "loops".
When you get below 2 GB, you run a greater risk of file corruption.
There is software to place all of your Garageband files on an external HD.
Last edited by FutureDreamz (2007-04-03 8:31 pm)
Thanks for clicking.
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#9 2007-04-03 9:12 pm
- Random User
- One of those Internet guys
- From: Houston, TX
- Registered: 2002-06-17
- Posts: 1151
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
FutureDreamz wrote:
Nefarious wrote:
G4cubeguy wrote:
I sometimes sleep it at night, and seldom shut it down.
I usually use a widget as an alarm clock that plays music at a specified time. Should I sleep my computer, but set it to wake itself up before the alarm?
I usually try to keep around 1.5 - 2 GB of space available, but will aim for another 5 or 6 on top of this. Its hard though, I never thought I'd NEED over 60 gigs.
I appreciate the help6 GB is my bare minimum. If you have Garageband or iDVD, you can try deleting that, or some of their "themes" and "loops".
When you get below 2 GB, you run a greater risk of file corruption.There is software to place all of your Garageband files on an external HD.
Well without telling us the name your suggestion is not very helpful.
"Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt." - Steve Jobs
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#10 2007-04-03 9:50 pm
- macnuke
- just a plano guy
- Moderator
- From: North Dallas 40
- Registered: 2004-05-16
- Posts: 7134
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
FutureDreamz wrote:
Nefarious wrote:
G4cubeguy wrote:
I sometimes sleep it at night, and seldom shut it down.
I usually use a widget as an alarm clock that plays music at a specified time. Should I sleep my computer, but set it to wake itself up before the alarm?
I usually try to keep around 1.5 - 2 GB of space available, but will aim for another 5 or 6 on top of this. Its hard though, I never thought I'd NEED over 60 gigs.
I appreciate the help6 GB is my bare minimum. If you have Garageband or iDVD, you can try deleting that, or some of their "themes" and "loops".
When you get below 2 GB, you run a greater risk of file corruption.There is software.
makes more sense now 
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#11 2007-04-03 10:01 pm
- FutureDreamz
- 1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
- From: カナダ
- Registered: 2007-01-07
- Posts: 4511
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
Random User wrote:
FutureDreamz wrote:
Nefarious wrote:
6 GB is my bare minimum. If you have Garageband or iDVD, you can try deleting that, or some of their "themes" and "loops".
When you get below 2 GB, you run a greater risk of file corruption.There is software to place all of your Garageband files on an external HD.
Well without telling us the name your suggestion is not very helpful.
Never thought I would use it, hence I didn't check the name then. hold on while I see if i found it on a RSS feed.
Thanks for clicking.
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#12 2007-04-03 10:33 pm
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
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#13 2007-04-04 5:56 pm
- FutureDreamz
- 1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
- From: カナダ
- Registered: 2007-01-07
- Posts: 4511
Re: HELP! Why so slow? How to speed up?
edman007 wrote:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22402
That is it. It was really annoying on how the name was on the tip of my tongue.
Thanks for clicking.
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