How to make your Mac Run Faster
Method Two of Two:
Macintosh
1
Check your hard disk space. Go to the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen), then click About This Mac, More Info, then Storage. This will show you how much free space you have on your hard disk and will also break down your current usage, showing you how much space is used by your movie, music, photo, and app files.[19]
Learning what type of files are taking up the most space will give you a starting point for what you should remove (either by deleting or moving to external storage). If you find that your massive music collection is taking up almost all of your space, you can solve your problem quickly by transferring your iTunes library onto an external drive.
Try to keep at least 15% of your drive free so that your computer can run general maintenance.[20]
If you never seem to have enough space on your hard disk, consider buying and installing a Solid-State Drive (SSD). They are generally sturdier and run much faster than hard drives, so your computer will zip along like new.[21]
2
Use your Activity Monitor to find out which applications are using the most memory. Go to Library, Applications, then click Utilities. Launch the Activity Monitor by clicking it from the list. Select the % CPU column and see which programs are at the top. If it is using anything over 50%, running that program may be slowing everything down.[22]
If you discover that one particular application is slowing down your Central Processing Unit (CPU), you can speed things up by deleting that application and using a faster alternative, or closing all other programs every time you use that application.
Safari is often at the top of the list for CPU. Consider switching to a different browser, like Firefox or Chrome.[23]
3
Uninstall unnecessary programs. You can either uninstall them manually by dragging apps into the trash or by downloading a program to help you sort and delete them.[24] iMovie, Garage Band and iPhoto are large programs that many people don't use, and are a good place to start.
When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize: it may be critical to the function of your computer or another application.
4
Delete, compress, or remove large and unnecessary files. You can search for large files by opening Finder and pressing ⌘ Command+F to search. Click on the Kind button and select Other. Scroll down to where it says Size and check the box to include it "In Menu" and click OK. Once that is done, you can search for large files--try "files greater than 200 MB to begin with". Delete, compress, or move any files you want to save to your back up drive.
To compress something, click the item while holding down the Ctrl button and choose Compress. Double-clicking the zip file will decompress the item.
Open the Downloads folder. Make sure you are viewing files as a list and then click on the Size header so that your largest files are on top. Get rid of anything you don't need.[25]
Movies are generally the largest files--they can be between 1-2GB. Consider removing anything you are not watching or plan to watch soon.[26]
Remember to empty your trash bin. If you delete photos in iPhoto or Aperture, you must empty the trash bin that exists in that program, or else the files will not be deleted.[27]
5
Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the Mac boots. The more programs trying to start up while your computer initializes, the slower everything will be. From the Apple Menu, go to System Preferences, Accounts, then click Login Items. Select any items you don’t need and click the minus (-) sign to remove them.
Clearing your desktop of icons will also speed up the process, as the computer must load these items when starting up. Move the files on your desktop into folders or delete icons, and try not to download things directly to your desktop. [28]
6
Repair disk permissions. Go to Applications, Utilities, then click Run Disk Utility and select your startup disk. Then select
Method Two of Two:
Macintosh
1
Check your hard disk space. Go to the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen), then click About This Mac, More Info, then Storage. This will show you how much free space you have on your hard disk and will also break down your current usage, showing you how much space is used by your movie, music, photo, and app files.[19]
Learning what type of files are taking up the most space will give you a starting point for what you should remove (either by deleting or moving to external storage). If you find that your massive music collection is taking up almost all of your space, you can solve your problem quickly by transferring your iTunes library onto an external drive.
Try to keep at least 15% of your drive free so that your computer can run general maintenance.[20]
If you never seem to have enough space on your hard disk, consider buying and installing a Solid-State Drive (SSD). They are generally sturdier and run much faster than hard drives, so your computer will zip along like new.[21]
2
Use your Activity Monitor to find out which applications are using the most memory. Go to Library, Applications, then click Utilities. Launch the Activity Monitor by clicking it from the list. Select the % CPU column and see which programs are at the top. If it is using anything over 50%, running that program may be slowing everything down.[22]
If you discover that one particular application is slowing down your Central Processing Unit (CPU), you can speed things up by deleting that application and using a faster alternative, or closing all other programs every time you use that application.
Safari is often at the top of the list for CPU. Consider switching to a different browser, like Firefox or Chrome.[23]
3
Uninstall unnecessary programs. You can either uninstall them manually by dragging apps into the trash or by downloading a program to help you sort and delete them.[24] iMovie, Garage Band and iPhoto are large programs that many people don't use, and are a good place to start.
When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize: it may be critical to the function of your computer or another application.
4
Delete, compress, or remove large and unnecessary files. You can search for large files by opening Finder and pressing ⌘ Command+F to search. Click on the Kind button and select Other. Scroll down to where it says Size and check the box to include it "In Menu" and click OK. Once that is done, you can search for large files--try "files greater than 200 MB to begin with". Delete, compress, or move any files you want to save to your back up drive.
To compress something, click the item while holding down the Ctrl button and choose Compress. Double-clicking the zip file will decompress the item.
Open the Downloads folder. Make sure you are viewing files as a list and then click on the Size header so that your largest files are on top. Get rid of anything you don't need.[25]
Movies are generally the largest files--they can be between 1-2GB. Consider removing anything you are not watching or plan to watch soon.[26]
Remember to empty your trash bin. If you delete photos in iPhoto or Aperture, you must empty the trash bin that exists in that program, or else the files will not be deleted.[27]
5
Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the Mac boots. The more programs trying to start up while your computer initializes, the slower everything will be. From the Apple Menu, go to System Preferences, Accounts, then click Login Items. Select any items you don’t need and click the minus (-) sign to remove them.
Clearing your desktop of icons will also speed up the process, as the computer must load these items when starting up. Move the files on your desktop into folders or delete icons, and try not to download things directly to your desktop. [28]
6
Repair disk permissions. Go to Applications, Utilities, then click Run Disk Utility and select your startup disk. Then select
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