MacMost Now 349: Fixing a Slow Mac

What to do when your Mac slows down. If you are experiencing a slowdown, there are several things you can check before having a pro take a look. Learn how to use Activity Monitor, Disk Utility and the System Preferences to look for obvious problems. There are also some other tips for clearing up trouble.

Comments: 12 Responses to “MacMost Now 349: Fixing a Slow Mac”

    Peter Emery
    14 years ago

    Another way to speed up the initial performance of your internet connection is to change the DNS settings.

    If you don't know how to do this, visit Google DNS for instructions for various different operating systems. Google DNS recommends using 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4, but a freeware app called namebench will make a thorough check of all available DNS connections in your area and supply a detailed report showing the fastest primary, secondary & tertiary DNS setups in your area.

    A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a speed increase when using the Google DNS settings: pages in Safari & messages in Mail were rendering considerably faster than with the standard setting. After running namebench, I found my own ISP had a DNS setup that was 354% faster than the Google DNS settings I had been using.

      14 years ago

      Excellent tip, Peter.

      Thomas
      12 years ago

      yeah you're a smart man ! thanks

    Shane
    14 years ago

    my macbook pro is less than 6 months old and getting a lot of beachballs, i installed the java update and that helped for a day but the day after that I powered on my computer and i got a beachball when the computer was turning on. my hard drive is ok and i have also defraged the drive and optimized it and repaired the permissions and verified the drive and the drive is ok. I am going to try and fix it for a another week and if it is not better I might have to take it into the apples store but only has a last resort.
    please help thanks shane

      14 years ago

      Why wait? If you are having trouble, take it in now. When you buy a Mac you are paying for support. Why not use it?

        Johan van der Spuy
        14 years ago

        My Macbook Pro is about 2 years old and I am also often getting these spinning beachballs. This even occurs just after startup with no apps running.
        Any idea why this is or anything I can or should do?
        Thanks.

          14 years ago

          Watch the video for suggestions. It is probably something running in the background that is causing the issue. Impossible to tell without examining the machine, though.

    Ernesto
    14 years ago

    Don't advertise FireFox. Its not a fast and safe browser.
    If you do like firefox browsing try the lightweight Camino Browser.
    Or if You want a Powerful and fast browser, which is very easy to use try Opera. You can even directly download from newsgroups and .torrent files

      14 years ago

      Funny. Firefox isn't safe, but "download from newsgroups and .torrent files" is? Really?

        Iappleosx
        13 years ago

        Now that is funny !

    Mr Anthony Cotton
    12 years ago

    Ernesto is right about Firefox it has an add on called Tampa Data. Most people are honest but hacker`s use this add on to get information while you are online. This made my hair stand up when you are purchasing something from the internet. They can alter items at the checkout,and prices. The rest is too technical for me to explain how they do it?

    stuartbell
    12 years ago

    Manual tricks could fix the issue but upto some extent only. For more effective results one needs to switch to some speed up tools. These tools basically keep your drive clean and avail necessary resources for OS.

    The tools include Stellar speed up Mac, cleanmyMac etc

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