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How To Speed Up My Mac ?

I bought my first MBP for a little more than 2 years ago leaving windows.
I have been very happy with this switch, but for the last 4 months my Mac has gotten very slow.
It is so slow that it takes minutes to open an application like safari or word/pages. And even when open, the spinning beach ball appear almost ever 2nd or 3 rd minute.
I have done virus scan, deleted apps, run disc utility and Mac clean programs, but with no help. Even removed log on programs. Also, I usually only have 1-3 apps open which I think is reasonable.
What should I do ?
In video 373 on defragmentation you mention that you can back up and then reformat the harddrive so that you can copy the files back again.
How do you reformat ?
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Nigel Datta

Comments: 10 Responses to “How To Speed Up My Mac ?”

    12 years ago

    First, check out episode 349: http://macmost.com/fixing-a-slow-mac.html
    How much free disk space do you have? That's one suspect.
    Have you taken it to an expert to have a look? The Genius Bar maybe? It is very hard to diagnose a problem without seeing it first-hand.

    Nigel Datta
    12 years ago

    Hi.
    I did look at that episode as Well.
    We dont have a genius bar in Denmark but have some Apple retailers but not sure how Well they could fix such a problem.
    I have more tha. 125 gb free so it should not be a problem. I have 8 gb og ram but on activitymonitor they seem All usted up. Thouhg no single app is resposible for a major drain. Afsked friends but they top find this Strange.

      12 years ago

      I'd suspect some installed software running in the background. It isn't always easy to use Activity Monitor to see what it could be. Have you checked your Login Items to see what is launched when you start up?
      Look for a computer repair shop that handles Macs. Or a local Mac user group.

    KennyTHK
    12 years ago

    Try repair disk permissions

    Gordon Potter
    12 years ago

    If you have not rebooted the Mac, that is a first item. Next I would download Onyx (OnyxMac.com - it is free) and run it to empty other caches. The default settings are what I use.

    Mr Anthony Cotton
    12 years ago

    I first had a Mac Mini about 8 yrs ago it only had 1GB memory,and has you say i used it over a long period of time. Even after a couple of minutes the spinning disk appeared all the time. I have just watched your video. The part where it says empty the Cache then a pop up says Are you sure you want to empty the Cache. This puts me off,because i am not that technically minded. I have an iMac now,and i have had Photoshop,iTunes,and downloads off YouTube Downloader all running at the same time. No spinning disc yet. I do not know how you reboot the computer. No Apple Store near me.

    Mr Anthony Cotton
    12 years ago

    I have had to look at your video again,because i can`t take all this in. It`s the prompts that Safari makes` me unsure. Thats a good tip from what the guy said about your ISP and the other thing i think it`s DNU. Thanks

    Nigel Datta
    12 years ago

    Looking at youtube and found a very instructive video about clean install. Have now done that and my computers are working a lot bette. However, I have only yet installed a few apps and are taking them one by one to see if there is one that is particular troublesome. Also not all muscifiles etc. have been copied yet so we will have to await the result.
    Hope that others can benefit from my experience.

      jcena6159
      12 years ago

      Hello guys,

      I am a Mac Os X user since 6 months, and now my Mac system is responding very slow. I have tried removing some third party softwares, and also tried updating my Mac OS. but the result is just a bit increase in performance. one of my friend suggested me to use a program...

      but I am very confused about going through this program. help me to find the best answer......

      Waiting for your comments!!

        12 years ago

        Try the things in the video linked in the first comment. If that doesn't help I would take it to an expert to have them look.

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