6 Ways to Speed-Up Your Mac

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Wondering why your MacBook or iMac is running slowly? Whether yours is just a hand-me-down or you’ve just updated your OS, you can sometimes experience a sluggish performance from your beloved Mac. Don’t easily trust and rely on programs that claim they can optimize your Mac’s performance. If Windows users can get the most out of Windows 10, MacBook and iMac users can improve their machine’s performance, too.

Speed up the performance of your MacBook or iMac by following these simple steps:

1. Clear the Desktop

Mac’s OS takes time to load everything that’s on your home screen, which can cause its sluggish performance. Yes, that includes the icons or thumbnail of photos and even those icons placed on the dock. Save your laptop from wasting resources that load unnecessary files and organize these files into folders or delete them.

Cleaning up your desktop is as simple as dragging all the unnecessary files to Trash and then emptying it. If you want a more advanced and technical way of cleaning your desktop, hide all your desktop icons using the Terminal application.

2. Completely Close Apps before Shutting Down

Every time you close a window, you will see a dot under its icon (can be seen at the Dock). The dot means it’s not yet 100% closed because it is still running on your MacBook’s background.  If your Mac starts to run slowly, close unnecessary applications that are still running. Instead of clicking the red Close button at the topmost right of the window, right-click the icon and choose “Quit.”

3. Clean Up the Hard Drive

Your Mac’s “virtual memory” plays a vital role: the more data it contains, the less amount of memory your machine can use to load and run smoothly. To check the available memory of your Mac, click on the Apple logo at the topmost right of the screen > About this Mac > Storage.

If you see that you’re almost out of memory, an obvious solution to this problem is to free up space on your hard drive. Doing so will freely generate more memory and speed up your Mac devices’ performance. It will also be great if you can find and delete all duplicated files, so your Mac will not have useless programs hidden in its memory.

4. Reduce Transparency

Transparent windows may look flashy, but unfortunately, they can slow down your computer’s performance. Whenever you open a new window, this eye-candy effect uses up a lot of memory. If you want your Mac’s performance to go faster, it’s best if you reduce the levels of visual effects and use solid windows instead of the fancy transparent ones.

To reduce the transparency, go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display. Then check the box next to “Reduce transparency.”

5. Always Check the Memory Usage of Apps

You can use the “Activity Monitor” to check for apps that usually take up a lot of your computer’s running memory. Close the programs that you no longer need, so you use your Mac’s running memory with other applications that are more important.

To do so, open the Launchpad. Then in the Search Bar, type in “Activity Monitor.” Or just launch the Spotlight Search, type “Activity Monitor,” and hit enter.

6. Manage Startup Apps

Startup apps automatically run the moment you login into your Mac. If fewer or none of these apps are running, the faster your laptop will load as you start using it. No more wasting precious time waiting for your needed programs to open immediately.

To manage your startup apps, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups. Check the box next to the programs that you do not need to immediately run as you open your laptop and then click the minus (-) sign below.

If you want to add apps, simply click on the plus (+) sign then select your desired programs.

Trusting apps that promise to speed up a Mac is fine, but be careful because some are only viruses in disguise. With these simple DIY techniques to improve your Mac’s performance, you will not need those apps anymore and risk damaging your device.

How about you? How is your experience adjusting your Mac to speed it up? Share other ways to speed up your Mac in the comments section below.

This guest post was written by Alex Gomez, a social media professional who dabbles as a freelance tech writer and photographer. This gadget and car enthusiast also plays video games and keeps himself updated on technology news in his spare time.