Sooner or later you have to believe it: then you just notice that your Mac has become slow. Slower than you’re used to anyway. So what can you do when you notice this? You can always buy a new computer; first you can check some settings on your old Mac.
There are several reasons why a Mac is slow. That is why we propose a number of solutions in this article. The first solution is obvious, but is certainly worth mentioning: check if a macOS update is available.
Such updates can fix all kinds of problems, provided you have enough storage space. That could be another cause: too little storage space. You’d do well to keep five to twenty percent of your hard drive free if you don’t want your Mac to slow down.
You can do that by emptying the trash, removing apps you don’t use and throwing away large files. Sometimes it can be helpful to ditch (or at least move to an external drive) iTunes or iOS backups, make more use of cloud storage services, and optimize photos within Apple’s Photos app.
Mac slow? Look at your startup applications
As with Windows, you can set which apps start automatically after you turn on your Mac. This can save time in the long run, as you don’t have to manually activate those apps. But this puts some strain on your computer, so you might be able to get some apps out of that boot process. You can arrange this via the section for users and groups. Within this window, press the button for programs where you log in automatically. Select the software you want to remove from the startup list here.
It may also help to disable some widgets via the notification center. You can open it by clicking on the time and date and then pressing the edit button. Click the minus (-) button to remove a widget. Turning off visual effects can also help. You can then arrange that via the options for the dock and the menu bar. There you can disable the animation for opening programs, among other things. And via the display options, via the accessibility part, you can reduce the transparency. That saves system resources.
General tips
Finally, let’s take a look at some general tips:
- Don’t sync too much cloud data at once: When you sync many or large files via iCloud, Google Drive, or another cloud storage service, the Mac uses a lot of resources for that. It is a good idea to regularly check your files and to check whether they are still needed in the cloud.
- Set up a different Finder folder: When you want to open the Finder and the folder in question is full of files, it takes some extra time. Therefore, set a folder with fewer files or try to delete/move some files.
- Remove browser add-ons: Is only your browser slow on Mac? Then remove whatever add-ons you installed.
- Keep all your apps up to date: This option is self-explanatory. Apps that recently received an update may be able to fix recently discovered problems, making that app work quickly and smoothly again.
Your Mac should no longer be slow. If so, you may want to contact Apple Customer Service. Maybe it’s time for a new Mac? Then check it out MacBook offer from Bol.com.
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