Macs are slick machines designed to run well for a long time without requiring a whole lot of maintenance from the user. However, your Macs are not immune to problems, bugs, and will eventually slow down with usage. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to improve your Mac computer’s performance. Use the following 9 tips to improve the performance and keep your Mac running fast.
9 Steps That’ll Make Your Mac Run Faster
The popularity of Macs perhaps has to do more with their ease of use than their design. Users like that with little housekeeping, you can keep using their Mac for many years. Although you can get by with little to no maintenance on your Mac, if you want your machine to perform at its best, you do need to be aware of some functions and maintenance best practices for your Mac.
Here are 9 steps that will improve the health and speed of your Mac quickly and for free:
In the following sections, we’ll look at each of the above tips in detail.
1. Clean Your Mac With OnyX
OnyX is a utility tool for Mac that verifies the structure of the system files and runs maintenance and cleaning tasks. It is capable of deleting caches, removing certain problematic folders and files, and rebuilding databases and indexes. It helps in maintaining the health of your Mac and improving its overall performance.
OnyX is a free and reliable application with a simple interface and makes it easy to perform maintenance tasks, which would otherwise require running complex commands using the command-line interface. Each version of macOS has its own specific version of OnyX, so be careful to download the right version that’s compatible with your OS.
Here’s a quick video tutorial that walks you through the process of downloading, installing, and cleaning your Mac with OnyX:
2. Scan Your Mac And Clean Malware With Malwarebytes
We have mentioned Malwarebytes in many of our previous cybersecurity-related blogs. It is the most well-known and most-loved anti-malware software that is available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Malwarebytes scans and removes malicious software, including rogue security software, adware, and spyware from your devices.
Malwarebytes has a clean interface, is easy to use, and is available in a free version as well as a paid one. The free version scans for and removes malware when started manually. While the paid version, additionally provides scheduled scans, automatically scans files when opened, blocks IP addresses of malicious websites, and scans only those services, programs, and device drivers that are currently in use.
In addition, Malwarebytes also includes protection against malware, ransomware, exploit, and malicious websites. You can use Malwarebytes as a supplement to any other antivirus software you may be using as it doesn’t interfere with any other antivirus or anti-malware software running on your device.
Here’s a quick video tutorial that walks you through the process of downloading, installing, scanning, and cleaning malware from your Mac with Malwarebytes:
3. Backup Your Data
Backing up your data is preventive maintenance that everyone must do. Backing up your data regularly, at least once a week can save you from the heartbreak of lost data. However, a backup is not only useful if your hard drive crashes, but it is also the only guaranteed safeguard against ransomware attacks. Using a full Time Machine backup is probably the best and easiest backup option for Mac users. It clones your entire hard drive making it easy to restore your Mac later on in case your hard drive runs into any problems.
You could also choose to backup only selected files and folders by copying them to an external hard drive. Although this is not an ideal solution, it works well for users who work with large files.
It is also recommended to invest in a cloud backup solution. Cloud solutions give you much greater safety and flexibility since your data can be accessed from anywhere and any device. In case a file is mistakenly deleted or if your hard drive crashes, it can be restored from anywhere. You don’t have to be carrying around your backup hard drive with you all the time.
4. Stop Non-essential Utilities And Services Running In The Background
Utilities and services such as Bluetooth, cloud-based services, printers, home file-sharing networks, etc. that run in the background are often the culprits behind sluggish Mac computers. Even though you may not need them, while these services are running they can monopolize your RAM and slow down your computer.
You can find out how many utilities and services are running in the top navigation bar, on the upper right corner of your screen. The icons that are lined up alongside your battery and Wi-Fi icons tell you all the utilities that are currently running. The more there are, the more sluggish your computer is likely to be. Closing the non-essential utilities and services will free up the RAM and improve your Mac’s performance.
5. Run Disk Utility
Disk utility is a tool that can check for and fix formatting and directory structure errors on your Mac storage device. It can also be used to fix certain disk problems such as multiple apps quitting unexpectedly, corrupted files, external devices not working properly, or your computer not starting up.
You can start by going to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
The Disk Utility tool can be used for repairing disk permissions and it is important to run it once every 2-3 months to keep your Mac storage healthy and fully functional. You can check out Apple’s disk utility guide to learn what it can do on different versions of macOS.
6. Close The Apps When You Aren’t Using Them
Most of the time, the main reason why your Mac runs slow is because of too many applications running in the background. Some of them may not even be needed but they keep running in the background, hogging precious RAM and slowing down your system. How many applications are running on your Mac right now? Do you need all of them to be running?
The more applications you have running, the less RAM is available for the application that you actually need right now. The applications running in the background monopolize RAM and slow down your Mac. All you need to do is to close down the unnecessary applications and your Mac will run faster.
Many people who are accustomed to using Windows simply click the red button in the top-left of the window, believing that closes the application. But closing applications works differently in Mac than in Windows. In a Mac, closing an application window doesn’t actually close the application but only closes the window while the application is still running in the background. When you hit the command+tab key combination, you’ll see all of the applications that are open. The more applications you see, the more likely it is that they are causing your Mac to become sluggish.
You can close an application by clicking on the application in the navigation bar and selecting the “Quit application” menu item. A faster way is to use the key combination “Command + Q”. After you’ve closed all of the unnecessary applications, you should see an improvement in the performance of your Mac.
In addition to closing applications, it is also a good idea to close out tabs in your web browsers, especially resource-heavy ones like Chrome. The Great Suspender was a popular browser extension that reduced Chrome's memory footprint by suspending tabs and releasing RAM capacity; very handy if you tend to have a lot of tabs open at the same time. However, recently the Great Suspender has been flagged as malware, so we are not recommending it anymore.
7. Delete Unnecessary Files
Keeping your Mac laptop free of clutter seems like a no-brainer, especially if you have the smaller or slimmer models with less hard drive capacity. Although the storage technology has improved significantly in recent years, especially with respect to cost, so has the size of files. Image files are usually tens of MBs while Video files often run into tens of GBs.
It is common to see a reduction in Mac performance when your storage exceeds 90% of your storage capacity. Regularly cleaning out old, unnecessary files such as photos, videos, documents, etc. helps you conserve hard disk space and ensures that your Mac runs smoothly. The best practice is to have at least 10% of your hard drive space free to ensure good performance.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to keep your desktop clean. Many Mac users like to keep their frequently used applications, documents, and folders on their desktop. This habit can cause your Mac to slow down because of the demands it puts on your RAM. For displaying each of the icons on your desktop, some amount of RAM is needed. So the more files you have on your desktop, the slower your machine will be.
So keep your Mac, especially your desktop as free of clutter as possible; keep your applications in your Applications folder and keep your files in folders on your hard drive. In any case, clearing out the clutter helps not just the machine but also the user. Fewer files kept well organized contributes to productivity and is easy on the eye.
8. Update Your Software (But Not Right Away)
Software and applications quite frequently receive updates or patches. These updates improve the functionality, usability, performance, and occasionally fix security vulnerabilities. Therefore, keeping your Mac up-to-date is necessary to keep it equipped to handle vulnerabilities and to avoid bugs.
If you feel that it’s OK to ignore an update, just remember the WannaCry ransomware attack. Even though a patch was released to safeguard Windows against such attacks, many companies still fell victim to the ransomware because they hadn’t updated their software.
However, often Apple or other app developers release software updates that may have unforeseen bugs or performance issues. This happened in the case of macOS Catalina, which had huge compatibility issues. So, unless it is a critical security update, it is usually best to wait a few days before updating your software to avoid having to deal with bugs and performance issues. It is also a good idea to keep an eye on articles and blogs to know when it’s safe to update.
9. Restart Or Shutdown Your Mac
Restarting your system is one of the first steps you should take if your Mac becomes slow. When you shut down your Mac, your system clears out the RAM and frees up any excess usage, which otherwise couldn’t be cleared. It also kills processes running in the background that you no longer need.
Shutting down and restarting your Mac is a simple way to remedy slow systems. In fact, it is a common step employed across different devices and software. You will be pleasantly surprised how often this easy step just simply works.
Conclusion
The next time you notice your Mac becoming sluggish or if you just want to perform routine maintenance, which is highly recommended, follow the tips listed above and you should see a definite improvement in the performance of your computer. And the best part is that you can do this in just a few minutes and for free.
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About The Author
Hari SubediMarketing Manager at Jones IT
Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, Small Business, and Mindfulness. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.