Calling all our Mac users! While most of our guides are designed for the average Windows PC user, today we’ve compiled a guide for how to speed up Your slow Apple Mac computer for all our Mac users out there.
Whether you want ‘slow MacBook fixes‘ or ‘how to speed up a Mac‘, we have you covered! Continue reading for 5 things you can do when your Mac computer is running slow.
FixMeTip: If you don’t have a Mac, check out our series about “How to Solve a Slow PC” for Windows computers.
Fix 1. Close Any Unused Programs
It may sound obvious, but one common reason your iMac or MacBook is running slow might be due to the number of programs that are running in the background.
Like a human brain, when you multitask on your Mac computer, all the tasks running simultaneously will slow each other down, so it’s best to close any that you are not using.
Luckily, it is very simple and fast to close any unused programs on your Mac. On the bottom of your Mac home screen, you will see a grey ribbon (called a “Dock”) showing icons of some of the applications running on your computer. Applications that are open and running will have a small grey dot underneath them.
To close these open applications, simply hover over the icon, right-click with your mouse and choose ‘Quit’. If you don’t have right-click set up on your Mac, hold down the CTRL or ‘control’ key before clicking on the application to bring up the ‘Quit’ option.
FixMeTip: If you see a ‘Force Quit’ option instead of ‘Quit’, then it’s likely you have identified the program that’s slowing down your entire computer, so be sure to “Force Quit’ any applications that have this option.
Fix 2. Remove Any Visual Effects
Visual effects can be fun and exciting when you first bring home your Mac computer. But over time, the excitement of seeing animations of windows minimizing or maximizing or other visual effects wears off until you barely notice them. It’s best to turn them off to give your iMac or MacBook a boost in speed.
To turn off these visual effects, go to “System Preferences” > “Dock”. In the ‘Settings’ window that shows up, uncheck the two boxes saying “Animate opening applications” and “Automatically hide and show the Dock”.
Fix 3. Clean Your Digital Desktop
When you place a document or folder on your Mac computer’s desktop, you are taking up precious RAM space which can slow down your Mac computer’s performance. As a general rule, the fewer icons your Mac has, the faster it will be.
A good rule of thumb is to place any used documents and files in a folder in your Finder or place them into the Trash bin if you no longer need them. If you recently moved a lot of things into your Trash bin, it’s a good habit to right-click or CTRL+click on your trash bin to “Empty Trash” so that the files will be permanently deleted.
After you have cleared away unused items on your desktop, restart your Mac computer to see if you experience an increase in speed.
Fix 4. Uninstall Applications
Like your home or office space, your Mac will function most efficiently when you have less clutter in general. A good way to start a major decluttering of your Mac computer is to uninstall or move any unused applications.
A quick way to uninstall these unwanted applications is to go to your “Finder” > “Applications”, and then right-click or CTRL+ click on the icon of the application you want to uninstall, and then select “Move to Trash”.
Fix 5. Check for Viruses.
There are many types of viruses out there, and if your iMac or MacBook computer happens to have viruses running in the background that you have no knowledge of, they might be the reason why your Mac is running slow.
You can manually check your Mac computer and delete any suspicious files or programs to speed things up. However, malicious programs try to hide from regular security software. That’s why we recommend a deep clean by running a FixMeStick scan instead!
We designed the FixMeStick to scan your Mac computer and check for hidden viruses. So the next time you find your Mac computer is running slow, run a FixMeStick scan to make sure that your Mac’s sluggish performance isn’t caused by a dangerous virus.
FixMeNote: FixMeStick is currently compatible with Intel Based Macs from 2006 to 2017. Mac with FusionDrives and or from 2018 and later are not yet compatible.
If our tips above didn’t solve your issue, you may want to try the StartMeStick. The StartMeStick turns any computer into a fast, secure, and private one and can bring an old computer back from the dead! Simply plug it in and do anything you want online. Pull it out and your computer goes back to the way it was.
The StartMeStick never slows down because it doesn’t save anything; it doesn’t collect the junk that causes frustrating errors, crashes, freezes, and slowdowns. Give it a try for 30 days and see what you think! DON’T WAIT, check it out HERE.
What are some of the things you do to speed up your Mac? Share them with us in the comments below!
8 comments