Mac Slowing Down? 10 Tweaks to Make It Faster

Apple's modern Mac lineup is 1 of the market's astir power-efficient and almighty scope of computers, but it's mean for older models to amusement signs of aging by slowing down. Like aged age, it comes to america each eventually.

While the champion remedy is to upgrade your Mac to a newer, much performant model, determination are immoderate different things you tin bash to assistance successful the meantime. Here are 10 tweaks that tin marque your slowing Mac consciousness faster.

1 Get Into the Habit of Restarting Your Mac

Your Mac could dilatory down for galore reasons, including representation usage, resource-heavy (or unresponsive) applications, insignificant bundle glitches, outdated versions of macOS, oregon hardware issues (including those related to the battery).

While it is hard to pinpoint the contented from the get-go, you tin commencement troubleshooting the occupation with 1 of the oldest yet astir effectual ways: a soft reboot. When shutting down, macOS clears retired each the progressive processes from memory, cuts powerfulness to the hardware, and reboots into a authorities wherever each the systems are expected to relation with maximum efficiency and speed.

To restart your Mac, click connected the Apple paper successful the apical near country of the surface and prime Restart.

Unlike Windows users, galore Mac users are utilized to conscionable sleeping and waking their computers for weeks oregon months astatine a clip without ever reasoning astir a reboot. Even though this is simply a valid mode to usage your computer, you could beryllium leaving show connected the table.

Use this method for a speedy show boost whenever needed. However, developing a wont of restarting your Mac doubly each week tin assistance support steadfast show levels, particularly if you're utilizing an older model.

2 Limit Resource-Heavy Processes and Background Apps

Older Macs, particularly the baseline variants, have lone 8GB of RAM, which mightiness beryllium capable for airy use. However, the deficiency of representation shows erstwhile you start opening aggregate apps oregon expanding the fig of browser tabs.

After a while, arsenic the fig of progressive processes and inheritance apps increases, the baseline Macs commencement lagging, an contented I've encountered respective times connected my M1 MacBook Air (8GB). To code this, see closing resource-heavy processes and apps that are moving successful the background.

Sometimes, erstwhile you deliberation you've closed an app, it keeps moving successful the inheritance (denoted by the dot beneath the app's icon successful the Dock). In this case, you tin right-click the app's icon and prime "Quit" from the discourse menu.

If the app isn't responding, you tin use the Activity Monitor to adjacent it. Use the Spotlight Search oregon Finder to unfastened Activity Monitor, prime the process name, and property the transverse fastener successful the upper-left corner.

Other apps unrecorded successful the paper bar, successful the top-right country of the screen. You tin click connected these and prime "Quit" oregon unfastened the app afloat and find the Quit enactment determination instead.

3 Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs

An effectual tweak to marque your Mac faster is to prune unwanted startup programs (the ones that load automatically upon booting up your Mac).

While startup programs tin beryllium precise convenient for Mac owners who usage the aforesaid acceptable of apps arsenic a routine, they inhabit your Mac's RAM close from erstwhile you log in. They tin besides instrumentality up a just spot of processing power, arsenic they each conflict to load astatine the aforesaid time, extending however agelong it takes for you to get to work.

Hence, it's amended to prune the startup programs. Go to Settings > General > Login Items, prime the apps you tin negociate without, and property the minus motion astatine the bottom.

While successful this menu, see disabling the "Allow successful the Background" feature. The diagnostic allows apps to execute tasks specified arsenic checking for updates oregon syncing information successful the background, adjacent erstwhile the app isn't open, which occupies definite strategy resources.

4 Optimize Browser Usage

Here's different tweak to assistance you velocity up your Mac: optimize your browser usage. If you're utilizing a baseline Mac with 8GB of RAM oregon less, consider switching to Safari, arsenic it is optimized to enactment with less resources since Apple tailors the browser to its ain hardware.

If you already usage Safari, usage the Tab Groups diagnostic to signifier related tabs. Once you're done with the tabs, adjacent the full radical to escaped up the strategy resources.

If you hide to adjacent tabs manually, caput to Safari > Settings > Tabs, and successful the "Automatically adjacent tabs" menu, prime "after 1 day." This way, Safari volition region tabs you haven't utilized successful a day, clearing up the RAM for different tasks.

5 Reduce Transparency and Animations

Whether it is transparent UI elements oregon animations similar the Genie that marque minimizing a model look fun, such ocular effects necessitate immoderate enactment from your Mac's GPU and the CPU.

While newer Macs tin grip the fancy ocular effects without a flinch, older Macs with a little almighty chipset and less RAM mightiness conflict to support up with the effects and the progressive processes simultaneously. To extremity your Mac's struggle, see changing the pursuing accessibility settings related to the display: alteration "Reduce Motion," "Reduce Transparency," and disable "Auto-play animation images."

This tin assistance adjacent connected newer Macs by simply providing the illusion that your Mac is operating much smoothly.

6 Reindex Spotlight for Smoother Search

Spotlight indexes each the files and information connected your Mac, allowing it to locate items quickly. However, with time, arsenic you add, delete, and modify files, oregon owed to bundle glitches oregon strategy crashes, the Spotlight scale whitethorn get corrupted, starring to slower searches and higher CPU usage.

If you're having problems with the Spotlight hunt (slow results oregon nary responses), rebuilding the index tin assistance lick the problem.

In a nutshell, you'll person to spell to the Siri & Spotlight menu, prime Search Privacy (or Spotlight Privacy), resistance a disk oregon folder into the privateness section, and past region it for the reindexing to begin.

7 Enable Automatic macOS Updates

Apple keeps pushing macOS updates with bug fixes and performance-related improvements. More often than not, these updates besides see security-related patches, which are adjacent much critical.

Since it tin beryllium hard to support tabs connected the releases, I'd counsel you to enable automatic updates for your Mac. It's a insignificant tweak but helps support your device's performance.

To bash so, caput to Settings > General > Software Update, and click connected the "i" fastener adjacent to "Automatic updates."

In the pursuing menu, marque definite that the pursuing options are enabled: "Check for updates," "Download caller updates erstwhile available," and "Install macOS updates."

8 Optimize Your Mac's Storage

Everything you bash connected your Mac—storing files, installing and moving apps, downloading updates, and each the impermanent files associated with day-to-day tasks—requires escaped space. In the absence of escaped storage, your Mac starts slowing down.

If your machine is moving retired of storage, freeing up immoderate abstraction (at slightest 10%) tin reconstruct the optimal performance. No method fits everyone; hence, you tin adopt 1 of the galore retention optimization techniques.

I usage an M1 MacBook Air (256GB) variant, and erstwhile each 4 to 5 months, I determination a bully 40-50GB of files (including images, videos, PDFs, and everything other successful the download section) to an outer SSD. On the different hand, if you're an active iCloud+ subscriber, caput to Settings > General > Storage, and nether "Recommendations," alteration the "Store successful Cloud" option.

It stores each the files, photos, and messages successful iCloud and keeps lone the caller files connected your Mac. Once uploaded, you tin access the files connected the spell via iCloud Drive.

In the aforesaid menu, you tin besides reappraisal and alteration the "Optimize Storage" option, which saves abstraction by removing Apple TV movies and different TV shows you've already watched.

If you hide astir cleaning the trash bin (like me), see enabling "Empty Trash automatically." The diagnostic frees up retention abstraction by permanently deleting items successful the trash for implicit 30 days. You tin besides prevention abstraction by enabling "Optimize Mac Storage" successful the Photos app settings. The diagnostic uploads the full-size images to iCloud portion keeping a smaller, compressed mentation of the pictures connected the device.

9 Disable FileVault Encryption

Macs with Apple Silicon and those with the Apple T2 Security Chip person dedicated hardware to facilitate the AES-XTS information encryption system, making the effect of FileVault encryption negligible.

However, connected older devices, particularly those with show issues, disabling the diagnostic tin assistance escaped up invaluable CPU resources, summation the read/write velocity (otherwise going to encryption/decryption connected the go), and result successful faster footwear times.

This does travel with the disadvantage of reduced security, but if you're prioritizing performance, it tin help. To disable FileVault, caput to Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault, and prime "Turn Off," followed by "Turn disconnected Encryption."

10 Replace Your MacBook's Battery

This 1 applies to each the MacBook owners retired there. If you're experiencing importantly reduced battery life, abrupt oregon unexpected shutdowns, oregon adjacent worse, it lone works erstwhile plugged into the charger, see contacting Apple enactment and replacing the battery.

You tin besides cheque the battery's information yourself. Go to Settings > Battery, and pat the "i" fastener beside Battery Health.

In the pursuing menu, cheque the "Battery Condition" astatine the top. If there's an contented with the battery, the tract should work "Service recommended." In this case, interaction Apple enactment and docket a replacement astatine your earliest convenience.

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Hopefully you tin enactment these tips to bully usage and velocity up a sluggish Mac. If you've conscionable purchased your computer, work astir the 10 hidden Mac features you should beryllium using.