If you are wondering how to speed up your Mac, you are definitely not alone. While Apple machines are some of the best computers out there and feel blazingly fast when you first get them, you’ll inevitably find yourself speeding up your Mac after a few years. As you install and use more and more software, your computer will become more and more cluttered with files. Inefficient applications will start to eat up your Mac’s resources and your computer will have to work harder to keep up with modern demands.
But don’t consider trashing your Mac just yet! While it may seem slow at the moment, there are many steps you can take to speed up your computer. Plus, you could start seeing improvements within minutes, and hopefully catch the worst slowdown offenders so you can enjoy faster computing for some time to come.
So let’s not stay. If you want to know how to speed up your Mac, you’ve come to the right place!
How to speed up your Mac in 9 easy steps
Follow these steps to make a Mac run faster:
- Turn off your Mac and turn it back on
- clear the cache
- Force close unwanted apps
- Update your program
- Keep your apps up to date
- Check login items
- perform first aid
- Kill background processes with Activity Monitor
- Have a spring cleaning
Read on for detailed instructions for each step.
1. Turn your Mac off and back on
Yes, it may sound cliché, but restarting your Mac can positively affect the speed at which the computer runs. It will free up the machine’s memory and delete old cache files. Certainly, if you’ve left your Mac running for a while without shutting down, this has to be your first step.
2. Clear cache
If restarting has not fixed the problem, then you should learn how to clear cache on mac. This will help your computer run more efficiently by removing corrupted temporary files or simply reducing the number cluttering up your Mac.
3. Force close unwanted apps
It’s possible that you simply have too many apps open, in which case they’ll be running in the background and consuming your Mac’s resources.
Look at the apps in your Dock. Any one with a dot below it is open and can be right-clicked to close. If they don’t close, you’ll need to force close them.
1. First, click the apple icon in the upper left corner and select force quit.
two. Now select the application you want to close and click force quit.
4. Update your software
Apple issues macOS system updates fairly regularly, and since they’re free, there’s no excuse not to install them. Apple will often fix performance issues within those updates, so if your slowdown is due to an OS glitch, here’s one way to fix it.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and select About This Mac.
2. Click Software Update.
3. If an update is available, click Update Now. It’s also a good idea check the box next to Automatically keep my Mac up to date. That way you will never forget to check.
5. Keep your apps up to date
You should also make sure that you are running the latest versions of your applications. Developers can make tweaks that improve an app’s speed and efficiency, so check an app’s website to see if it has the latest version.
If you installed an app from the App Store, life is even easier.
1. Launch the App Store app Y click Updates in the menu on the left.
2. Browse your installed apps and also click Update All either click update along with specific applications for the latest versions.
6. Check login items
If your Mac is slow to start up, you might have too many items open when you sign in. Your machine has a lot going on when it first turns on, and launching many applications at the same time aggravates the problem and can cause serious drops in performance. Maybe it’s time to remove unnecessary apps from login items.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and select System Preferences.
two. Now click Users and Groups.
3. Select the Login Items tab after click on the padlock to make changes.
4. Highlight an item that you don’t want to start at login and click the minus icon to remove it
7. Perform First Aid
If you have an older Mac, you should check the hard drive to make sure there are no obvious problems. And no, we don’t mean trying to get it out of the computer: you just need to run First Aid.
1. Release Finder and so click Applications from the menu on the left. Now select disk utility.
2. Select your hard drive in the menu on the left and click first aid of the icons at the top of the window.
3. When prompted, click run. The process can take between a few minutes and several hours. You will be shown a list of possible problems and ways to fix them.
8. Kill background processes with Activity Monitor
It’s a good idea to see what’s going on behind the scenes and check if a particular application or process is proving to be processor hungry. You can do this using a built-in app called Activity Monitor.
1. Release Finder and so click Applications from the menu on the left. Now select activity monitor.
2. Look under the CPU tab and see which processes seem to be making heavy use of the processor.
3. If you think a particular process is problematic or if you see something that isn’t responding, click on the item.
Four. Click on the X at the top of the window and decide if you want click Quit or Force Quit to finish the process. You can also follow the same steps when checking the Memory tab.
9. Do some spring cleaning
Even if it’s not spring, there’s something cathartic about cleaning. You can do this by brutally evaluating the many applications that you will undoubtedly have stored on your Mac.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and select About This Mac.
two. Now select the Storage tab.
3. See how much space you are using and how much is available. Don’t you like what you see? After click Manage.
4. Now you can do some housework. Look at the recommendations: It can automatically delete Apple TV movies and shows you’ve watched, for example.
If you want your discarded files to be emptied automatically after 30 days, click Light. Or, to decide if content and documents are needed, click review files.
5. Now select Applications in the left menu and see which apps take up the most space.
Decide if you need them or not. If you want to clear yourself, Click an app Y click delete.
If all else fails, contact Apple Support
Finally, if all those steps don’t resolve the issue, it’s worth contacting Apple Support (opens in a new tab) for assistance. Also worth knowing how to make a date in Genius Bar at an Apple Store so your device can be checked out in person (this isn’t as convenient with a Mac desktop as it is with a laptop).
And there you have it. Hopefully those steps have resolved the issue you are having. But if you also have problems with a PC, don’t worry. You can also learn how to speed up Windows 11. It’s also a good idea to try our three easy tips to speed up your Wi-Fi. And why not check out 9 MacBook Pro Tips Everyone Needs To Know? If you’re looking to uncover some of the hidden features of your Apple gear, start with how to remotely control your Mac from your iPhone or iPad.
