How to Speed Up Mac

Whatever computer you use, any brand, any operating system, it will get a little sluggish from time to time. Sometimes the reason may be a full hard drive slowing things down, or sometimes we just need more memory for the new age apps than the ones we got by default on our Apple Computer. However, for all other times, we just need to run timely maintenance and tweak the system a bit to get the best computing performance. The following points will tell you how to speed up Mac in some simple ways.

Clean Out Your Start-up Items
Certain applications or software launch themselves every time you start your computer or every time you login. You may be needing some of them frequently but most of them, you may have even forgotten about after installing. The point is that your computer has to process them unnecessarily every time it starts, and thus removing them will ensure that your computer has lesser and only useful applications to process. Thus its speed will increase. So go to Apple Menu → System Preferences → Accounts → Login Items, and remove the ones you don't use.

Recover Hard Disk Space
The OS of your computer uses the free space on your hard drive as virtual memory which is very important for general computing and processing. But if your hard drive is full, there will be shortage in the virtual memory and your computer will slow down. So free up your disk space by deleting unnecessary applications, emptying the trash can, etc. Now you will experience an instant rise in speed.

Declutter Your Desktop
Mac OS X treats each desktop icon as its own window, which incurs a small memory hit. So if you have hundreds of icons on your desktop your Mac is bound to slow down. Some people think this to be a minor issue but for extreme slow downs every bit is important. So declutter your desktop and move the icons to some other location.

Delete Unused Language Packs
Apple comes installed with many language packs so that you can experience your computer in your mother tongue. But whatever language you are using, you won't need any of the other languages. So uninstall all the unnecessary language packs for better performance.

Fonts
Sometimes the fonts installed on your computer get damaged or corrupted and occupy unnecessary space. To remove such corrupted fonts Open up Font Book, select all the fonts in the Font list and choose File → Validate Fonts. Font Book will open a new window with icons to show the font's status. Now delete all the corrupt or damaged fonts. Although this will not make a huge difference, it will make your system stable and clean.

iTunes
Smart playlists is a very useful thing for music buffs but they can bog down the working of Apple iTunes as they reload the songs on the list each time the program starts. If you have a smart playlist that does not vary often, then you should consider either deactivating live updating (by clicking file → edit smart play list) or copying the contents of the smart playlist into a regular playlist.

Update Your Apps and OS X
Running outdated versions of software and applications can slow down your computer due to compatibility issues. The latest applications will be more efficient and free of any bugs or problems. Thus, they will be faster, making your computer faster.

Run OnyX
OnyX is a simple system optimizer that repairs disk permissions and performs various other actions like clearing cache, old logs and temporary items. It clears out all the junk and detoxifies the computer thus allowing it to work more efficiently.

Cooling
Cooling is important for every computing device. Therefore, make sure your CPU fan is working fine and is cooling the processor as often as required.

More RAM
If nothing else works or if you still want more speed, add some more RAM to your computer. The RAM decides the processing speed of your computer, and the newer applications, games, etc., require more RAM.

Now that you know how to speed up Mac, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try it! Enjoy the experience. With these measures, you will feel like you are working on a brand new faster system altogether.