1. Use Activity Monitor
If you want to see what apps are using up your system, open the Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.
Activity Monitor shows all the processes on your Mac (some of which you can’t or shouldn’t close) so click on View and Windowed Processes. Now click on the CPU button and the CPU column to list all programs by the amount of CPU they are using.
You can also use this to see what memory, disk and network processes are using up resources. A new feature in Mavericks is Energy that enables you to see which apps and processes are using up the most amount of energy from your battery.
2.Manage your startup items
Obviously, a clean startup helps speed up a Macbook that’s running slowly. No wasted time waiting for Chrome, Firefox, or Safari to load. Instant access! Well, when your Mac boots up, it runs a lot of unnecessary apps that slow your Mac down.
Take control of your Mac again! Go to your System Preferences > Users & Groups and then click on your username. Now click on Login Items. Select a program you don’t immediately need when your Mac starts up, and then click the “–” button below.
Taking care of these startup programs is an easy way to help add speed to your Mac.
3. Turn off visual effects
Most Macs are now capable of running Mac OS X Mavericks without any trouble. But some people prefer to keep the dock static to prevent slowdown. Click System Preferences > Dock and uncheck the following check boxes:
- Magnification
- Animate opening applications
- Automatically hide and show the dock
- Turn off accessibility
Now click on Minimize windows using and change Genie Effect to Scale Effect.
4. Update your software (and set to auto update)
Make sure you perform a software update for Mac OS X and all the apps installed in Mac. Click on the Apple icon in the menu bar and choose Software Update (or open Software Update in the App Store).
If you have apps purchased outside of the App Store, they will need to be updated separately. You’ll usually find Check for Software Update from the program name in the menu bar.
AppFresh is an app that can help keep track of all your software and checks it constantly to see if updates are available. Some apps can also self-update by integrating with AppFresh.
You should also make sure that Mac OS X keeps itself up to date. Click on System Preferences > App Store and ensure that Automatically Check For Updates is ticked. You can also tick Install App Updates, which will automatically ensure that apps are updated.
5. Clean up your hard drive
Cleaning your hard drive is by far the best and easiest way to speed up your Macbook. Go through your hard drive and clean out everything that’s slowing it down.
What exactly is slowing it down? Caches, logs, apps, widgets, language packs, plugins, hidden trash, and large files. Get rid of these things to increase the speed of your Mac. It’s true that you can do this all manually, but finding all of these items and removing them takes time. Plus, you have to know where to look.
Don’t worry; there are tools to help you clean out all the junk files. One of the best is Cleaner One! Cleaner One knows what files to remove, where they are, and how to completely remove them.
You just click Find Junk, check off any additional files you want cleaned, and then Clean to completely remove gigabytes of unnecessary files. It’s incredibly easy to use!
No wasted time. No headaches. Just a faster Mac.
Version: 1.4.1, For OS X 10.9+, 2.4 Mb space
I work for Trend Micro and the opinions expressed here are my own.
