Optimizing performance using OS X Lion

[MooPenguin32]

I purchased an iMac with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB in May 2010. I am currently using OS X Lion 10.7.2. Things are beginning to feel sluggish. I've been seeing the beach ball when doing things such as opening and closing certain programs like iPhoto and iTunes.

I was wondering if there were any steps I could take to optimize performance. Is there anything that anyone does routinely to ensure their Mac runs the best it can?

 

[bonesb]

Yes. My iMac has a slower clock speed but likely the faster processor, an i7. First thing you need to do is spend a few bucks and get the RAM upgraded from 4 GB to 8 GB - that's the best performance enhancement you can do for your iMac.

In your browsers, clear the cache.

In iPhoto, empty the trash. Deleting photos doesn't actually delete the photo - one of my employees had about 10GB of photos in his Mac's iPhoto Trash; emptying the iPhoto Trash allowed the app to actually work again!

For your System, attach a USB-driven keyboard. Then restart your iMac, then hold down the Shift key on the keyboard. Eventually, you'll see a progress bar, and it's OK to let go of the Shift key now. The iMac will eventually get to a login screen, and you'll want to Restart the iMac again. OS X is essentially UNIX, and there's performance routines built into each OS X Mac that generally run daily/weekly/monthly - if your Mac isn't on, the scripts don't run. Holding down the Shift key forces the Mac to run all of these scripts and the Repair Permissions scripts (the latter of which can be performed in Disk Utility).

Quit applications you don't need running.

 

[MooPenguin32]

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it. I also installed Onyx and saw that the Mac has been running the daily, weekly, and monthly routines. After running some things using Onyx and rebooting, I found that I did gain some speed.

 

[bonesb]

About Onyx - be careful with it. I assumed you were pretty new to Macs - the tips I'd passed on for the System have been around since before OSX, so they're generally safe. I use Onyx too, but there's some features/commands that can much up your system and workspace, but the developer is great about qualifying "tweaks" as such. FYI.

 

[MooPenguin32]

Thanks for the heads up. I read an online article that seemed to thoroughly go through all of the things Onyx is capable of. After reading the article, I went to the Automation tab and selected Repair Permissions under Maintenance and System Cache and User Cache under Cleaning.

While I am generally new to Mac having only used it for about a year and a half, I have read a lot about OS X and keep up to date with the different things you can do. I'm a technology oriented person, but certainly don't want to do anything that can mess up my system and understand that it can be easy to do such a thing.

Again, thanks for the tips. I really appreciate it.

 

[jerrilucas2]

I purchased an iMac with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB in May 2010. I am currently using OS X Lion 10.7.2. Things are beginning to feel sluggish. I've been seeing the beach ball when doing things such as opening and closing certain programs like iPhoto and iTunes.

I was wondering if there were any steps I could take to optimize performance. Is there anything that anyone does routinely to ensure their Mac runs the best it can?

Slow PC speed always remain a major point of concern for PC users. The problem can arises either with Mac users or windows uses. There are several factors which can make your Mac very slow. However with time because of frequent use and low maintenance you will notice several problem with your Mac. If you are facing trouble while opening or closing iPhoto or iTunes then don't worry. There are some manual ways by which you can easily optimize the Mac Performance Some of the common are: Close nonessential dashboard widgets, after installing new programs repair its permission, disable automatic protection feature of utilities, run Mac OS X maintenance script on regular basis, Skip iTunes visuals in the background and so on. So these are few common steps which you can perform to get better performance. However in case if you are not technically well skilled and are not sure about these manual steps then you have another option too in the form of PC speed up software. The software will check the entire file system, resolve any problem which are encountered and helps to optimize the PC performance. For more information on different manual steps in more detail, you can visit: http://optimizemac.com