Why Does My Apple Mac Run So Slow?

To determine why your Mac is running slowly, there are some potential causes that you can look into.

Your computer’s startup disk may not have enough free disk space or it may just be just the time to update your Mac. There are many solutions and we have listed 9 Quick steps to get your Mac up to speed.

By following these steps, you should be able to improve your Mac’s performance and speed-up its operation.

1. Its Time to Update your Operating System.

Putting off updates for too long can be a major problem for your computer. Not only will it become slower, but you may also miss out on important security patches and bug fixes that could protect your system from malicious attacks. It’s never convenient to stop what you’re doing and update, but it’s necessary to keep your computer running smoothly.

The best way to ensure that you don’t put off updates for too long is to install them as soon as they are available. The next time the computer alerts you of a macOS update, be sure to install it immediately. If you need to perform a manual update, go to the Apple icon in the top left corner and select System Preferences. From there, click on Software Update and follow the instructions provided by the system. Taking these steps will help keep your computer up-to-date and secure from potential threats.

2. Check if your Hard Drive is Nearly full

When your hard drive is almost full, it can be a frustrating experience. Your computer may start to slow down, and you may not be able to save any more files. This can be especially problematic if you have a lot of documents or photos saved directly to your Mac’s internal hard drive.

Fortunately, there are some solutions that can help you free up space on your Mac and prevent this issue from happening again in the future. First, check your Mac’s storage space and delete any unnecessary files or programs that are taking up too much room.

You should also consider using an external hard drive to store files you don’t need right away; this will give your Mac’s internal drive more breathing room and ensure that your stuff is protected even if your computer glitches or dies. With these tips, you’ll be able to keep your hard drive running smoothly for years to come!

3. Find and kill resource-consuming applications and processes

When it comes to managing the resources of your Mac, one of the most important tasks is to find and kill resource-consuming processes. These processes can take up a hefty chunk of your processor power, preventing other processes from running efficiently. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to check what’s causing the excessive CPU load: Activity Monitor.

To open Activity Monitor, you can either use your spotlight (Command + Space) or search for it in any Finder window. Once you’ve opened the Activity Monitor, click on the CPU tab and select the CPU drop-down to view the processes with the highest CPU usage. It’s best to watch this list for a few minutes as the processes will keep moving up and down on it. If you identify any process that is taking up too much of your processor power, you can easily kill it by selecting it and clicking on “Quit Process” at the top of Activity Monitor.

4. Try and Limit the apps running in backgrounds.

Having too many apps running in the background can be a major drain on your Mac’s performance. When you have too many apps open, your system can become sluggish and unresponsive. To help keep your Mac running smoothly, it’s important to limit the number of apps that are running in the background.

The easiest way to check which apps are currently active is by looking at your dock. Any app with a small dot beside its icon is currently open and running in the background. To close an app, simply right-click on its icon and select Quit from the menu. This will stop it from using up valuable resources and help keep your Mac running optimally.

5. Manage login items on startup

Logging into your Mac should be a quick and easy process. However, if you have too many apps set to auto-launch on startup, it can slow down the process and make it difficult to get started on your tasks. Fortunately, you can take control of the login items and manage them in order to speed up the process.

To manage the login items, first open System Preferences from the Apple menu. Then select Users & Groups and click Login Items at the top of the window. Here you will see a list of all the apps that are set to launch when you log in. You can add or remove any app from this list by simply checking or unchecking its box next to its name. This way, you can ensure that only essential apps are launching when you log in, making for a faster startup experience.

6. You have too many browser tabs open

Having too many browser tabs open can be a major issue for your Mac. Each tab is essentially a separate process, and the more you have open, the harder your Mac has to work. This can quickly eat up memory and slow down your computer. To see which Safari tabs are using up your Mac’s memory, you can go to the Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. This will show you how much memory each tab is using so that you can close any unnecessary ones.

It’s important to keep an eye on how many tabs you have open in order to keep your Mac running smoothly. If you find yourself with too many tabs open, try closing some of them or use a browser extension that allows you to save multiple tabs as one group so that they don’t take up as much memory. Keeping track of your browser tabs will help ensure that your Mac runs at its best performance.

You could even try a different browser altogether such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

7. Turn Visual Effects Off

Visual effects are a great way to make your Mac look more aesthetically pleasing, but they can also take up valuable system resources. If you’re looking to improve your computer performance, turning off the visual effects of macOS is a great place to start.

Then set the Minimize windows using option to Scale effect. This will help reduce the amount of memory used by these animations and free up some of your system resources for other tasks. Additionally, you should also change your display settings so that they are optimized for performance rather than looks. This will ensure that your computer runs as efficiently as possible without sacrificing any of its visual appeal.

8 : Spotlight Search is Indexing

Spotlight is the search engine built into OS X, and it can cause slowdowns when it indexes drive data. This is especially true after reboots, major system updates, or when a new hard drive is connected to the Mac. Those with SSDs may not feel the slowdown as much, but for those still using spinning hard disk drives, it can be quite noticeable. To check if Spotlight is causing slowdowns, you can look in the Spotlight menu in the upper right corner of your screen. If you see an indexing status bar, then you know that Spotlight is running. You can also look in Activity Monitor for processes related to Spotlight such as “mds” or “mdworker”.

It’s important to keep an eye on Spotlight indexing so that you can identify any potential issues before they become too severe. If you notice that your Mac is slowing down more than usual, then checking if Spotlight is running could help pinpoint the problem and allow you to take steps to fix it. Keeping your Mac up-to-date and ensuring that all drives are properly indexed will help ensure optimal performance from your machine.

9. Remove Unwanted Widgets

Having too many widgets running in the background can have a negative impact on your Mac’s performance. To help improve your Mac’s speed, it is important to delete any unnecessary widgets. To do this, open the Notification Center by clicking the date or time in the top-right corner of the screen. Then click Edit at the bottom of the Notification Center and use the minus (–) button to remove any widgets that you don’t need. This will help free up resources and make your Mac run faster.

It is also important to keep an eye on which widgets are running in the background as some may be using more resources than necessary. If you find that a widget is taking up too much memory or CPU usage, then it may be best to remove it from your system altogether. Additionally, if you find that a certain widget is not being used often enough, then it may be better to just disable it instead of deleting it completely. By doing this, you can ensure that your Mac runs as efficiently as possible without having to sacrifice any of its features or functionality.

Hopefully after completing these steps you should have a much smoother Mac operation.
Thank you for reading.