Technology

9 Killing Tips to Improve Your Mac’s Speed

By

David Mudd

Owning a device like Mac computers requires constant upkeep to maintain it in the best shape possible.

Surely, there are such factors as time, and if you have a very old Mac, it is hardly possible to make it perform as fast as the first day you started using it.

On the other hand, there are many tips and tricks that can help boost your Mac’s performance and increase its speed, so in this article, we will share a list of 9 tips that will help you reach this result.

Remove Xcode Junk

Xcode is an effective developer’s toolkit made by Apple that is very helpful when developing apps on macOS and iOS. Unfortunately, over time, it can create multiple temporary files that will pile up and are not as easy to delete.

To remove Xcode junk, it is best to use specialized software because dragging the Xcode toolkit to the Trash Bin won’t remove the additional files that this software has created over time.

Remove Browser Cache

Speaking of temporary files, there are few more types of temporary files stored on your Mac, one of them being browser cache files. Your browser creates these files to load your most visited websites faster, but these files can accumulate in a longer period.

To remove these files on the Safari browser, open the browser, click Develop in the top menu and choose the option to Empty Caches. 

Remove System & User Cache

Two other types of temporary cache files on your computer are system and user cache. The same as browser cache, these cache files help load certain processes and apps faster, but if there are too many of these files, they could be only wasting disk space.

To remove the system and user cache, open Finder, then open the Go menu and choose the option Go to Folder. Then, type in ~/Library/Caches/, and click Go again. Now, you can open up multiple folders to delete the files you want.

Update Regularly

First of all, if you want your macOS to function properly, you should update it regularly. Often the updates include important bug fixes, performance improvements, and security updates.

Secondly, you should update your apps as well because when Apple releases a new macOS, a lot of apps release updates as well to create the best possible experience when used with the newest version of macOS.

Restart and Shut Down Regularly

To avoid lag, make sure you restart and shut down your computer regularly. Surely, it is easy to just close your computer if you are using a MacBook or leave your iMac in sleep mode.

On the other hand, if you do not restart and shut down from time to time, there might be some apps running in the background that were unable to close when you quit them.

Choose a Proper Antivirus

Some Mac users tend to think that their computers are safer than others. But the truth is that some time ago, Macs were much less popular than computers with the Windows operating system. Therefore, more malware and viruses were created for this particular operating system.

Unfortunately, nowadays, more and more new viruses and malware are created for macOS because the percentage of Mac users is constantly increasing. Thus it’s only smart to look for a trustworthy antivirus for your Mac if you want to keep it running smoothly and protect your digital assets.

Empty Your Desktop

Having a cluttered desktop will slow down your computer. This happens because to display each thumbnail on your screen; your Mac will use system resources.

To quickly clean up your Desktop, you can use Stacks. To do so, go to your Desktop, click View in the top menu and choose the option Use Stacks. This will group the desktop items by the file type.

Uninstall Unneeded Apps

There are a lot of free apps you can download from the App Store, and a lot of people like to try out new games or productivity apps.

Experimenting with new apps is completely fine, except for the fact that after trying out multiple apps, people often forget to delete them, even if they don’t use these apps anymore.

Clean up the Downloads Folder

Another place that may be using quite a lot of your Mac’s storage space is the Downloads folder. It is a good idea to clean it up from time to time because it may contain some one-time use files that you only used once and never opened afterward, like installation files.

It may also include all kinds of media files like music or tv series, so make sure you remove all of the files you no longer need. If you still don’t have enough free space after removing large files, you might want to start using a cloud service such as DropBox.

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