Whether you own a Macbook or a powerful Mac PC, you have once experienced lags or slow performance on it because of several reasons. If your Mac is running slow or you just want to churn out maximum performance from it, here are some steps to boost performance on Mac.
Steps To Boost Performance On Mac
You don’t need to buy a new Macbook or Mac PC just because your old Mac is running slow. Sometimes, your Mac runs faster and better, all it needs is some modest tweaks and optimizations. So, if you are looking to get a new Macbook, apply these simple steps to see if your Mac is really slow or it needs a handful of tweaks to boost the performance.
1) Quit Apps You’re No Longer Using
If you think clicking the ‘X’ button of an app closes right away, then you would want to know that the apps sometimes don’t really close, rather it stays active in the background so that the next time you open it, it opens faster.
Most Mac apps will always stay running in the background even after closing their windows. You may have seen the desktop notifications pop-up as they are running in the background.
The window you closed doesn’t mean the app has been closed, the Dock at the bottom indicates that the app is still open, you will see a small dot below the app icon which shows its presence in your dock.
So, what should you do now? You can simply quit the app from the Dock by right-clicking on it and selecting the ‘Quit‘ option from the menu.
Also, click the Apple icon on the top left corner and select Force Quit and quit the apps you no longer use.
2) Identify and Remove Resource Hogs with Activity Monitor
While the above method can close most of the running apps that you use on the Mac, there are also some hidden apps that you don’t often see on your Mac, or at least they don’t appear to have an interface, there might be a process or thread that’s resource-hogging which eventually slows down the computer.
If you Mac doesn’t respond properly or slows down frequently, the Activity Monitor shows you which app is using the resources (CPU, Memory, Disk, Network). Activity Monitor is very much close to the Task Manager on Windows, pretty much the same as the Resource Monitor you see on Windows computers.
Launch the system tool via Spotlight Command + Spacebar and search Activity Monitor or you can find it in the Dock as well as Applications -> Utilities folder.
Once you launch the app, you will see a list of process, don’t fret, just sort the processes that use either high CPU, Memory, or Disk usage and click the ‘X‘ icon (not the Close button) inside the tool after selecting the appropriate process and select Quit. if it doesn’t quit in the first place, use Force Quit.
3) Stop Apps That Starts Automatically When You Login
After you turn on your Mac computer, certain apps start automatically as you log in. These apps can slow down your Mac and some apps aren’t required to start initially, you can manually open them when needed.
So, what can be done to stop these apps from starting automatically? Use the System Preferences -> Users & Groups and click ‘Login Items‘ which shows you a list of apps that start when you log in to your account.
Select each one of them you don’t use or don’t need, click on the minus ‘–‘ icon at the bottom to remove it. If you want to add back the app or any other, use the plus ‘+‘ button.
4) Browse the Web with Safari
We all use the Google Chrome browser for its features, however, if you don’t know, Google Chrome is one of the most resource hogging app and also battery-draining apps if you use your Mac for internet use.
Your choice of browser can have a huge impact on your Mac’s performance. Choosing the Safari browser can give you a performance boost since it’s highly optimized for Apple machines.
Safari is the best performing browser on Macs and if used instead of third-party apps can not only give you a better internet experience but also smooth system performance.
5) Limit Browser Tabs And Extensions
So, you finally started using Safari, but you should also know that having multiple tabs can lead to a higher CPU and memory consumption. Not just Safari, but it applies to Chrome, Firefox as well as other browsers.
In addition to that, the extensions installed can also run in the background using the resources. It’s better to keep a limited number of tabs open and fewer extensions. Close the tabs you don’t use or use Chrome Task manager to kill the tabs. Disable extensions rather than keep it running in the background. This will give you a performance boost on your Mac.
No matter which browser you use, your browser can use as many resources as Photoshop, any video game, or video editing software. So, better to surf simply than complex with many tabs and extensions.
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