Remove unnecessary files
Those piles of ancient folders you keep forgetting to delete have finally gotten to you. A full hard drive takes much more time to respond, to load, and to display objects. And it results in a slow running Mac.
Sort files and folders by size and date, if you're looking for the old or large ones. Use cloud storages and external HDD to take the pressure off your main drive. Or you could replace it with an SSD to add speed.
Clean system cache
Most of your actions on your Mac are stored in system log and cache files, which add up day-by-day and take up space. In time they become unnecessary, but they remain on your drive long after.
Your cache files can be found in: Finder > Go (in the top menu) > Go to Folder.
Type in ~/Library/Caches.
Select them and move ‘em to the Trash. Be sure that you know what you're deleting or you risk deleting something important.
Get rid of malware
Malware on the Mac is rare but it can happen. If your Mac is running slow as if something’s hogging your processor, you might have accidentally installed a malicious app.
If you know which app on your Mac is malicious, you’re half-way through the problem:
- Go to your Applications folder and drag the suspicious app to the Trash.
- Go to your ~/Library folder and look in the Application support folder for any files related to the app and drag those to the Trash.
- Look in the other folders in ~/Library, especially Launch Agents and Launch Daemons and remove any files related to the app from there.
If you’ve run through the steps above and are still having problems, update the system software. Chances are, you haven’t installed an important security update.
Free up RAM
When you run out of RAM, your system starts using virtual memory instead. And since the latter relies on the hard drive to store info, your Mac’s running horribly slow.
Take a close look at the apps that are running currently. Close the ones you don't use, relaunch the rest. Quit and reload web browsers, since some websites consume memory even when already closed.
P.S. Don't keep a hundred tabs open.
Use CleanMyMac X
If you don't feel like spending the next several hours trying to get your Mac in shape manually, there is a great solution. Download CleanMyMac X and let it do the job for you. It's a simple and powerful utility to speed up your Mac. CleanMyMac has all the tools to solve the issues we’ve talked above, and even more. Plus, it’s super proactive — it alerts you before your Mac gets slow and runs into system risks.
Why is CleanMyMac X great for speeding up your Mac?
- Cleans your hard drive from useless files in under 5 minutes
- Safely removes outdated cache files
- Uninstalls unneeded apps and malware
- Manages hung apps and login items
- Frees up RAM in a click
Solve all your slow Mac problems with one tool.