05-02-2011, 09:07 PM

my lappy is running really slow. it shows mostly when browsing the web, but i erased my free space with the 7x scan option in disk utility. its running a lot better but no where what it used to. nothing is taking up cpu except running programs typically mail safari and i tunes but they don't really go over 2-3%. as it is right now, sites open slowly videos hardly buffer at all. what should i do to get some more speed?

oh and i do have a bunch of things that show up in the activity monitor but dont use any cpu, for what its worth

thanks guys

05-02-2011, 09:35 PM

What kind of computer is it (specs)? and what OS?

05-03-2011, 12:06 PM

its a macbook pro with 2.66 ghz core 2 duo with 4gigs of ram and 156 gb left on the HD
its running 10.6.7

05-03-2011, 12:43 PM

One thing that does slow down network traffic on Macs is the order in which the network devices are listed. Open the Network preference pane. Click the gear at the bottom and select Set Service Order. If Bluetooth and Firewire are above Ethernet and Airport, drag and drop them so BT and FW are at the bottom of the list. Typically, I set mine up with Ethernet, Airport, any 3rd party wifi or cell card, FW, BT. When BT is at the top of the list, all network requests try to resolve via BT first, then after a few seconds, they give up and move to the next option. By moving the fastest options first, you eliminate a lot of that lag.

05-03-2011, 06:47 PM

that did help Stranger but still not the whole problem. maybe its my ports or something

05-03-2011, 09:47 PM

You may also benefit from defragmenting your hard drive. However, do to this you'll need two things, I believe:

1) The ability to boot your Macbook from another/separate partition than the one you want to defragment.

2) A utility with disk defragmenting tools (like Drive Genius).

If you've been using your Mac for a while and have never defragmented its disk it may make a noticable improvement in your hard drive's speed.

05-04-2011, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by Haalcyon

You may also benefit from defragmenting your hard drive. However, do to this you'll need two things, I believe:

1) The ability to boot your Macbook from another/separate partition than the one you want to defragment.

2) A utility with disk defragmenting tools (like Drive Genius).

If you've been using your Mac for a while and have never defragmented its disk it may make a noticable improvement in your hard drive's speed.

i thought defragment is automatically done each time we reboot the Mac?

or i got this wrong??

05-04-2011, 10:26 PM

No, Mac's do not defragment automatically with boot up...that'd really slow you down as defragmentation takes a little while even on a fast 7,200rpm drive...especially if its heavily fragmented (which is likely if its never been defragmented). I'm not sure why Apple doesn't include any mechanism to defragment the hard drive as its quite necessary to maintain top performance.

05-04-2011, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by Haalcyon

No, Mac's do not defragment automatically with boot up...that'd really slow you down as defragmentation takes a little while even on a fast 7,200rpm drive...especially if its heavily fragmented (which is likely if its never been defragmented). I'm not sure why Apple doesn't include any mechanism to defragment the hard drive as its quite necessary to maintain top performance.

ok, how often do you need to do this?

a bit dissapointed when i heard this coz the reason i bought a Mac was because i dont like the hassle of maintaining the windows, had too much issues and i am not really computer savvy.

needed something that needs minimal software maintainence and will keep going and going

05-04-2011, 10:35 PM

If you use your Mac daily I'd recommend defragmenting at least 1 or 2 times a month.

05-04-2011, 10:48 PM

Actually, Macs to take care of most fragmentation issues themselves.

As for Haalcyon's tip to defrag 1-2x month? Hahaha, try I've never done that the entire time I've used a Mac, and that's been 24 years. This isn't Windows, don't treat it like it is.

05-04-2011, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by Stretch

Actually, Macs to take care of most fragmentation issues themselves.

As for Haalcyon's tip to defrag 1-2x month? Hahaha, try I've never done that the entire time I've used a Mac, and that's been 24 years. This isn't Windows, don't treat it like it is.

man i am glad to read that. i hate doing all these maintainence as i am not good at it at all and being lazy - main reason i got a Mac.

05-04-2011, 10:57 PM

But that being said, do you leave your computer on overnight? Or do you sleep/shut down? Reason being, OS X does maintenance scripts overnight that can help keep the system clean and running smoothly.

If you don't you can download an app like Onyx (make sure you get the version for your OS) and manually run the scripts when you like.

05-04-2011, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by Stretch

But that being said, do you leave your computer on overnight? Or do you sleep/shut down? Reason being, OS X does maintenance scripts overnight that can help keep the system clean and running smoothly.

If you don't you can download an app like Onyx (make sure you get the version for your OS) and manually run the scripts when you like.

mmm...my Mac is 5 days old now hehehe

1. yes i leave it on overnight

2. in the morning say 7am, i usually close the screen to put it to sleep, pull out the plug

3. once i get home from work, say 7 or 8pm, i plug it in again, open the lid and use it

i was told not necessary to shut it down unless it is for a long period

05-04-2011, 11:14 PM

You shouldn't have any issues then.