Macs running slow! What's the deal?

Hi, I have two macs:
Desktop: imac G5 running on mac OSX (bought in late '04)
Laptop: 12" powerbook G4 running on mac OSX (bought sometime in '05)

They are both running extremely slow and I don't know why. I don't have an enormous amount of files on the computers, just some pictures from over the years that I know I should probably burn to cds.

My microsoft office apps aren't opening and photoshop, illustrator and indesign run VERY slow. It takes forever just to get the programs to do what I want. I'm a graphic designer so I have tons of fonts on them as well. I heard somewhere that TrueType fonts slow down mac computers, is this true?

Any other suggestions on how to speed up my computers?

Thanks so much!!!

Can you post the full specs of the machine, HDD space, RAM available and the versions of Office as well as the OS X version (full version, e.g. 10.4.9)

You can and should try this script in the terminal

sudo periodic daily monthly weekly

You'll be prompted with your password. This can help if your machine is never given the chance to complete housekeeping during the day.

True type fonts do not slow down your system

Having loads of fonts open all the time does

I use Linotype Font EXplorer to manage my fonts and regularly close down all the fonts apart from the system ones, knowing that CS3 plug-ins will auto load them when needed

Having hundreds of fonts open will slow down Adobe programs, and MS Office is especially sensetive to "corrupt" fonts and will take ages or just fial to load

Here's a link to a guide to managing fonts in OS X

f you are going to start loading quite a few fonts, font book is not the best app, the free font explorer is much much better

http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

If you really want to manage your fonts well I suggest the suitcase (another font management tool - not free) guide (the guide is free)

dl.extensis.com/downloads/ SC/EN/P/Fonts_Best_Practices_in_OSX.pdf

Just substitute use Suitcase with use Linotype FontExplorer

Click to expand...

Thanks for the responses! After doing a little more research, I'm thinking I might need to add some more RAM to my computers.

Desktop:
iMac G5
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache: 512 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 600 MHz
System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9

Laptop:
PowerBook G4 12"
CPU Speed: 1.5 Ghz
L2 Cache: 512 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
System Version: Mac OS X 10.4.11

I'd like to know if adding RAM would help my computers and how much I should be adding.

Thanks so much!

256 Megs even with 10.3.9 is really not enough at all for Photoshop and even the Microsoft apps you are running. 512 Megs RAM with Tiger is still on the low side for what you are doing.

It sounds like your iMac G5 is the first generation iMac G5 which should take up to 2GB RAM. With the applications you are running, give it as much RAM as you can afford.

One place you can check what RAM you need and get a good deal on RAM is OWC.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/

The iMac will take 2 1GB modules for 2GB. The Powerbook 12" a 1GB.

Thanks so much! I kinda figured 256MB really wasn't enough. I'll try adding more, hope it helps!