MBP getting a little sluggish

Would someone be able to point me toward some steps to speed my MBP up? I bought it about one year ago january when they updated at that time and its been great until about the last month or so where i notice that theres a big lag between me clicking on a URL in safari that isnt 'webpage loading time' its like the computer locks up for a second and the mouse 'wait' symbol shows up.

sometimes opening up an app takes longer than it used to, stuff like that. It seems like when stuff is open for a bit its ok but the webpage and opening app problems arent going away.

does anyone know ways to kinda clear the junk out of macs?

First thing to try is a utility like Onyx or MainMenu. These run a variety of maintenance routines that really help out the performance. Both are free and come highly recommended by most, if not all the regulars here. You can find links to them on Versiontracker.com.

If running those maintenance utilities doesn't work out, please reply back. There's more things to try, but I'd rather troubleshoot some more before going on further if need be.

Generally, a computer will begin to slow down as its hard drive fills up. How much space do you have left on the HDD?

Download the free "OnyX" application from here and run it. It will repair permissions, and do the other Apple recommended maintenance routines. Afterward, run it once a month or more often as needed.

If your HDD is running out of room, think about replacing it with a larger and faster unit. Prices have come down considerably on drives. You might also contemplate adding more memory to your MBP as memory is very inexpensive right now.

Regards.

I just upgraded my MBP to a 500GB and 4GB of ram and I spend about $165 on everything I needed:

500GB $110
4GB Ram $40
2.5 external HD case $9
tools $3

I couldn't be happier with this upgrade

onyx seemed to clear out whatever was holding my system back, thank you very much