Keeping performance up...

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Hi All,

My wife has an iMac (24" 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HD [800GB Available], SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 130, OSX 10.6) which she basically uses to play World of Warcraft, surf the 'net, and to manage her photography library with Aperture.

She told me today that recently her computer needed to "think" during simple photo manipulations like adjusting exposure, applying sepia tones, and etc. She was rather emphatic that there was nothing unusual or special about these recent pictures -- except that the computer was taking longer to process.

I'm concerned that this may be the beginning of a slippery slope into deeper performance problems, and I'm wondering if you guys have any advice to help keep the system running like new. (It would be nice if there was some definite cause for the slow down given her rather light usage, but being a former Windows user, I'm more than willing to accept the notion that even Macs may require routine maintenance.)

Thanks in advance for your ideas, advice, etc.

Z
 

vansmith

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Your Mac's Specs
Mini (2014, 2018, 2020), MBA (2020), iPad Pro (2018), iPhone 13 Pro Max, Watch (S6)
You should take a look at OnyX. I like to run the default selections under the "Automation" tab every once in a while but you may choose to run other options. If you do decide to use OnyX, make sure to get the version appropriate for your version of OS X.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
rMBP 13 2.5GHz 121GB SSD
She probably just needs to restart it once in a while.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Model Name: MacBook Model Identifier: MacBook3,1 Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Sp
Well, imacs are power PCs and should have notably better performance than that of a macbook, macbook pro, and air. But, to keep you system running strong use Mackeeper, it helps keep the system fast. Also, free up as much RAM as you can, this always helps a lot. Finally, not trying to discourage it but World Warcraft and any video game on macs (especially macs) IMO really slow down you computer cause they work so hard to play the games.
If we could see your specs too this could give a lot more help...
Hope this helped! :)
nicecrew
 
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I'm concerned that this may be the beginning of a slippery slope into deeper performance problems, and I'm wondering if you guys have any advice to help keep the system running like new.

Since it comes up constantly, I created an entire Web site to deal with that.

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting

Spending just a few minutes doing routine maintenance now and then will keep your Mac running like new.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
___________________________________________
 

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