'hello' and help please

Hi everyone. I'm Shar and I'm new to this site, but very pleased to have found it as the Mac support site does not seem to be working for me.

I am currently trying to get my student portfolios finished and the slowness of my Mac is driving me crazy and sometime I just have to walk away. I have had the same problem for ages but it has become a real problem during the end of school year when I have deadlines. iPhoto takes aaaages to open and then seems to stall (or freeze other apps). I generally have to force quit as I do with all the Office Works for Mac and iTunes. Any idea what the problem may be?

I know nothing about the technical side of computers. Nothing. I have copied down my specs but they mean nothing to me. If you are able to help me with my question (for which I would be very grateful) could you please address me as you would a 5 year old. I wont be offended

Thank you so very much if you can help.

Welcome.

NB: I'd always recommend having a backup.

There are a few things to start with:
1. consider buying more RAM (if you tell me if it's a MacBook/MacBook Pro or iMac and it's rough age I can point you in the right direction)
2. You should always try and keep 10% free disk space. So deleting old downloads/documents and installing old software you don't use can help free up space.
3. Download Onyx for Mountain Lion. Install it and run everything on the Automation tab
4. Reset your PRAM (About NVRAM and PRAM)

Thank you so much for replying Mr Plow. I have copied this:
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.47f2

Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

It was purchased in about 2009 and I do always back up If you could guide me on what to purchase for buying more ram then that would be very helpful, thank you.

I use MacKeeper to try and 'clean' stuff up, but I could certainly delete more.

I will go now and have a look at PRAM, am assuming it is not something for a baby

Thank you again.

MacKeeper is not popular on these forums. Causes more problems than it does good. If I had one strong recommendation it would be to remove that ASAP.

Your Mac can handle 8gb. But even 4 would give you a boost

mrplow said:

MacKeeper is not popular on these forums. Causes more problems than it does good. If I had one strong recommendation it would be to remove that ASAP.

Your Mac can handle 8gb. But even 4 would give you a boost

Click to expand...

Interesting to know about macKeeper. Thank you.

Also thanks for the advice re RAM. Sorry...just one more question. Can I buy RAM online (download) or do I need to go to a shop to purchase some kind of hardware?

Thank you again

I see you're in Dubai so I'm not sure what online retailers or local shops you have available but either will do.

Use the System Scanner at RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, SSD at Crucial.com that way you'll get accurate information about the exact specification of the RAM you have and you upgrade options.

Gosh, you have been so helpful. I really appreciate your quick responses. Thank you. Will go and look into all this now.

No problem

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

I strongly suspect that the OP has one or a combination of the following issues:

1. Doesn't actually quit apps, just "closes" them, meaning they are sucking up resources.
2. Not enough RAM (this I know for a fact is the case) for stuff like large picture/music/etc libraries
3. Probably a very full hard drive, and possibly one that's starting to fail.

I agree with chase_m.

If you want to speed up your Mac, you need to do 2 things:

1) Uninstall Mackeeper ASAP. That program causes more problems than it solves and most of the Mac tech world considers it junkware and a borderline scam. Instructions for uninstalling it are here.

2) As has already been stated, you need more RAM. I took the liberty of inputing your model in that link provided above and your purchasing options are here. 8GB is recommended but at the minimum, you need at least 4. Any one of these kits will work with your Mac.

2GB is not a whole lot of RAM so make sure you actually quit your applications rather than just closing the window. To quit an application, hit ⌘q on the keyboard or go to the app menu at the top next to the file menu and select quit.

How much space is available on your hard drive?