How to increase Mac's Performance?

[jasonjamie]

Hi my mac is running slower then it really should be i have alot of storage space left(over 400gb) and the biggest process i have running in activity monitor is kernel task which is 677mb?

The reasons why is because on start up and shut down it boots really slowly also using software/apps like google chrome seem to start up slowly and just the general loading.

Also i have a separate partition with windows 8 on but say if i wanted to back up my macs partition and do like a restore would it erase my windows 8 partition?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Which model Mac? Which version OS X? How much RAM is installed? Any software running persistently in the background, like AV software?

Start with the basics and download Onyx. Run its full suite of maintenance and cleaning tools. Reboot when done and see if there is an improvement. Be aware that the first restart after cache cleaning will be a little slow as the cache rebuilds.

 

[jasonjamie]

Which model Mac? Which version OS X? How much RAM is installed? Any software running persistently in the background, like AV software?

Start with the basics and download Onyx. Run its full suite of maintenance and cleaning tools. Reboot when done and see if there is an improvement. Be aware that the first restart after cache cleaning will be a little slow as the cache rebuilds.

Processor 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB
Software OS X 10.9.1 (13B42)

And i don't this there is any software running persistently when going to force quit nothing is there running and ok i will try onyx

 

[jasonjamie]

Processor 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB
Software OS X 10.9.1 (13B42)

And i don't this there is any software running persistently when going to force quit nothing is there running and ok i will try onyx

When trying to open onyx is says "onyx can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer?

 

[McBie]

That message is an OS X protection mechanism.
Open the application from the menu i( right click on an application ) instead of double clicking.
( You need to do this only once )

Cheers ... McBie

 

[Type_R]

You can go to System Preferences> Security and Privacy and click 'Anywhere' under 'Allow Apps to be downloaded from:'

You should then be able to run Onyx without any issues.

 

[MacInWin]

If you do what Type_R suggested, make sure to put the system back to the way it was after you finish. That is an important security function. The right-click approach to run one application the first time after downloading is much better in the long run.

 

[bobtomay]

With 10.9 - don't need to disable Gatekeeper at all.

If you do double click on a new downloaded app - then head into Security preferences - the app will be listed at the bottom of the window where you can click to allow it to open.

 

[McBie]

You can go to System Preferences> Security and Privacy and click 'Anywhere' under 'Allow Apps to be downloaded from:'

You should then be able to run Onyx without any issues.

You can easily disable the airbags in your car and when you get involved in an accident you won't be deaf from the explosion of the airbag.
( facepalm )

Cheers ... McBie

 

[jasonjamie]

Hi everyone thanks for getting back to me i did what mcbie said and it worked. After i ran the program, in activity monitor is was saying memory used 6gb and after it said 2gb and now ive came back on my mac it saying 4.98gb and its running slightly slower again, what else could anyone suggest i do to try and improve performance?

 

[Type_R]

You can easily disable the airbags in your car and when you get involved in an accident you won't be deaf from the explosion of the airbag.
( facepalm )

Cheers ... McBie

McBie, my assumption was that the user, or any users for that fact, would be responsible enough to download Apps from reputable sources.

 

[MacInWin]

McBie, my assumption was that the user, or any users for that fact, would be responsible enough to download Apps from reputable sources.

I would NEVER make that assumption!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Back to the issue at hand..

WHen you run Activity Monitor, go through the CPU and MEMORY sub-sections and see what kind of CPU and memory usage you are looking at.

Do you see any application taking up a lot of CPU or memory? Of the 8GB of memory, how much do you have free? What are your Swap in/out values?

 

[McBie]

Like Ashwin said above .... make sure you select " All Processes " when you look at Activity Monitor.

Cheers ... McBie