Buzz
Over time, both Mac and Windows systems tend to slow down. There are several factors contributing to this, but there are also many ways to speed up your computer, whether it's running Windows or Macbook. Speeding up your computer enhances work efficiency.
If you were satisfied with OS X and suddenly your Mac slows down after updating to Yosemite, follow these steps to disable certain settings that could be causing the slowdown. Quickly check processor activity, and your Mac will be back to its speedy self.
Enhancing Mac OS X Performance in 6 Steps
1. Disable Eye-Catching Transparent Windows and Effects
Eye-catching features like transparent menus, windows, and title bars require processor and memory resources to render. While high-performance Macs and newer models have enough power to handle Yosemite's eye-catching effects, older Macs may experience slowdowns, especially when a window is being drawn or moved around.
Step 1: Access the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and choose Accessibility.
Step 2: Select Display and check the Reduce Transparency option.
Changing this setting significantly improves responsiveness and folder opening speed, as well as window performance in OS X Yosemite on older MacBook Air models (you can notice the difference when viewing SystemUIServer and Finder in Activity Monitor when opening and dragging a transparent window, before and after installation).
However, on newer Mac models, you may not notice this difference, but if you're not interested in transparency, you can turn it off at any time.
If you only need to make one adjustment to improve Yosemite's performance on an older Mac, you should make this adjustment. Disabling eye candy makes a significant difference in speed for you.
While not directly related to system performance, overall usability and individual performance on OS X Yosemite can be enhanced by enabling the Increase Contrast option at the top of the Accessibility panel. This setting makes interface elements clearer compared to the default interface.
2. Disable Widgets and Extensions in the Notification Center
Widgets in the Notification Center are favored by many users. However, if you display Widgets on the login screen and restart, you'll notice that the startup process will be slightly slower. This doesn't affect newer Mac models, but on older Macs, the startup process will certainly take longer. The simplest solution is to disable Widgets and Extensions that you don't need:
Step 1: Access the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and choose Extensions.
Step 2: Click on Today from the left menu and uncheck all options that you don't use or care about, such as Weather, Stocks, Social, Reminders, etc.
This action is particularly relevant to speeding up Mac OS X during the login and restart process, and when opening the notification panel because data doesn't need to be refreshed.
3. Tidy Up Your Desktop
Each icon on the desktop consumes storage memory and redraws when windows and applications move or close. Therefore, keeping your desktop clean will improve performance where it matters.
This is quite easy, just 'carry' everything on your Mac desktop and toss it into a folder, naming the folder whatever you like, such as Cleanup or Desktop Stuff, .... Just make sure you move everything on the desktop and experience Mac speed.
Although this is an old trick to speed up performance on all Mac models, it's still quite applicable on OS X Yosemite. You can also use default commands to hide all icons on Mac, just a bit different because this depends on Terminal. Just 'toss' everything into a regular folder.
4. Change Minimize Window Effect to Scale
While an old trick, it's still quite useful, changing the Minimize function to Scale Effect rather than using default settings or setting it to Toilet Flush. Though just a minor impact on performance, it at least minimizes windows. If you notice that simple actions are slower, taking more time than before, here's a solution for you:
Step 1: Go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
Step 2: Choose Dock and under Minimize windows using, select Scale Effect.
This is just one of the solutions to slightly speed up OS X if you notice your Mac is slow; this solution is not ideal for improving overall system speed.
Step 5: Check Activity Monitor
Activity Monitor reveals if any app is consuming CPU, memory, or disk I/O, and to track down what's slowing your Mac, CPU is the ideal place to start.
Step 1: Press Command+Spacebar to invoke Spotlight, then type Activity Monitor and press Return.
Step 2: Click on the CPU tab to sort by processor usage.
If you notice something like Safari browser's URL consuming 95% CPU, that's the culprit behind the Mac slowdown; simply access Safari browser and close that window or tab.
Conversely, if you notice some heavy processes on the CPU, that's normal; some processes like mds and mdsworker will run as disk indexers. This is especially true if you've just updated to Yosemite, or it's the first time connecting an external hard drive to your Mac in a while, as Spotlight will index the partition's contents. For processes like mdworker, leave them be and don't interfere.
Furthermore, you can adjust the update interval to get more detailed information about CPU usage.
6. Speed Up Finder Windows by Changing All My Files
All My Files is a smart folder, using Spotlight to access any and all files of the current user. It's a great feature, but it can also cause slowdowns when creating a new Finder window on some Macs. Changing the new Finder window to a static folder can improve that speed:
Step 1: From the Finder menu, select Preferences.
Step 2: Set the New finder windows show option to Desktop or Documents or your user home folder.
Step 3: Close the Finder preferences window.
Moreover, if you've tried the 6 steps to speed up Mac OS X above and still haven't seen improvement, you can consider the following two 'feasible' options:
Utilize FileVault Program
If you're experiencing slow startup and login issues after updating to OS X Yosemite, and you're using FileVault, simply disabling FileVault can help you address performance issues and speed up your Mac.
Many users have reported that FileVault could be the culprit behind system slowdowns and errors on Yosemite; turning off the FileVault encryption feature will improve Mac speed.
Fresh Installation for Speeding Up Mac OS X
This will help you regain performance and speed as before. Additionally, you can explore and refer to some guides online to effectively speed up your Mac.
Some Mac users encounter troubles with Wifi - which could also be a reason for Mac running slow. In fact, Wifi connection issues can be tackled separately (such as slow DNS lookup making you feel the Internet connection is slow).
If you've applied the tricks, solutions above and your Mac is still slow, you might consider using Time Machine to back up your Mac, then perform a clean installation of OS X Yosemite and restore your data from the backup. This process takes quite some time and is not recommended for users, but if you're stuck with no solution, you may opt for this last resort.
Finally, if you feel the performance of your Mac is abnormally slow despite tweaking, fresh installation, and making other changes. You can choose to downgrade Yosemite to the OS X Mavericks version. Just like a fresh installation, downgrading Yosemite is not recommended, but it could be a last resort for you and some other users.
Your Mac OS X Yosemite is running sluggishly. You've found solutions to speed up your Mac. If you'd like to add more solutions, tricks to speed up Mac OS X Yosemite, feel free to leave your comments below!
