10 Steps to Improving Your Mac's Performance

Allocating more space on the hard disk for the OS X by removing unnecessary programs and files helps the Mac to work more efficiently. This also helps you find what you need faster and for the Mac, searching through your desired file would also become faster. Hence, deleting unneeded files, folders, applications and fonts is always helpful.

Deleting files is a good idea but it comes with a price. When data is written on a hard disk and then deleted, little empty spaces are created all over the disk where subsequent files can be saved. When you try to save a large file (say a video file), it will not be saved in a particular empty space rather it will be separated into multiple empty spaces on the hard disk. If you would want to access this file, the Mac will have to go to various areas of the disk to fetch the scattered pieces of the file. A file in scattered locations is considered fragmented. Accessing fragmented files takes more time than accessing a non-fragmented file. Therefore, after deleting all the unnecessary data, get defragmenter software and run it to defragment the fragmented files. It is a good idea to run the defragmenter tool two to four times per year.

Removing the applications you do not use also help improve your Mac’s efficiency and performance. By doing this, you, too improve your performance because all the junk and unnecessary files have been moved into Trash and you do not have to scan through them to find what you need.

In addition to this, you can also look for applications that you installed with your printer, scanner, digital camera, etc and remove them if you don’t use them. You might also have beta or expired programs you used and did not like, remove these, too.

Many things come preinstalled with Mac and you probably don’t need these, too. These things include iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, iCal and many other applications. You can certainly delete these if you do not use them. Similarly, any other thing on your Mac that you do not use, get rid of it.

You can improve your Mac’s performance by configuring it to download and install necessary updates automatically. When automatic download is enabled, Mac downloads updates both for system components and the operating system. The updates help enhance Mac’s performance, increase security and also solve known problems such as bugs in the previous updates, software programs. Updates may also contain new drivers for the hardware, which are necessary for the smooth running of the Mac.

There are many system components in the Mac OS X that offer some improvements but if you are not using any, it is preferable to remove them. For instance, fonts, preferences, extensions can be removed. These surplus files increase startup time and slow the reaction time. It is also possible to change the applications’ preferences. You can also delete the screensavers, desktop images or reduce the color intensity of your desktop to speedup redraw. You can inactivate Remember Recently Used Items, Calculate All Size. Many tweaks like these improve Mac’s performance significantly.

There are many ways to organize the data. The simplest way is to create different folders inside the Home folders and move the current files to the appropriate folder. It is a good idea to create a plan when creating folders. You can easily get a clue for the folder plan from the hardware connected to your Mac. You might use an iPod, musical instrument or a digital camera. If so, start from here.

The idea behind this is to look hard at what you use your computer for and make folders that represents what you do and how you do it. You can also move frequently needed folders onto the desktop and use labels to highlight folders’ name for quick recognition. This will help you finding files much faster and easier.

When it comes to fine-tuning Mac’s performance, it is very important to clean up the Dock, Desktop and Finder items. If your Dock has too many icons, remove them. Is there a program you frequently use? Add it to the Finder toolbar or Dock. Personalizing this way also help you work more efficiently.