Are you trying to get your mac to run fast again? Read this article to learn how to make your mac run faster than ever before.
Did you know that by the end of 2018, Apple sold an impressive 5.3 million Mac units? By 2019, the company stopped reporting unit sales, but it did report a figure of $7.2 billion for Mac sales alone.
Many of these new Macs ended up in the hands of North Americans. In fact, the US and Canada are still the world’s biggest Mac users. In the US alone, macOS now accounts for 27.7% of the desktop OS market.
If you’re one of these new users, the last thing that’s probably on your mind is how to make your Mac run faster. After all, it’s still all shiny and sleek, so you’re still enjoying a speedy performance out of it.
Depending on how you use it though, it’s possible for your Mac to slow down sooner than you expect. That’s why as early as now, you should know the best practices to keep your Mac optimized.
We’ll give you some of the top hacks to keep your Mac speedy, so be sure to read on!
Make It a Habit to Close Unused Browser Tabs
While legitimate, browsers are among the top apps that eat up a huge chunk of random access memory (RAM). On average, 10 open browser tabs can use anywhere from 725 MB to 3 GBof RAM. Google itself admitted that Chrome updates have led to the browser using 10% to 13% even more memory.
That said, one of the best ways to increase Mac speed — or at least, keep it from slowing — is to reduce the number of open tabs. That’s why some people suggest running just up to nine tabs with every session. This will reduce the burden on your Mac’s RAM, so it’ll have more “free” space to think and act quickly.
Always Keep an Eye out for Ram Hoggers
Speaking of RAM, sudden spikes in its use will cause your Mac to become snail-like. You’re likely to encounter the spinning beach ball in such cases. If this happens a lot, or if it takes quite a while for the beach ball to disappear, malware may already be to blame.
That’s right — Macs do get malware too. In fact, in 2019, they had almost twice the number of malware detections than Windows devices! Back then, there was only an average of 5.8 detections in Windows computers, while it was 11 in Macs.
In this case, the first step to make your Mac run faster is to exit all apps and then check the “Activity Monitor”. This will give you a list of all remaining and current activities and processes. Inspect the list to see which suspicious programs are hogging your RAM.
If you do find an unfamiliar process name, do a quick Google search on it first. Confirm whether it’s a legit service or if it’s an actual malicious program. If it’s the latter, force-close the program by clicking the “Quit” or “Force Quit” button.
Install Malware Protection to Clean up Your Mac
Force quitting malware and deleting them from your Mac may not completely get rid of them. Some malicious programs can branch out to and hide within other folders. The best way to eliminate these dangerous programs is to use a solid anti-malware service.
The best malware protection apps will let you scan your entire Mac for potential malware. They will also let you quarantine or send these harmful programs to oblivion. Plus, they can protect you from future incoming malicious files and downloads.
Stay on Top of Your Available Disk Space
Aside from RAM, the remaining amount of free disk space also affects Mac speed. The term “disk space” refers to the capacity of your hard disk drive — the long-term storage container of your Mac. This is where all of your files, including macOS or iOS files, documents, photos, media files, and apps get saved in.
As with your Mac’s RAM, the more cluttered its hard disk gets, the slower it can perform some activities. For instance, if you have loads of software installed, it’ll take time for your Mac’s drive to load all of them. Over time, this extra work can take a physical toll on your drive, causing it to degrade earlier.
If this happens, you’re looking not only at super slowed-down Mac — you’re more likely to see major crashes too.
That said, one of the best ways on how to make Mac speed up is to make sure that at least 5GB of its disk space is always free. That’s the absolute minimum though, as it’s more of a requirement for macOS. So, if possible, add a couple more gigabytes of free space to that baseline.
Not sure how to access and view disk space on the specific model of your Mac?
Send Those Unwanted and Unused Files to the Trash
If less than a third of your Mac’s drive is free, it’s time to clean it up by removing some files and apps. It’s best to start with personal files that you don’t access a lot or use on a regular basis. If you don’t want to delete them, you can move them over to iCloud or to an external hard drive.
If you have tons of media files in your Mac, move them to an EHD. You should also set your Mac to create Time Machine backups within your external HD. This way, you can also worry less about accidental deletions or severe data loss.
Permanently Erase All Intentional Deletions in Your Trash Folder
In 2019, data loss affected almost two-thirds of surveyed consumers. In the world of business, an estimated 60% of SMBs that lose data will close down within half a year.
So, before you hit that “Empty” button on your Mac’s Trash window, give it a thorough rundown first. Make sure that it only contains intentional deletions. You may have accidentally trashed a few valuable files that you would want to recover.
Hit the “Empty” button once you’re 100% sure that everything on the list is useless. Restart your Mac to determine if freeing up all that space helped boost its speed.
Follow These Hacks on How to Make Your Mac Run Faster Now
There you have it, the top strategies on how to make your Mac run faster and keep it from crashing. Even if your Mac is still kind of new, know that these tips apply to both fledglings and age-advancing Macs. Especially the part about malware — such harmful files don’t discriminate based on age.
So, as early as now, follow as many of these hacks as possible! The sooner you do, the sooner you can protect your Mac and maintain its optimal speed and performance.
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