Make sure you regularly perform a software update for macOS and all the apps installed on your Mac. How you update the software depends a bit on the version of macOS you are running. Open apps lightning fast This is one of the ways you can make Windows 10 faster during daily usage. You can create custom keyboard shortcuts to open apps by pressing a single key.

1. Make Mac Run Faster

Remember the feeling of a brand new Mac? A Mac without rainbow wheels. A Mac that didn’t cause headaches or frustration. Below we’ll show you 15 ways you can shake off the dust from your system. All it takes it to disable a few things here and there.

Here’s How to Speed Up Your Mac

These simple steps provided below won't take much time, but will greatly help to improve your Mac's performance. If you do these activities regularly, you won't have to worry about the need to speed up your Mac again.

1. Find resource-hungry processes

Some apps are more power-hungry than others and can slow your Mac to a crawl. To see which apps are eating up your system resources, use Activity Monitor. You can open it from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder, or use Spotlight to find it.

Activity Monitor details five different resources: CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, and Network usage. If your Mac is running slowly, pay special attention to the CPU section. It shows how processes affect the CPU (processor) activity. Click a column name, such as % CPU, to list all programs by the amount of CPU they’re using.

How to use activity monitor to speed up Mac

If you see that some app is using a lot of CPU power, you can close it from here by choosing the app with the mouse and clicking the X in the left-hand corner of the Activity Monitor.

2. Manage your startup items

It goes without saying that a clean startup helps speed up slow Mac. When your Mac launches faster, it takes less time to do anything. No waiting for Safari, Chrome or Firefox to launch — they open instantly. How do you get such speed? Well, when your Mac boots up, it runs a lot of unnecessary apps. But it’s quite easy to take control of it. Go to your System Preferences > Users & Groups and then click on your username. Now click on Login Items and select a program you don’t immediately need when your Mac starts up, and click the “-” button below.

3. Turn off visual effects

A great tip to help you when you wonder how to speed up your Mac is to turn off visual effects. Sure, they look pretty, but who cares if your Mac is running slowly? Turning off some of the features can greatly speed up iMac or MacBook.

Here’s how to speed up a Mac by turning off some visual effects:

1. Click System Preferences > Dock.
2. Untick the following boxes: Animate opening applications, Automatically hide and show the Dock.
3. Click on Minimize windows using and change Genie effect to Scale effect.

4. Delete browser add-ons

All articles on how to speed up Mac mention browsers. It's 2020 and today's browsers got simply too complicated. Chrome and other browsers often get overloaded with various add-ons and extensions we install on top of them. These tools do a useful job like checking our grammar but we pay for that with reduced browser speed. You can battle that by reducing the number of open tabs (a good practice in and off itself) and by removing any browser extensions you don't need.
Here is how to delete extra browser extensions in all 3 main browsers:

5. Reindex Spotlight

If you recently updated your OS, you would be aware of the slowness that occurs when Spotlight is indexing. This only takes a few hours and then your Mac will be fine. But sometimes the indexing gets stuck, and you need to speed up a Mac. To solve this problem, you need to reindex Spotlight by going to System Preferences > Spotlight and clicking on the “Privacy” tab.

Now drag your hard drive from Finder into the Privacy List. Once added, remove it by clicking the “-” sign. The indexing will start again, but hopefully, after a few hours, it will finish properly and boost your Mac speed.

6. Reduce Desktop clutter

Remember, every desktop icon takes up RAM space. Fewer icons — the faster your Mac gets. When your Desktop is clean, restart your computer. And the 'Desktop Stacks' feature lets you put those icons in order. If you're running macOS High Sierra or older macOS version, don't worry. The mere deletion of desktop items will make your MacBook faster.

7. Empty the caches

Cache files are temporary data used to speed up the processes. For example, a web browser will cache web pages to download a website faster when you revisit it. Sounds great, right? Actually, it is, but there is always “but.” Over time, these cache files take much storage on your Mac, and instead of speeding things up, they slow your computer down.

So how to speed up MacBook by emptying the caches? There are two ways: you can clean them up manually (step-by-step) or you can remove them in a second with a cleaning utility CleanMyMac X.

If you want to clear cache automatically, do the following:

1. Launch CleanMyMac — download the app for free here
2. Choose System Junk.
3. Click Scan and then Clean.

That’s it!

However, if you decide to clean cache files manually, check out his guide on “How to Clear Cache on a Mac.”

8. Uninstall unused apps

Another proven way to speed up MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac is to uninstall the application you don’t need anymore. So how to remove unwanted apps on your Mac? You may be surprised to find out that simply dragging them to a Trash bin is not enough. It leaves gigabytes of junk behind. Dragging documents and movies to Trash works fine but apps should be uninstalled completely. Check out a step-by-step guide on “How to Uninstall Apps on a Mac.” It describes the manual way and the easy way.

There are also unseen apps, called launch agents that may slow your Mac down. For example, your internet download speeds suddenly plummeted. How to speed up downloads on Mac? Delete background agents that cannibalize your internet speeds.

9. Clean up Mac’s hard drive

If you want the most bang for your buck, cleaning your hard drive is by far the best and easiest way to speed up MacBook or iMac. Go through your hard drive and clean out everything that is slowing it down. But what is slowing down my Mac? What to look for? Caches, logs, apps, widgets, hidden trash, large and old files.

Extra step: Delete large unused files

Think of a car that has a heavy load in the trunk. For all its engine power, it cannot really go fast. The same happens on your Mac only your disk is stuffed with heavy files.
1.Go to Apple menu > About this Mac >Storage.
2.Click on “Manage…”

In the menu that appears, click on Documents. These should be your largest space-wasters. In our case, these are movie files. Review these and move them away onto an external drive.

Of course, you can clean up your Mac manually. But finding and removing all these things takes time. And you have to know where to look. The good news is that there is an easy solution to the problem. CleanMyMac X, by MacPaw has everything you need to finish the 3-hour task of hard drive cleanup in under 5 minutes. Even more, it will clean up the junk you didn’t even know about and speed up Mac.

10. Update your Mac (OS and hardware)

Typically, Macs take care of themselves. Having the latest software from Apple makes speeding up your Mac simple. To check your version of the operating system, click the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen and then About This Mac. Make sure you have the latest macOS/OS X installed (or the latest you can install since not all Macs upgrade to macOS Catalina).

As for the hardware upgrade, as you’ve probably guessed, it is costly. But if your OS is the latest possible version and you’ve cleaned up the hard drive, and you still have troubles with speed, this could be your solution. Keep in mind that upgrading some hardware is not possible for certain Macs.

Upgrading to the latest OS and upgrading your hardware will typically solve a bunch of slowness issues.

11. Create a new user profile on your Mac

If you want to go even further than updating the macOS — simply create a new user profile on your Mac. Some settings in your current user profile may have been compromised or got cluttered with outdated system logs. You can scrap all these and start your profile afresh.

1. Click the Apple logo > System Preferences.
   
2. Click Users & Groups.
3. Press to Unlock changes.
4. Add a new user with a “+”

Next up, you will have to import your crucial user data to your new account. Luckily, macOS has a special Shared Folder just for this purpose. It can be found by clicking Finder > Go > Computer > Macintosh HD > Users. Drop your documents to this folder and then log in to your new account. Well done! You’re starting a new life!

12. Free up RAM using Terminal

If you made it to this tip, you probably have enough skill to start using Mac's Terminal app. It's like using a magic wand — there are dozens of helpful combinations that you can use to speed up mac OS. One of them is used to free up RAM instantly.
You can apply this trick when your system is running out of available memory. In other words, when a particular app freezes up and desperately needs some fresh memory.

1. Open Terminal app via Launchpad.
2. Paste in the following command: sudo purge
3. Hit Enter.
4. You will be asked to enter your system password

If you're not comfortable with using Terminal, there is a shortcut way to free up RAM that requires no hacking skills.
You can download the app I've mentioned above, CleanMyMac X, preferably, the 2019 version.

1. Download CleanMyMac X here.
2. Navigate to the Maintenance tab.
3. Click Free up RAM
4. That's it!

Extra tip: Add more RAM

How to speed up my Mac? How to get it run faster? In fact, upgrading RAM is usually a great solution for improving your Mac’s performance. But first, check how much RAM you physically have on your Mac.

1. Click on the Apple logo > About this Mac...
2. Look out for Memory specs

The normal amount in 2019 is anything above 8 GB of RAM. An extra 8 GB RAM card will cost you around $30.

The more RAM your Mac has at its disposal, the more windows or tabs you can have open without slowing the system down. With more RAM, the operating system isn’t making calls to virtual memory which uses the hard drive and slows down the system considerably. Here’s a comprehensive guide on “How to Upgrade Your Mac’s RAM.”

One more hardware solution to speed up your MacBook is to reapply MacBook’s thermal paste which has probably worn off over time. The tell-tale sign for this is your Mac overheating too often. The thermal paste transfers heat away from your Mac’s processor thus making it more efficient.

13. Reset SMC & PRAM

Sometimes your Mac will act strange for no apparent reason — it sleeps or shuts down unexpectedly, the battery doesn’t charge properly, the keyboard backlight behaves incorrectly, and your Mac performs slowly. If these issues are not solved by restarting your computer, you’ll need to reset SMC (system management controller) and PRAM (parameter RAM).

How to speed up MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook

Resetting the SMC

First of all, you need to determine whether your Mac’s battery is removable. That’s because the process of resetting the SMC for computers that have a non-removable battery is quite different.

If the battery is non-removable:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press Shift+Control+Option on your keyboard and press the power button at the same time. Hold the keys and a power button for 10 seconds.
3. Release all keys.
4. Press the power button to turn on your Mac.

If the battery is removable:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Remove the battery.
3. Press the power button and hold it for 5 seconds.
4. Press the power button again to turn on your computer.

How to speed up iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro

1. Shut down your computer.
2. Unplug a power cord and wait 15 seconds.
3. Plug the power cord in.
4. Wait 5 seconds and press the power button.

Resetting the PRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press the power button.
3. Press the Command+Option+P+R keys at the same time.
4. Hold the keys until your Mac restarts.
5. Release the keys.

Resetting SMC and PRAM may seem to be difficult, but it can really help with Mac speedup.

14. Replace your HDD with SSD

So you're asking yourself how to speed up my Mac — but have you tried hardware solutions? You can breathe new life into your Mac by replacing its traditional hard drive with a solid-state one. Adding an SSD will make your computer boot faster, copy files in the blink of an eye and make the system really fast when multitasking.

A word of caution: it’s recommended that you consult a professional before attempting any hardware upgrades yourself because the process is quite challenging. And don’t forget to make a complete backup of your data before replacing your HDD with SSD, so that you’ll be able to restore all important files if something goes wrong.
By today's standards, a good SSD will have 240-256 GB of capacity. It is recommended to clean install the macOS on the new drive. When asked about the formatting system, choose the APFS+ file system which works much faster.

15. Use CleanMyMac X

If you don’t feel like spending the next several hours trying to get your Mac in shape manually, there is a great solution. Download CleanMyMac X and let it do the job for you. This powerful utility is the best way to speed up old Mac. It has a dedicated feature, called Speed that battles the slow macOS. It does some of the following:

• Disables your Hung Apps
• Disables Heavy Memory Consumers
• Runs macOS Maintenance Scripts
• Switches off extra Login items and more

Some users reported that the Speed feature is pretty impressive, especially on older Mac models.

Now, speed up your Mac, take a deep breath, do a Mac speed test and come to thank us.

Here is a short video recap of what we've discussed above.

These might also interest you:

How to Speed Up Mac? This post lists 11 methods to speed up your Mac and make it work like new.

Mac Tips & Issue Fixes

You might have the habit of wiping and dusting off your Mac screen and cleaning out keyboard and indeed, physical cleaning could make your Mac look sleek and shine as new. However, is your Mac computer working like new?

I believe the answer is a big NO. Even if you spent more than $ 2000 on one of the best Mac computers, it is still inevitable that your Mac might get slow and sluggish, even stuck on some window. How to speed up Mac? If you are troubled by this problem, don’t worry, we are here to help. Here in this post, we summarized the most efficient 11 tips to help you speed up your Mac and make it work like new.

Method 1. Make Sure Your Mac OS Is Up to Date

Apple provides free OS updates and these updates could fix bugs and glitches that slowing down your Mac. There is no reason to stay at old version of Mac OS at all! Below are detailed steps of how to update to latest Mac OS.

Step 1. Locate the version of Mac you require, check if your Mac is supported and if there is enough room for your Mac.

Step 2. Backup your Mac.

Step 3. Click on the App Store icon in the Dock and select Updates. You can also click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen and select Software Update from there. (Please make sure you have logged in iCloud account on your Mac.)

Step 4. Search Mac OS, download it to your Mac. Follow the prompts, you can have the newest version of Mac OS.

Method 2. Cleanup Your Browser like Safari, Chrome, Opera, etc.

No matter what browser you are using on your Mac, Safari, Chrome or Opera, when you are browsing some webs, the more tabs you open on your browser, the more memory storage it takes up, and more slowly your computer works. If don’t believe it, you can launch Activity Monitor (Steps: Macintosh HD > Applications > Folder of Utilities > Activity Monitor) to check it.

Close Unused Tabs in Safari/Firefox/Chrome/Opera to Speed Up Mac

1. Close unused tabs in your browser.
2. Cleanup the cookies, caches and browsing history from your browser:

– For Safari users: Click Safari on left hand of desktop > Clear History and Website Data > All History > Clear History.

– For Chrome users: Click Chrome on left hand of desktop > Clear Browsing Data > the beginning of time > Select the items you want to clear > Clear browsing data.

– For Firefox Users: Launch Firefox > Click History on the upper left corner of your desktop > Select the history you want to remove > Click Setting > Select Delete button.

– For Opera Users: Click Opera at the left hand of your desktop > Click Clear Private Data > Select the browsing data you want to delete > Click Clear Browsing Data.

Also Read: How to Free up Space on Mac >

When you clearing browsing history and cookies from some browser, you can choose to keep the password, or you will input them again when you visit the webpages you logged in before.

Method 3. Remove All Junks from Your Mac

If you want to speed up your Mac completely, it is quite necessary to find out and remove the junk files from it. Don’t think it is troublesome to open every app to clear its junks? Here we offer you an all-in-one Mac cleaning tool – MacClean that allows you to one click to remove System Junks, App junks, Users Junks, and Internet Junks from your Mac without Googling how to figure out some tough problems, how to delete history and caches from Firefox browser, how to get rid of app leftovers from Mac, etc.

Related Reading:

Method 4. Cleanup Your Desktop

Cleanup Your Desktop to Speed Up Your Mac

Contrary to Windows computer, Mac has only one hard disk, and we put all the things in the same disk. We never worry we will run out of all the storage of C drive, and never thought they will slow down our Mac. However, if you just keep your files disordered on your desktop, and keep all apps on the dock, the items on your desktop also will slow down your Mac. Because macOS treat each desktop item like a small window with its own performance boost, and your desktop plays a part in how many time it will take for you to boost the system (it is the first screen that it has to load up).

Therefore, here are several ways to clean up your desktop:

– Remove unused Apps from Dock: Select the App > Right click this App > Select Options > Remove from Dock.

When removing some App from Dock, you should quit it firstly, or you can’t find the option of “Remove from Dock”.

– Delete unless files, and put valuable files into folders.

– Remove Apps from Computer. Apps take up both CPU and storage.

Also Read: How to Clean MacBook Pro Hard Drive Easily >

Method 5. Empty the Trash

You know that every file you delete and every App you uninstall are placed in Trash unless you right click and empty it. So if you ensure all your deleted files are useless, empty trash regularly and remove them from your Mac permanently.

Method 6. Close Unused but Running in Background Applications

When looking at Activity Monitory, except browser tabs take much storage, you must have noticed that some apps you don’t launch are running in the background. So close those unused apps to speed up your Mac.

Close Unused Apps with Activity Monitory to Speed Your Mac

Method 7. Close Widgets on the Dashboard You Don’t Use

Like Apps and browser tabs, the widgets on your Dashboard also take up a little bit of memory. So go to Dashboard and remove the widgets you don’t use by following the steps: Launchpad > Mission Control > Dashboard > Click “-” > Click the “x” of the widgets you don’t use. Absolutely, you also can use the same way to add the widgets you delete by mistake.

Remove Unused Widgets from Dashboard to Speed Up Mac

Method 8. Managing Startup Items

If you find it takes you one or two minutes to boot up your Mac, maybe you should check your login items on your Mac, and there have too many applications to open. When you install some applications, they automatically are added into Login Items, and they will launch automatically when you start your Mac. Without a doubt, this will make your Mac slowly. If you don’t know what Apps are added in your Login Items, you can check with steps below: Settings > Users & Groups > Current User > Login Items > Select the items you want to remove > Click “-” button.

Method 9. Add RAM or Upgrade the Hardware

If you have tried all the methods listed above, but your Mac still works slowly. At this moment, you can consider upgrading the RAM to speed up your Mac. As known to us, Mac computer is very expensive. Compared with getting a new Mac, upgrading your RAM is the simplest way to make your Mac run faster. If you have only one piece of RAM attached in your Mac, consider getting another one.

Add RAM or Upgrade Hardware to Speed Up Mac

Method 10. Add an SSD to Mac

SSD stands for “Solid State Drive”, and an SSD drive is just the same shape and size as a traditional drive. The biggest difference between them is that an SSD drive uses RAM chips instead of a spinning hard disk to store information, which makes it much faster.

We suggest you add an SSD drive to run just macOS and your applications, and keep your existing hard disk for your user files. This means your System files and Applications are on the new SSD drive, but your user data like iPhoto or iTunes stay on your old Hard Disk. This will speed up your boot time and application launching.

Also Read: How to Clean MacBook Pro >

Method 11. Restart Your Mac

For most of us, especially those who are working with a MacBook Pro or Air, we won’t restart our Mac unless we meet some problem and can’t solve it. Normally we just close the lid and let it sleep. However, restarting your Mac will clear out the cache and re-initializes hardware, and rebooting regularly can have performance benefits. Moreover, nowadays the Macs equipped with SSD drivers can boost as quickly as they awake from Sleep. Therefore, if your Mac works slowly, you can restart your Mac and see if it is faster.

We also strongly suggest you make more available room for your Mac computer, especially when you are working a 64 GB or 128 GB MacBook Air. To get the most useful tips to free up space on Mac, you can refer to 4 Methods to Free up Space on Your Mac >

In addition, as every MacBook user, you also want your MacBook battery life to be good in condition because the battery of MacBook is integrated battery, which means it’s not easy to remove and install for general users. Also, the price of battery replacement is expensive. That’s why we bring you – Best Tips to Improve MacBook Battery Life >

Make Mac Run Faster

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