Best Ways To Fix A Slow Mac And Improve Speed

Slow Mac can give you nightmares when it becomes unresponsive. If your Mac is running on low system resources like less RAM or storage, you may need to perform regular optimization and cleanup. There are different manual ways to fix a slow Mac if you don’t want to use a Mac optimizer. Media files and large files take up a lot of space on your storage that needs to be cleaned up. Try these manual methods to declutter your Mac regularly.

1. Delete Duplicate Media

2. Uninstall Unwanted Apps

3. Delete Large Files & Backup Files

4. Clear Cache & Temp Files

5. Quit Active Apps

Delete Duplicate Media

The manual process to find duplicate photos on Mac is through File Explorer or the smart folder. This is not an effective method to remove duplicate photos. You can use a duplicate photo finder for Mac to automate the process. Duplicate image cleaner can perform a quick or deep scan and line up all the duplicate photos for you to preview and delete.

Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro for Mac is one of the best duplicate photo finder for mac that can accurately find all the duplicate photos available on the Mac. You can not only scan the internal storage but can also scan and find duplicate photos from all the external storage devices that connect to your Mac. This duplicate picture finder supports multiple image file formats and can find duplicate photos from cloud storage like Google Drive.

Quit Active Apps

If you are not in the habit of restarting your Mac on a regular basis, it is required to quit active apps which are not in use anymore. You can get into the Activity Monitor and check for unwanted processes running in the background. 

Step 1. Select Activity Monitor from the Dock or search for the same.

Step 2. Click on the Memory tab to check apps and processes utilizing RAM on your Mac.

Step 3. Click on the Memory column to sort apps by memory usage. Sort them in descending order to list heavy apps on the top.

Step 4. Select the process name that is redundant on your Mac and needs to be quit.

Step 5. Right-click and select Quit or Force Quit to end the process and recover memory.

Uninstall Unwanted Apps

If you have installed an app earlier and you are not using it anymore, it is better to get rid of the app to release the memory used and regain space. You can uninstall apps with the below steps!

Step 1. Click on the Apple menu and select the Applications folder.

Step 2. Check apps that are not required on your Mac.

Step 3. Right-click on the app and select the ‘Move to Trash’ option. Click on the confirmation to finish deleting the app and let it delete in the background.

Step 4. Follow the same on all the unwanted apps to get rid of them.

Alternatively, you can also try to drag and drop the app icon in the Trash to uninstall it in the background. There is another way to uninstall apps on Mac. Access Launcher on the Dock and hold down the mouse to click on any app icon. You will see all the app icons jiggling along with an X mark. Click on X to delete and confirm deleting the apps. 

Delete Large Files & Backup Files

Movies, videos, and backup files are large files that take up a lot of space on your Mac. You can filter your files and delete them from your Mac to restore space on the drive.

Step 1. Select New Smart Folder from the Apple menu.

Step 2. Select This Mac to scan all the files from all storage destinations.

Step 3. Create a filter by File Size and add the filter ‘Is Greater Than’ to select a file size limit. You can search for files above 100 MB or 500MB to list out all the files that are higher than a specific file size.

Step 4. You can add another filter by file type to segregate videos, photos, or backup files.

Step 5. Select and delete large files, videos, movies, and other media files to make more room for upcoming files. Don’t forget to empty your Trash once done!

Clear Cache & Temp Files

Apps and browsers create cache, cookies, temp files, and other clutter as we use them. It requires timely cleanup and optimization to declutter these cache folders. You can manually get into these folders or clear files or use the best Mac optimizer to automatically clear all the clutter.

Step 1. Click on the Go menu on the Apple bar and select the ‘Go to Folder’ option.

Step 2. Type ~/library/Caches and click on the Go button.

Step 3. File Explorer will open with the cache folder and will have all the app folders inside.

Step 4. Expand the folders of deleted apps and delete all the cache files inside. Do this with all the app folders that you have deleted and access the below locations to declutter your Mac.

~/Library/Logs

~/Library/Caches

~/Library/Preferences

~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/

~/Library/Saved Application State/

~/Library/Application Support                   

~/Library/Containers

~/Library/Cookies

Final Words

Slow Mac is never acceptable as Macs are known for their performance. If you are facing performance issues on your Mac, you should consider performing optimization and cleanup. Always keep a check on large files and unwanted clutter that can be removed with manual methods or with the best Mac cleaners. It’s hard to find duplicate photos manually as it’s a time taking exercise. You can use the best duplicate photo finder for Mac to automatically find and delete duplicate photos on Mac.