5 free ways to speed up your slow Mac

1. Manage your Login items

Ideally, you’ll want to power up your Mac and get down to business within a short amount of time. If many apps are set to open automatically, however, it will cause a delay so it’s worth checking what’s in your Login items and managing them.

To do so, click the Apple menu and select System Settings then click General in the left-hand sidebar. Now select Login Items & Extensions and look under Open At Login. If there are items there that you don’t need to be available the moment you boot up, select the unwanted items and click “—”.

2. Remove unnecessary files

The more you use your Mac, the more files you end up accumulating and not all of them are desirable. You’ll end up with many temporary, redundant and duplicate files.

To identify problematic files, you can go to the Apple Menu, select System Settings, click General and choose Storage. This will tell you how much space is being taken up by different apps and documents on your Mac.

Click Large Files to see the biggest problems then click on any of the entries and you’ll be able to delve further. For easier management, you can click the Size column and instantly see exactly which files are taking up the most room. You can then click a file and select Delete.

Next, click Downloads and do the same before you move on to Unsupported Apps and then move on to File Browser to carry out a more complete job.

It’s also worth learning how to clear the cache on Mac.

3. Close your browser tabs

Having too many browser tabs open will slow your Mac because each one will be consuming CPU power and RAM. The solution here is simple: close the tabs that you don’t need and your Mac is likely to run more quickly.

But don’t stop there. You may as well take the opportunity to clear the cache. To do this, you’re going to need to access a hidden menu. In Safari, click Safari in the top-left corner, select Settings, choose Advanced and tick Show features for web developers at the bottom. This will allow you to see and click the Develop menu.

Now simply select Empty Caches.

4. Check for resource-hungry processes

Some apps use a lot of CPU power and this can cause you to see the dreaded “beachball” — a spinning wheel that indicates your Mac is struggling to keep up. You’ll find your Mac runs more quickly if you pull the plug on these resource-hoggers and the way to do this is by opening the Activity Monitor.

You will find Activity Monitor if you click the Apps app in the Dock and type Activity Monitor. It will show you all of the processes running on your Mac and you will be able to see how much of the CPU and Memory is being consumed.

If there’s a particularly high percentage, you can take swift action: click the process and then select the X icon in the top bar. You’ll be asked if you want to quit or force quit the process.

5. Turn off visual effects

A Mac’s visual effects can cause it to run more sluggishly — especially if the Mac is older or has limited resources, or if you’re using an app that places a heavy load on the system.

If this is the case, you should limit or turn off the visual effects. You can do this in a number of ways, putting you in control of how macOS will look as a result.

First of all, click the Apple menu, select System Settings and choose Accessibility. Next, select Display. There you can turn on Reduce transparency which replaces semi-transparent elements with solid backgrounds.

Once done, go back and click Motion. You can now turn on Reduce Motion, turn on Dim flashing lights and turn off Auto-play animated images. These options can make a real difference to your Mac’s speed.