Every machine tends to get slow with the regular use irrespective of its configuration. So if you are struggling to get the intended performance from your mac, then it is of no surprise. Although it is frustrating mainly while you are in the middle of some important work, if you are not taking regular care of your Mac then it will happen sooner or later.
Fortunately, there are a few ways following which you can clean up your mac and optimize its performance.
So without further ado, read the article to know how to optimize your Mac effectively and easily.
Keep your macOS and Other Apps Updated
There is a thumb rule that says first things first. So the very first step that you need to optimize the performance of your mac is make sure that your OS and all apps installed are up to date. Apple keeps on releasing the updates for macOS that not only includes the security patches but also the latest features and releases that helps in running your mac smoothly.
Now similar to macOS, the app developer also keeps on rolling the updates for their respective apps. These updates again include the latest releases for the app that makes it more optimized and low on memory, in turn boosting the overall performance of the mac.
Moreover, both updating the OS and updating an installed app is a straightforward process, therefore there is no reason for you to miss an update.
To update MacOS, follow the steps given below:
- Click on the Apple icon located in the top left corner of your mac screen.
- Now from the drop down menu select the option, About This Mac.
- Next click on the Software Update button to check if there is a newer version available for your MacOS. If available then update to the latest version without any fail.
To update software and other installed apps follow the steps below:
- Click on the Apple icon located in the top left corner of your mac screen and select App Store from the drop-down menu.
- Now select Updates from the left panel and click on Update All.
Use Inbuilt Optimize Storage Feature of Mac
From macOS Sierra Apple has introduced Optimize Storage that helps to make space on your mac automatically and improves the speed.
- Click on the Apple icon located in the top left corner of your mac screen.
- Now from the drop down menu select the option, About This Mac.
- Next on the pop-up windows that appears click on the Storage tab > Click Manage.
Now, here you will find many tools that will help you to reduce the clutter from your mac by providing you with the option to store all your files, photos, messages in iCloud and emptying the Trash automatically.
But among all the tools the most useful we found is Optimize Storage, that automatically saves space on your Mac by deleting movies and other shows that you have already watched. This tool is more than handy for the people that have their mac filled with obsolete media files, and they have no idea where it actually resides.
Perform a Malware Scan on your Mac
If any of you are still living in the misconception that a mac doesn’t get infected with a malware or virus, then you need to change it. Yes, it’s true that when compared to Windows, macOS is less prone to infections, malware and virus, but still you need to have an antivirus program for your mac to provide it complete protection from any infections.
If you check on the Internet you can find lots of antivirus programs to choose from. However, if you have any confusion, then our recommendation is Systweak anti malware.
This amazing security program blocks all advanced malware, adware, exploits, spyware, and other similar infections and threats before they execute.
And once you have scanned and cleaned your mac from all the threats then your mac will not only become more secure but also it will become more fast, reliable and optimized.
Disable Login/Startup Items on your Mac
Another quick way to optimize your mac is disabling startup items that start with the launch of mac and keep on running in the background, degrading overall performance of the mac.
So if your mac is taking longer than usual to boot, then surely you have too many programs loading at the start of the system. However, the good news is that you can easily disable these startup items and speedup the boot up process. Moreover, once the programs are disabled right at the startup then they will also not keep on running in the background. Therefore making the overall performance of the mac optimized.
To disable login items on your mac follow the steps below:
- Click on the Apple icon located in the top left corner of your mac screen and select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- On the window that appears click on Users & Groups.
- Now on the Users & Groups window, click on the Login Items tab in the right pane.Here you will find a list of all the applications that load automatically when your mac boots up. Start selecting each of the apps that you find unnecessary to start at boot up and then click on the minus button at the bottom of the window.
Reduce Transparency
The flashy visual effects that look amazing and cool to the eyes are again a big culprit that degrades the performance of your mac. The visual effects that were first introduced in Yosemite were seems to be the main culprit to degrade the performance. Therefore, in the El Capitan os, changes were made to reduce the impact that these effects made on the performance of your mac. However, we still recommend that you turn them off to make the performance more optimized.
This is how you can disable these visual effects on your mac:
- Click on the Apple icon located in the top left corner of your mac screen and select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- On the pop-up window that appears click on the Accessibility icon.
- Now on the Accessibility window, select Display from the left panel and then click on the box that is next to the Reduce Transparency option.
You will now feel that the user interfaces will stop using the transparency effects and run a lot faster.
Clean up your Cluttered Desktop
Another easy and quick tip to clean and optimize your mac is to clean up the clutter that your desktop is filled with. The untidy desktop filled with files, screenshots and other apps doesn’t look bad to the eyes but also decreases your productivity and the performance of your mac. Therefore, what we recommend is to keep your desktop free from clutter as much as possible.
So, next time when you are trying to download a file or save a screenshot, try saving it in the drive or any other location other than the desktop. Also if presently your desktop is filled with lots of files then try to put them in a single folder and then move that to either icloud or external drive.
Uninstall all Unnecessary Software
Although it’s quite simple to remove an application, still many of us don’t uninstall the applications that are unneeded. These applications keep on residing in our mac and consume the space and memory that in turn degrades the performance of the mac.
So if you too have installed lots of applications in the past and then just forget about them, then now it’s time to find these unneeded applications and remove them.
Uninstalling an application is a straightforward process, and here is how you can remove an application:
- Click on Go on the Apple menu bar and from the drop down menu select the options, Application.
- Now, locate all the unneeded applications, right click on it and select the option Move to Trash on the pop-up menu.
Yes, you can also drag and drop the application to Trash, however this approach many at times leaves the app data and junk even after installing the app.
Clear Mac Cache
With constant use Mac keeps on piling up the cache that consumes a lot of space on your hard drive. App cache, user cache, and browser cache there are various types of cache that keep on piling and make the mac slow and lag its performance.
Therefore what we recommend is to clean the cache from your mac from time to time. Now since manually cleaning is an uphill task, therefore you can go with a third party app to clean your mac of obsolete cache.
Use Third Party Cleaning Tool
It may be possible that to clean and optimize your mac you have to follow all the steps that we have mentioned above. Therefore if you feel that either you don’t have expertise or have enough time to perform the steps, then we recommend you to go with a third party mac optimization tool. We have tried several optimization tools and find that TuneupMyMac is one of the most comprehensive optimization tools that boost the performance of mac within a few clicks.
This amazing tool helps you clean all types of cache, whether it is user, app or browser within a few minutes giving you an optimal performance. Moreover this tool also has an inbuilt module that checks for all types of duplicate files on your mac and then removes them with just a single click.
Apart from this the app also helps you to manage your login items and uninstall all unneeded programs. In short, this is an all in one optimization tool that not only cleans your mac but also uplift its performance.
Wrapping Up
So folks this is all from our side. We hope that after reading the article, you have now better insight on how to clean your mac and boost its performance.