Easy ways to speed up Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion

Speeding Up Mac performance with introduction of Intel in the World of Mac. The Mac OS speed has increased tremendously except old PowerPC machines. But , it is important to note that the most recent Mac Lion OS X 10.7 users are also facing slow Mac.

Switching to new processors is very easy on newer models but there lie some issues with older versions and process becomes more expensive and complicated.

What to do if I can't upgrade my Mac OS?

There are some situations where upgrading Mac OS cannot be afforded. So, in those situations try some easy ways to optimize Mac for better performance and these are much easier than you think. Here, we are discussing some of those tips to speed up Mac performance.

1. Clear the clutter

Some of the Mac users keep the size of Boot volume very low. In such cases the OS X doesn't get enough free space required(20% of boot volume) to run smoothly through writing virtual memory and other temporary files to the space. This is a major cause of slow Mac and must be resolved.

I order to avoid this issue keep your boot volume free as much as possible. Keep your videos, music files and other large files at some separate media or separate vomume on same drive.

2. Fast Mac drives

Usually the portable models have the drives with lower rpm (rotations per minute). A faster spinning drive with about 10.000 to 15,000 rpm will definitely help to increase the accessibility of Mac.

Using faster secondary internal drives is good but more important for heavy applications like working with video. Fitting a 7,200rpm drive to a portable Mac will also yield better overall performance at relatively low cost.

3. Upgrade your RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) is very significant topic to be discussed upon. The need for RAM may vary from one OS to another.

Mac OS X v10.4 - 256 MB of RAM

Mac OS X v10.5 - 512MB of RAM

Mac OS X v10.6 - 1GB of RAM

Mac OS X v10.7 – 2 GB of RAM

So, please check if you are using a higher version of OS X at with low RAM. For home users, 2GB of RAM is enough to run normal application.If you are working with Photoshop, Final Cut or GarageBand you'll need to upgrade your RAM.

4. Manage startup items

There are some applications which start running automatically with each startup. Some of them are not needed every time so, need to be closed to save unnecessary consumption of RAM. Applications related with scanner and printer are some of them.

Go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login items. Delete those which you don't need.

5. Keep only necessary applications

Please mind the applications you are installing because installing tons of unnecessary programs and forgetting them could kill your drive space and thus slow down your Mac speed. A mac uninstaller like Stellar Speed Up Mac, can be the best tool for this task and many others to optimize your Mac machine.

6. Manage Processor performance

In your G4 and G5 Mac machines, you can optimize processor performance. Simply go to Preferences > Energy Saver. Automatic switches between the Highest and Reduced settings to optimise energy use.

7. Have Multiple accounts to get rid of slow Mac

Different accounts for different tasks can help you to optimize usage of resources and thus reduces the chances of slugging Mac.

Disk Cleaning Software for Mac like Stellar SpeedUp Mac v2.0 can be used to fix slow Mac behavior. These tools keep your drive free from:

1. Cache files
   
2. Unnecessary binary files
   
3. Duplicate files
   
4. Language files
   
5. Temporary files
   

For those users who want to speed up their Mac without switching to higher version of Mac OS, Mac Cleanup applications are the best options.