My Mac is slowing down - what do i do?

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i'm pretty clueless as to how computers work by the way.

in the last few weeks my mac has started to think lo-o-o-ong and hard about everything it does. just about every click on any application brings up the spinny coloured wheel, and it spins for a long time! it used to mulitask quite well but not if i want to, for example, browse the net and burn a cd at the same time it stalls indefinately.

The machine is about a year and a half old (G4) has 30gigs of storage memory, of which i have used around 27 gigs, and runs on 256 mb of RAM. the OS is 10.2.8.

how do i get it back up to speed? should i clear out my hard drive, save stuff i need and re-install? or just try and free up some more space? or do i need to buy some more RAM , (which i can't afford at the moment)?

thanks in advance.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

You need more RAM, is the bottom line, but in the absence of that freeing up some memory might help, along with not multitasking too much, updating browsers, etc. But do back everything up NOW, 'cause our slowing-down Mac eventually took a huge dump and we lost a load of stuff. NB our robot-style new breed iMac is fast convenient and AWESOME.

Mac's internal CD has always sucked, getting an external drive might lessen the computer's confusion some.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Why do computers slow down over time, generally. Mine's not too bad, but it's definitely not as snappy as it was. My hard disk is only about two thirds full - is that enough to make a difference?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I think using 27 of 30 gigs is your problem, jed. Mac OS X has a modern "virtual memory" system that uses free disk space as a kind of playpen for its day-to-day operations. If the playpen gets too small it pouts. If you get at least 5 free you should see a speed increase. Of course as my old sysadmin friend Craig says, "RAM is like money. There's no such thing as too much."

Computers slow down over time because they are dumb.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I always assume this 'more RAM more RAM!' thing must be right, because of the credentials of those that trumpet it. But what I don't understand is that when I look at how much RAM all my open apps are using, it's never close to 256MB, so why do I need more?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Repairing permission seems to help. Also, avoid using MS products. They eat memory. Things like the live updating word count on Word is intensive too.

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Try turning off the sound enhancer in iTunes too, if it's on - I'm told that uses a lot of resources.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

w-w-w-w-what's the sound enhancer?

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The "play" button.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

N., there are many things other than your open apps that are sitting there using memory.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I looked at a whole list of running processes (most of which I could not identify), not just the apps, I meant.

Dave - I don't know how it works but it's some kind of fancy equalizer that does brighten up flat sounding tracks. I have no doubt it's anathema to audiophiles. I've turned it off, anyway.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha, I clicked on this thread thinking "I have that problem!" and sat here for three minutes while the stupid thing opened...

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i had the same problems with the sound enhancer, N. it made most tracks sound better but a few it made horribly distorted and unfortunaltly you cant apply it to selected tracks. thanks for all this info btw.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

how often do you reboot?

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Definitely get more RAM. Like, get it up to 1 gig if you can swing that.

Also, I suggest downloading Xupport and running all the maintenance stuff. It's free and you can Google to find it or go to Versiontracker.com. If you are running MS Entourage, make sure to rebuild the database from time to time by holding in the OPTION button when you launch it.

― don weiner, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer OTM. More RAM wouldn't hurt, but your Mac is hurting for disk space to use as virtual memory.

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

http://cgi.techtv.com/messageboards?action=board_view&board_id=17
Theses guys can help you figure out exactly what is wrong. I have found that, in my case, slow performance is a virus symptom. D/L Panda virus protection. There is a free version.

― Speedy (Speedy Gonzalas), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

how often do you reboot?

every couple of days usually but my computer has been stalling all the time recently so i have to keep force quitting it and rebooting.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

and thanks again, im looking at xupport now.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:15 (twenty-two years ago)

My two pieces of advice:

1) Carefully look over your complete Applications folder and subfolders and delete anything (non-system based) that you don't feel you need anymore.

2) Run MacJanitor. It just executes some simple UNIX functions that should clear some of the cobwebs out of the computer.

And, yeah, RAM is worth its weight in gold. However much you get, it's never enough.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

At the moment in Process Viewer, under 'view all processes', Photoshop is taking 25% of my 256MB memory, Safari 20%, Window Manager 10%, iTunes 6%, and the rest a total of about 15%. That makes just 77% of the 256MB.

I have 14MB of hard disk free.

Yet my mac is jumpy when switching between apps, especially when Photoshop is invloved.

Non-rhetorical question remains: how would more RAM help? Why isn't all the 256MB being used?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I have 14MB of hard disk free

you meant GB, correct?

― Broheems (diamond), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoops - yes, GB.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Photoshop is a total memory hog. So are Illustrator and all those super heavy graphics editing programs.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I know, I know - but is it somehow more of a hog than Process Viewer is telling me?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:59 (twenty-two years ago)

You need more RAM. I was running 256 MB on my new PB and dying until I (finally!) got a 512MB upgrade.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:01 (twenty-two years ago)

No, probably not. But 25% is a huge chunk. Add to that 3 or 4 other semi-hefty programs running you will definitely notice your comp strugglin' a little.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

So one doesn't have to be using all the available RAM to experience memory-caused slowdown?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Yup. You should never come close to using all your available RAM.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

If you do then you need to either a) get more RAM or b) stop running a lot of programs at once.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I was guessing that unmonitored spikes (the most frequently I set the Process Viewer to resample was every 5 secs) are causing the slowdowns. But if you say that you should never come close to using it all then I suppose that's not the case. If 77% usage is too much then what should I be aiming to bring it down to?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Or c) change the Photoshop settings so that it uses less of your available memory (if you aren't using it to manipulate large files--if you are go back to a).)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

RAM isn't that expensive. I had to pay a lot to get a special kind for my older machine, but if you have a newer machine it shouldn't be that much. I was having problems like yours, but then I upgraded (from 64!) and have been happy ever since.

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

this macjanitor seems to be very good, not that i know anything, combined with alot of burning music i never listen to to discs to free up disc space, the machine is running alot smoother. i will buy more RAM when i can afford it though.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow - thanks for the macjanitor tip. Despite managing to ramp my Photoshop RAM usage up to 36% at the moment, everything now feels just as snappy as the day I bought it.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:04 (twenty-two years ago)

it's like a veil had been lifted from my eyes!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm running it now myself, seems to be chunking away well enough.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The advice in this thread is just gross. Not that it's wrong... it's just gross. Why does an Apple need more than 256mb of RAM? I don't argue that it does, but why? It's obscene. My Mac does it to. All I use it for is watching Quicktime trailers and its SOOOO SLOOOOW.

My slower Win2k system is faster and much more responsive but I'm sure that has a lot to do with me knowing how to optimize a Win2k system. I've wondered if the Mac keyboard's feeling like it's full of peanut butter (by design?) is making me think things are even slower than they are. I worked for half an hour on a 2.6Ghz WinXP system that a guy bought off the floor from Circuit City and never reformatted. It was a disaster. Backing up all your data and reformatting every couple of years or so should be often enough - if necessary. Not downloading and installing and uninstalling lots of trash applications and free games and utilites that always end up leaving residue of some kind is always a good practice.

Saying that 3Gb of free space isn't enough for virtual memory is absurd (i hope). I've never seen any normal desktop system configured to use more than say twice its RAM in Virtual Memory. Could defragging be of help? I don't even know if you need to defrag an OSX filesystem.

― Stuart (Stuart), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The Mac needs more RAM because OSX feeds on it.

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, I know, and it sucks. I've never met a Mac I would consider "zippy" and things have not improved with OSX.

― Stuart (Stuart), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, I know, and it sucks. I've never met a Mac I would consider "zippy" and things have not improved with OSX.

This isn't a "Mac" only issue, but just part of the nature of any *nix system (including Mac OS X). They love RAM and you must feed them.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Why do computers slow down over time, generally. Mine's not too bad, but it's definitely not as snappy as it was. My hard disk is only about two thirds full - is that enough to make a difference?
It's because of virtual memory paging & your hard disk getting fragmented. As the computer gets older, it's harder and harder for the system to write out whole pages to one spot on disk. I would imagine de-fragmenting might help, but I don't know of any OS X ones off the top of my head.

― lyra (lyra), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't even know if you need to defrag an OSX filesystem.

OS X defrags disks when it has a quiet moment, It also moves the most often used files to the fastest part of the disk.

I consider my Mac pretty zippy but I do find it fairly obscene that it can gobble up 2Gb of my just under 3Gb remaining disk spaced as swap file space and still want more. There's no simple way of limiting the swap file space or even telling OS X to give back that which it clearly doesn't need.

Having said that I'm Impressed with how zippy my four year old mac is.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I would just like to make it clear that my 256MB 18 month old Mac is now zippy again (except when rendering a complex Photoshop filter, obv., and even then, the progress bar is neatly displayed, without any weird jumpy or blocky artefacts).

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

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