How to keep your Mac up to speed

All computers, including Apple Macs, require maintenance from time to time in order to keep them in check and the performance running at its best. Macs are not immune from bugs, slowness and other general problems, so we’ve put together a check list of useful tips to help you achieve the best out of your Mac.

Declutter your desktop

A clutter free desktop is one of the ways to improve the speed of your Mac. Storing files and apps etc on your desktop will contribute towards slowness.

Anything you store on your Mac’s desktop affects the running of your machine, therefore ensuring that its kept clear and tidy is a good rule to follow. Organise your files into folders and store your apps in your Applications folder.

Close apps you don’t use

Keeping apps open is a bad habit to get caught up in. The dock on your Mac allows you to see any programs that you have open. You may think that you’ve closed a program if you’ve clicked on the red cross, but believe it or not that doesn’t mean the program has been completely shut.

You could have a string of programs running behind the scenes that you’re not even aware of, and as a result these can use up the RAM, CPU and can also lead to your machine getting hot as well as becoming sluggish.

Simply Force Quit any open apps that you aren’t using. Once you’ve done this you should notice a difference in performance, especially if some of the applications were large and using up a lot of processes.

Backup your data & keep disk space free

Many of us are guilty of skipping this one. This step should be ritual especially as data is precious to many of us. Whether it’s photos from that amazing holiday you had, the essay you’ve spent weeks on, or a PowerPoint presentation for your work meeting, if it means that much to you then back it up!

Any computer is susceptible to hard drive failure so ensuring you keep an up to date backup of your data is important. Whether you opt for a cloud-based backup or a physical backup onto an external hard drive, whatever you do don’t miss this step. You could even backup locally and to the cloud to double your chances of securing your data.

Its also good to regularly check how much disk space you’re using and how much free space you have available. If your hard disk is close to being full the more likely it is to cause you slowness issues.