MAC os X is very slow!!!

J

jsn

Registered
Hi

I have a G4 with os X that runs very slowly.

Waht can i check to make it run faster ?

I saw the same computer running in Compusa and it goes faster, so maybe that's because I have a default confuguration that slows everything.

Is there any way to check and optimize my configuration to make it run faster ?

thanks.
jsn
 
It can be many reasons for that.
The one on CompUSA probably has a pretty recently installed system, and not the hd full of different apps and programs that can make it slower. Also if you don't have Mac OS 10.1 (and you have 10.0) you should upgrade to 10.1 because it's almost twice as fast. If you check here you can maybe find some different tutorials to make your mac faster.
 
Yes there are lots of threads on this site about how to revive your osx. do a site search for optimize or defrag or speed. We are working under the assumption that you have been using your mac for awhile without doing any maintainence.

you also need to be running 10.1.2 and 9.2.2 to have the fastest combo of osx and 9. any osx before 10.1 is going to be slow as molasses.

after checking all these tips, if there is still anything you think you are missing, get back to us with it.:)
 
What Ed Spruiell said is probably the best idea. The items I recall are simply

1) Update to the latest versions of the OSs (not released yet 10.2 is supposed to speed it up some more, 10.1.2 is still a little clunky :) )

2) The more memory the better. 256 is minumum. I have 320 without a problem.

3) I have seen user's library folders go bad. You can try via command line.

sudo admin-password
mv ~username/Library ~username/old.Library

Log out and back in. The system puts the default library in its place. Move any preferences over.

4) Eye candy will slow things down. Change the minimize effect to not-Genie. Stop applications from bouncing during launch. Raise the minimum font anti-aliasing size. There may be others.

5) Move the swap file(s) location to an external drive (drive not double-tasked) or at least another partition (reduce fragmentation). Instructions can be found on this site.

6) Somebody actually recomended going to XP. I strongly discourage that kind of recklessness!

That's all I can remember.
 
I was getting the spinning beach ball more and more often. I tried MacJanitor. Maybe it helped a little. On the advice of the guys at MWSF I zapped the PRAM and rebuilt the desktop in OS 9. It helped a lot.
 
I also sometimes have lots of spinning ball. I have enough memory.

I also wonder what the processor is doint. The porcess monitor sometimes have 30% red. I think it is a lot for system !
 
Next time the comp slows to a crawl, open the termnal and type "top -u" and grab a screen shot to show us. I have had innocent little programs go haywire and try to consume the machine.

My other thought is make sure that you have a gig of hd space free (makes for good buffer zone, hey, hd space is cheap now-a-days). I have had my comp do funny things (slowly) when I ran out of swap space.
 
I get the spinning beach ball on my LiMac 800 a lot, but that's usually only in MSIE, and sometimes it gives me a ball for moving down a page. Of course, this being a Microsoft product, it comes as no surprise. I'll probably try Chimera.

AIM Beta has problems with taking up 50% of my proc when it is either foregrounded or buried behind another window. command-h seems to fix that problem though (a lot of it is tied to that lousy stock ticker)

In fact, iTunes rips faster if it is minimized because it's not updating the screen. That's totally odd.
 
You could try MOX optimize that you can use to optimize your system in different ways (Enable window buffer compression, Enable/Disable Mac OS X startup items, speed up your mouse etc)
I haven't tried it, but if you're desperate (or not) try it;)
 
I just reinstalled my system yesterday, and now it runs like a champ. I know it's kind of drastic, but you may just want to back everything up and do a clean install.

Oh and another (less dramatic) change you can make is to change your monitor's colors from millions to thousands. You honostly won't be able to tell the difference and it gives quite a perf. gain for us with crappy graphics cards.
 
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