HOW TO SPEEDUP MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION 10.8.3

The new Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 is one of the world's most powerful and advance desktop operating system ever developed in today's computer technology. Like in any other operating system there are always a need to tweak and improve its performance. The following are a few recommendations and tips that I would personally suggest to do, that can really speedup your Mac without spending a dollar from your own pocket or investing in any hardware upgrades

1. CLEAR OUT UNNECESSARY STARTUP ITEMS.

Whenever you install any software or applications onto your Mac, some Apps automatically set themselves as a startup item, which causes them to load up every time you turn on your computer. Those unnecessary Apps loading up on the background on startup actually slows down your boot up time. I would suggest you clear out those startup Apps from your startup items list. To do so you can find out what is listed on your startup items list by browsing to Apple Menu/System Preferences/Accounts/login Items. Clear out those startup items that you think you don't need to run on startup and be cautious of what you are removing. Otherwise some Apps might not work the next time you restart your Mac. To remove them, just select the item by clicking it and then click the minus button located at the bottom of the list. Finally click the lock to prevent any changes.

2. RESET THE SMC (SYSTEM MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER)

The SMC can cause problems related to your Mac built-in fan, lights, video display, power supply and general performance & functionality. So by resetting the SMC it can help to speedup your Mac OS X. To reset the SMC, just follow the following steps.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Plug in the power adaptor onto your Computer.
3. Press Shift + Control + Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button simultaneously.
5. Press the power button to turn on your Mac.

3. CLEAN YOUR HARD DRIVE (FREE UP STORAGE SPACE).

Your hard drive space when full can cause your Computer to slow down and eventually fails. No matter how big your hard drive is, someday it is going to be filled up if you are not careful. Especially these days most users tend to keep photos image files, music files, videos clips, etc that actually takes up hugh space on your hard drive. The next thing you should do, is offload all your music, movies and photos files to an external hard drive. In doing so, you can ensure that your hard drive will not be filled up and slow down.

Mac OS X  Mountain Lion uses the free space on your hard drive as virtual memory to run efficiently. So if your hard drive is too full, it will definitely slow down your Mac. Regularly cleaning up your hard drive will certainly speedup your Computer.
With the increased amount of Internet browsing and downloading users do these days, temporary Internet files, cookies and history tend to build up on your hard drive which can actually slow down your Mac's performance too. I would suggest that you download and install iboostup App to clean those unwanted files. You can download the application from here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iboostup/id484829041?mt=12

4. RUN DISK PERMISSIONS REGULARLY.

Disk permissions are a disk utility that helps to verify and repair your disk for permission differences. In Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 or earlier version, when the user run disk verification or repair disk permissions, Disk Utility searches and reviews each of the .bom files in /Library/Receipts/ and compares its list to the actual permissions on each file listed. If the permissions differ, Disk Utility will report and list out the difference (and corrects them) if you use the Repair feature. Running disk permissions regularly will definitely ensure that your Mac runs smoothly, efficiently and error free.

5. REMOVE UNNECESSARY APPS.

Most Mac users tend to download a lot of free applications and games to review and try out. Usually after a while, most of the Apps and games that are downloaded onto your Mac are not useful anymore and left in your system which takes up space. Regularly checking and removing unnecessary Apps that are not needed will help free up your hard disk space and boost up your computer speed. I would suggest that you download and install AppCleaner 2.0.5 to uninstall any applications that you do not required. You can download the free application from here: http://en.softonic.com/s/trash-app-mac:mac. This Apps help to clean up all unnecessary or related files that are left on your Mac whenever you delete any Apps from your computer system.

6. MINIMIZE MEMORY INTENSIVE APPS.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion has integrated several features which are not frequently used by most users. This feature includes Speech Recognition, Bluetooth, Internet Sharing and Universal Access. If you think you do not use these apps on a regular basis then it is better to disable them as it will save some of your CPU resources and Ram memory.

7. DISABLE UNNECESSARY DASHBOARD WIDGETS.

Dashboard widgets consume both real and virtual memory. You can reclaim this resource memories by closing or disabling non-essential widgets on your Mac to improve your computer speed. To disable or close any unused widget, just follow the steps below.

1. Open Dashboard
2. Press and hold the Option key. Then move the mouse pointer over a widget you wish to close.
3. The widget close button (X) will appear in the upper left hand corner of the widget.
4. Click the widget close button (X) and you are done.

8. DOWNLOAD & INSTALL CCLEANER.

CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Mac. It protects your privacy online and makes your Mac computer boostup faster and more secure. It is an easy friendly software to use, and is a very small and fast to download software. You should get it while it is free from the Apple Apps store. To download Ccleaner you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later. You can download for free from the link here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id499268461, To speedup your Mac just run Ccleaner regularly to help cleanup all caches, cookies and temporary files from your Mac.

Hope the above tweaks can help you to speedup your Mac.

Joe
Sydney, Australia.

HOW TO SPEEDUP SAFARI ON MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION 10.8

Safari is one of the world's most innovative, easy to use and elegant browser designed to enable you to see web pages full screen and free of any desktop distractions. It takes advantage of Multi-Touch technology built into your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices. Safari web pages can fill the window of your device when you turn them on. You can even zoom the web pages in and out just by double tapping or by pinching and extending your fingers on your device screen. Safari is indeed a blazing fast and easy to use browser, but it can go slow if your browsing history and caches piles up or if it is storing heaps of auto fill entries. In this article I am going to show you how to keep your browser healthy and running faster on Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8..

EMPTY THE CACHE

As we know, Safari uses caching to save recently viewed websites on your hard drive. If your cache gets too big or corrupted, it will cause your computer to slow down to a crawl.
One easy way to ensure your browser is always healthy and fast is to regularly clear all your browsing history and caches.
To empty the cache memory on your Mac, just go to the Safari Menu and click Empty Cache. A popup window will appear explaining what will happen. Just click OK to proceed and you are done.

CHANGE SAFARI HOMEPAGE

By default, Safari homepage is Apple's site which usually takes a while to load up every time you turn your browser on. I would suggest you change that to Google homepage which will load up faster. When changing Google as your homepage, make sure you turn off auto complete function as it will slow down your browser. To do so just start up your browser and on the address column type:http://www.google.com/webhpcomplete=0&Hl=en. Once Google homepage is launched, you can set it as your homepage by going to your Safari Menu bar and click onto Safari, then click on Preferences, go to Homepage and click "Set to Current page".Now you are done and the next time you launch your browser Google will be your homepage, and you will notice how fast your browser loads up.

RESET SAFARI

Apple provide a quick and easy way to empty cache, erase browsing history, clear cookies and reset auto fill information on your Mac. This can usually provide a quick fix for improving your Mac's performance but the disadvantage is you will need to re-enter again all your log in information and password on websites that had previously stored data in cookies on your computer. To reset Safari just go to Safari menu and click Reset Safari. A popup window will appear explaining what will happen. Just click OK to proceed and it will reset Safari to default.

CHECK & DISABLE EXTENSIONS

Extensions and plugins on Safari are useful features that help to perform many tasks such as blocking unwanted pop up ads, but occasionally they can cause Safari to slow down to a crawl or even crash. It is advisable to ensure that all the extensions and plugins are always up to date, and try to disable those you do not use by manually turning them off. To manage the extensions and plugins on Safari, just follow the following steps.

1. Open go to Safari Menu and open preferences.
2. Navigate to the Extensions tab and disable whichever extensions you don't need or those you think may be causing Safari to slow down. You can choose to either enable or disable all extensions with the slider switch or select each extension individually from the left hand side panel by using the Enable checkbox located on the main window. To update any extensions individually, just click Updates at the bottom the side panel beneath the list of extensions.

SETUP NEW TAB

By default, Safari homepage Toolbar does not show any New Tab. Say for example if you are browsing on a certain webpage and at the same time you need to look up some other websites, you will not be able to find any New Tab to open them. Here I am going to show you how to add New Tab on your Safari Toolbar. First go to your Toolbar and right click on the grey empty space on your Toolbar, a tiny popup window will appear. Click customize Toolbar. Another popup window will appear requesting you to drag your favourite items onto the toolbar. Just drag the New Tab icon from the list onto the top right hand corner next to your Toolbar. Then click Done. Now the next step you need to do is go to click on Safari>Preferences, a popup window will appear. Go to click the down arrow on the New Tab open with and check empty page or homepage (if you are using Google as your homepage). Close the popup window and you are done.

Hope you enjoy this article!

Joe
Sydney, Australia.

HOW TO SPEEDUP MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION 10.8 SHUTDOWN

 

Is your Mac slow at shutdown lately after upgrading your Mac OS X software to Mountain Lion 10.8? Apparently some Mac users have reported this problem when trying to shutdown their Mac, such as having a grey screen with a spinning wheel rotating before your Mac actually shutdown. This can be a real nuisance having to wait for your computer to shutdown. Well in this article, I am going to show you how to resolve this problem and restore Mac OS X Mountain Lion shutdown back to normal.

1. REPAIR DISK PERMISSIONS

Disk permissions are a disk utility that helps to verify and repair your disk for permission differences. In Mac OS X Mountain Lion or earlier version, when the user run disk verification or repair disk permissions, Disk Utility searches and reviews each of the .bom files in /Library/Receipts/ and compares its list to the actual permissions on each file listed. If the permissions differ, Disk Utility will report and list out the difference (and corrects them) if you use the Repair feature. You can try running repair disk permissions and see if that makes a difference in speeding up your Mac shutdown time.

2. TRY RESETTING THE PRAM

1. Shut down the computer (by holding the power button).
2. Turn on the computer. Wait until you hear the boot sound.
3. Press and hold the Command, Option, P & R keys (simultaneously).
4. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
5. Then release the keys.

The PRAM should now be reset to the default values. Now try shutting down your Mac and see if it makes any difference on the shutdown time. Otherwise do a reset of the SMC which will help in your shutdown issues.

3. RESET THE SMC (SYSTEM MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER)

The SMC can cause problems related to your Mac built-in fan, lights, video display, power supply and general performance & functionality. So by resetting the SMC it might help to speedup your Mac shutdown. To reset the SMC, just follow the following steps.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Plug in the power adaptor onto your Computer.
3. Press Shift + Control + Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button simultaneously.
5. Press the power button to turn on your Mac.

Now that your Mac is up and running, try shutting it down and see if it makes any difference. If you think the shutdown speed is still slow then just follow step number 4 below which will certainly restore Mac OS X Mountain Lion shutdown back to normal. But before you perform step number 4, please backup all your files to an External drive or USB pen drive.

4. CREATE A NEW USER ACCOUNT

Go to click the apple logo on the taskbar and click System preferences, then click Users & Groups. A popup windows will appear. Click the lock to make changes. Click the + sign located at the bottom of the popup window. Another small popup windows will appear. On new account, click the up/down arrow and choose administrator then enter your (new) name and password. Click create user then click on login options. On automatic login, click the up/down arrow and choose your new user name that you have created. Finally click the lock to prevent future changes and you are done. Now reboot your Mac and it will bootup as a new user. Once your Mac is up and running, you can reload all your files that you have previously backup from your External drive or USB pen drive onto your Mac. Once you have done that, you can try shutting down your Mac and you will notice how fast your Mac shut down.

Hope you find this article useful to you.

Good luck !

Joe
Sydney, Australia.

HOW TO SPEEDUP MAC OS X VERSION 10.7.4 SHUTDOWN

Is your Mac slow at shutdown lately after upgrading your Mac OS X software to version 10.7.4? Apparently some Mac users have reported this problem when trying to shutdown their Mac, such as having a grey screen with a spinning wheel rotating before your Mac actually shutdown. This can be a real nuisance having to wait for your computer to shutdown. Well in this article, I am going to show you how to resolve this problem and restore Mac OS X  shutdown back to normal.

1. REPAIR DISK PERMISSIONS

Disk permissions are a disk utility that helps to verify and repair your disk for permission differences. In Mac OS X Lion or earlier version, when the user run disk verification or repair disk permissions, Disk Utility searches and reviews each of the .bom files in /Library/Receipts/ and compares its list to the actual permissions on each file listed. If the permissions differ, Disk Utility will report and list out the difference (and corrects them) if you use the Repair feature. You can try running repair disk permissions and see if that makes a difference in speeding up your Mac shutdown time.

2. TRY RESETTING THE PRAM

1. Shut down the computer (by holding the power button).
2. Turn on the computer. Wait until you hear the boot sound.
3. Press and hold the Command, Option, P & R keys (simultaneously).
4. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
5. Then release the keys.

The PRAM should now be reset to the default values. Now try shutting down your Mac and see if it makes any difference on the shutdown time. Otherwise do a reset of the SMC which will help in your shutdown issues.

3. RESET THE SMC (SYSTEM MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER)

The SMC can cause problems related to your Mac built-in fan, lights, video display, power supply and general performance & functionality. So by resetting the SMC it might help to speedup your Mac shutdown. To reset the SMC, just follow the following steps.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Plug in the power adaptor onto your Computer.
3. Press Shift + Control + Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button simultaneously.
5. Press the power button to turn on your Mac.

Now that your Mac is up and running, try shutting it down and see if it makes any difference. If you think the shutdown speed is still slow then just follow step number 4 below which will certainly restore Mac OS X shutdown back to normal. But before you perform step number 4, please backup all your files to an External drive or USB pen drive.

4. CREATE A NEW USER ACCOUNT

Go to click the apple logo on the taskbar and click System preferences, then click Users & Groups. A popup windows will appear. Click the lock to make changes. Click the + sign located at the bottom of the popup window. Another small popup windows will appear. On new account, click the up/down arrow and choose administrator then enter your (new) name and password. Click create user then click on login options. On automatic login, click the up/down arrow and choose your new user name that you have created. Finally click the lock to prevent future changes and you are done. Now reboot your Mac and it will bootup as a new user. Once your Mac is up and running, you can reload all your files that you have previously backup from your External drive or USB pen drive onto your Mac. Once you have done that, you can try shutting down your Mac and you will notice how fast your Mac shut down.

Hope you find this article useful to you.

Good luck !

Joe
Sydney, Australia.