Keep your Mac healthy
Examine your apps and remove anything you dont need
There are plenty of apps which claim to automate the process of speeding up your Mac. Some of these simply automatically search for large files to delete and free up your caches, which we already did in the previous section. Some are malicious apps that pretend to clean up your Mac but instead bog it down with junk. Even reputable apps, such as virus scanners, will sometimes cripple your machine with multiple “threat detection” warnings about harmless files.
In view of the above, we do not recommend any third-party software to fix a slow Mac. It’s going to be down to you; you should begin by examining the apps you already have installed to make sure that they’re necessary, because too many of them running at once is a common cause of poor system performance.
Back to safe mode
You can’t remove an app while it’s running, so start up in safe mode. If you’re unsure if you’re still in it, hold Alt, pick > System Information, select Software on the left, and check “Boot Mode.”
Removing an app doesn’t necessarily remove all related files. For instance, removing Garage-Band will not delete the sound library. This said, make sure to run a Time Machine backup before proceeding further in case you accidentally remove something of importance. Open your Mac’s Applications folder and carefully read through the list of apps. In general, the system will not let you delete any apps which are built in, such as Safari, but you can remove third-party ones.
Remove an app by clicking on it once to select it, then choosing File > Move to Trash. You should do this for apps you don’t recognize, or no longer use. You will be asked to enter an admin user’s password when removing apps. Simply type it in, then press . When removing an app, head over to System Preferences to see if it has added a pane there. If so, click its icon and choose Remove <name> Preference Pane.
Watch out in particular for multiple apps that do the same thing. Some inexperienced users believe, for instance, that installing two antivirus apps makes you twice as safe. In reality, this offers no extra security and, in fact, can make your Mac go haywire as the two apps interfere with one another.
Removing an app works like a charm as far as legitimate apps go but sometimes malicious apps can reside elsewhere on your Mac.
Sort startup apps
Although you previously checked the Login Items in System Preferences for apps which start up on boot, there are also several folders on the Mac hard drive which list startup apps. Go through the steps in the tutorial opposite to review and remove these if necessary. Doing so will not remove the applications themselves but simply make sure you have to launch them yourself from the Dock or from the Applications folder after log in.
After following these steps, you may find that if you had antimalware software on your Mac, it no longer launches automatically. This is not really a cause for concern. Although it’s not entirely true to say “Macs don’t get viruses,” most malware and viruses are written for Microsoft Windows.
While your Mac is unlikely to be infected, the antimalware software itself will take up some system resources when performing routine scans. Consider only launching software when you need to scan individual files, or uninstall it altogether. Remember that provided you’re keeping regular backups with Time Machine, even if you do accidentally download a virus, you can restore your system to a point before it was infected.
Using Activity Monitor
Once you have restarted your Mac, if your system is still running slowly, let’s look for reasons why. Click on the magnifying glass at the top right of the screen, type “Activity Monitor,” then press
Activity Monitor lists all currently running processes on the system. Click the Memory tab at the top of its window, then the Memory column below to list apps, from those that consume the most memory to the least. You can click on a running process to select it and click the X at the top left to stop it altogether.
Naturally, video conferencing with a friend over FaceTime will be more resource hungry than simply opening Calendar, so do not be surprised if certain apps hog more memory. However, if you believe an app is taking up too much memory, make a note of it so you can troubleshoot it further later on.
If the app is part of macOS, such as FaceTime, you may need to reinstall macOS to fix the problem, which we will cover later. If it is a third-party app, try removing it and reinstalling it. If this fails to speed up your system, try to find an alternative app to serve the same purpose.