[Macworld]

Post your comments for Mac troubleshooting: What to do when your computer is too slow here

[soulatrium]

When it comes to making sure you have a high quality internet connection, you also want to go http://pingtest.net and make sure you don't have any packet loss. Even if you have a fast connection, packet loss (which measures whether all of the data being sent and received between your computer and ISP is being properly transmitted) can make it seem as though you have a slow connection. Even a little bit of packet loss can cause tons of issues, and it's often an issue with your modem or ISP.

[HarrisF]

Good info but you didn't say if we can delete the swap files we find under, /var/vm ??

[redgeminipa]

I can't wait to upgrade the RAM in my new Mac mini i7. In general, this is barely close in performance to my former mid-2010 iMac i3 with 12GB. For anything moderately intensive, this is a snail by comparison.

Oh, and I hope Apple gets 10.8.3 out SOON. This whole graphics issue for display output is driving me nuts! At least the cheap miniDisplay Port to HDMI dongle I had laying around is a little better. At this point, I really miss the display of my iMac.

[Scholle McFarland]

Quote

Good info but you didn't say if we can delete the swap files we find under, /var/vm ??

Sorry, that's now been clarified. All you need to do is restart your Mac to clear out the swap files.

[bdkennedy1]

Close the applications you aren't using! My boss drives me nuts with this. "Why is everything so slow?" Because you have 30 applications open. Duh.

[philipmarch]

No mention of replacing/repairing the drive directory with DiskWarrior/Disk Utility? Repairing permissions? Surprising, since these are certainly in my top 5 list of things to do bring a Mac back to health and recover from performance slow downs... And a new Mac every 2-3 years? Really?

[Kennethfcooper]

Beware of speed tests. I went to this Comcast site:
http://business.comc...181528-52056274
and got a reading of 8.48 Mbps. On that site it had the following link:
If you are a current Comcast customer testing your connection speed, please click here. Which takes you to the page: http://speedtest.comcast.net
On that page I magically get a reading of 24.47 Mbps. Wow! almost three times faster if I tell them I am a customer.

[Kennethfcooper]

Also, on TestMySpeed I get a reading of 2.91 Mbps. It has me wondering how useful speed tests are. All these numbers are for download speeds.

[macFanDave]

I just ordered a 60GB SSD to replace the broken SuperDrive in my early 2009 Mac mini, and a 500 GB 7200RPM HD to replace the stock 120 GB, 5400-RPM drive. I'm getting this done for a little over $200.

Yes, I have the drive backed up on an external drive.

I'm hoping to get some speed improvements.

[ted_landau]

Quote

Good info but you didn't say if we can delete the swap files we find under, /var/vm ??

No. A last minute editing change made this a bit less clear than I would have liked. But you should NOT even try to manually delete these files. Do a restart instead.

[ted_landau]

Quote

No mention of replacing/repairing the drive directory with DiskWarrior/Disk Utility? Repairing permissions? Surprising, since these are certainly in my top 5 list of things to do bring a Mac back to health and recover from performance slow downs... And a new Mac every 2-3 years? Really?

Different strokes I guess. Running a disk utility almost never has any effect for me...unless drive needs repairs...which they rarely do these days. At least that's my experience.

And technically I said "more than 3 years" not "every 2-3 years" And yes, if you can afford it, it will usually make a difference.

[icerabbit]

The number 1 offender on older systems is Safari and on more recent systems its sibling process Web Process. They gobble up RAM like crazy, more than any other browser, which causes osx to start writing to and reading from the hard drive. Safari can cause a system to slow down within an hour of system startup and browsing half a dozen sites. Even with systems with 4 GB of RAM act slower once either uses over 1GB of RAM and get into trouble once it approaches 2 GB. Same browsing activity keeps firefox under 500mb for days.

Activity monitor, force-quit safari or web process, all memory is released and things are back to their speedy selves.

[Moeskido]

The article ends with a cavalier suggestion to "buy a new Mac" without mentioning another option that's slightly less drastic and somewhat more affordable: nuke and pave.

If clearing caches, freeing up disk space, and adding RAM haven't done the trick, I learned a good many years ago that backing up all my documents, noting my software registration codes, and saving a few oddball preferences before erasing the primary hard drive and reinstalling everything (including the OS) is a relatively minor task compared to the expense of a replacement Mac.

Despite the recovery of our economy, many of us are still recovering from the continuing recession. A new Mac is simply not an option for everyone.