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It's inevitable.
After a few years that one shiny new Mac will begin to slow down.
Sure it may be frustrating and you may wanna go out and buy a new one but there's no need because there are a number of ways you may be able to regain some speed.
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But before you engage in a maintenance, it's recommended that you back up your data to an external drive Which you can easily do using the Mac's built-in Time Machine feature.
The first thing you want to do is check for a software update.
New versions of Mac OS contain performance enhancements and security improvements to keep your Mac running smoothly and safely.
Enter the Mac App Store and click on the Updates tab to see if there are any updates available.
Now, over the years, you've probably cluttered your Mac with files and applications you no longer use or need.
If this is the case, it's time to do some cleaning.
Start by looking in the Applications folder.
If there are apps in there you can't remember installing or never use, simply move them to the trash to reclaim some hard drive space.
Just don't forget to empty the trash out every once in a while.
Next up you will wanna go through and either delete old files or add them to a cloud service like Google Drive or iCloud.
Open the finder and select the folder from the sidebar.
For example, I'm gonna choose the Downloads folder.
Next, click to sort them by size and delete the larger files you no longer need.
You will also have the option of dragging and dropping the files to a cloud service for safekeeping.
This way you'll be free up some space on your Mac while still being able to access important documents.
Now if your Mac is slow to boot up, the problem may be there are simply too many applications to open at start up.
It's likely you never set these apps to launch, but some apps are set by default.
To change this, head to System Preferences, followed by Users and Groups.
Then, click on the login items tab in the top right to see a list of apps that open when you boot up your Mac.
Now, simply remove the check marks from the apps you no longer want to open at start.
Now, if you have done all of this and nothing has changed, there is the option of upgrading to a faster hard drive, like a solid-state drive, or adding more RAM.
This method won't work on all Macs, especially newer models, and while not too difficult, some novice users may be better off simply buying a new computer.
To see how to swap a hard drive or add more RAM, check out howto.
CNET.com
