

Remove unnecessary items from the start-up process: Many programs are set up to start as you turn on your Mac.Be careful with this, as some processes are necessary to the functioning of your computer! This program will list all of the active programs on your computer, and help you identify the ones using the most energy, memory and network resources. Stop resource-hungry programs: You can identify programs that are using a lot of your computer’s resources using Activity Monitor, found in the Utilities folder in Applications.Keeping them empty will keep that storage space open for use. Empty your trash and downloads folders: If you don’t empty your trash and downloads folders regularly, your computer may be storing files that you aren’t using.Shutting down your computer regularly closes these programs and frees up memory.


A defrag resaves your files, organizing them to make them easier to access. This can lead to programs being scattered around the computer, slowing performance. What is disk defragmentation? On a Windows machine, data is stored to the hard drive in open spaces. Follow these quick steps to defrag your hard drive.The question of how to defrag a Mac is actually a bit of a misunderstanding, as Macs do not actually have a defrag command. The best way to defrag your hard drive is to use the Microsoft ® Windows ® Disk Defragmenter utility. This will allow the drive to find information faster and find open portions to write new information faster. By defragmenting your hard drive, you are asking the computer to consolidate the information in one area of the drive.

It becomes harder and harder for the drive to find all the information or programs you want it to access in a timely manner. When a hard disk drive has written a significant amount of data, the empty portions become rarer. When data is written (stored), it’s written to the first empty portion of the drive that the write head can access. Consisting of an actuator, platter, spindle, actuator arm, and read/write head (among other parts), hard drives work by storing and seeking out information on a rotating disk. Hard disk drives fragment data because they are random by nature. There’s no reason to worry when this happens – defragging your hard drive is a simple fix. Unless you’re using an SSD, your system will eventually suffer from performance loss when the data stored on your hard drive becomes fragmented.
