The REAL Answer to "How to Fix Slow Mac Beach Ball icon"

[mrjordann]

It drives me insane seeing all these programs saying they will "speed up your Mac!" and saying "Tired of seeing that spinning rainbow icon?" Well, here we go. From a Mac user, and frankly a 'well-educated on computers' Mac user, I can tell you that is all bull crap. There is ONE and only ONE solution to this. Buy a new computer! Obviously your processor doesn't have enough cores (or GHz, if that even matters anymore)! Of course, if you're accidentally saving 400 hrs of video on your harddrives or something, I'd recommend Grand Perspective, a free program for Macs. It will help you locate and delete unwanted large files. But besides things like that (unique to YOUR computer, that you accidentally did), just get a new computer. I'm sorry, that's all I have to say. Copy your harddrive down onto an external harddrive using Time Machine, and load it onto a new one. Thanks for reading. -Jordan

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

uhhm.. ok?

 

Actually a RAM and SSD upgrade plus clean OS install can work wonders

[ThisIsMyWorkAccount]

HDD failing can also slow it down, so a replacement HDD may be the wise option.

 

EDIT: or upgrade it to an ssd.

[Kherm]

Cool! I'll spend another $3000 to upgrade my 2012 mac pro, Thanks! //s/

 

But seriously, take the god damn thing apart and upgrade the RAM, SSD, and maybe the CPU

[ShadowCaptain]

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Oops sorry *puts them back*

[SIGSEGV]

Um, no, you can downgrade your OS or install Linux, get more RAM, cull your startup programs, uninstall kexts you don't use, disable widgets, get an SSD if you haven't already, upgrade the CPU and (if you're crazy enough) overclock.

[mrjordann]

Cool! I'll spend another $3000 to upgrade my 2012 mac pro, Thanks! //s/

 

But seriously, take the god damn thing apart and upgrade the RAM, SSD, and maybe the CPU

Yeah, but the whole point of the post was to tell old ladies and what have you, how to speed up a Mac. Average people won't want to take their laptop apart.

[mrjordann]

Um, no, you can downgrade your OS or install Linux, get more RAM, cull your startup programs, uninstall kexts you don't use, disable widgets, get an SSD if you haven't already, upgrade the CPU and (if you're crazy enough) overclock.

Yeah nobody wants to overclock a laptop. And... basically the whole point of this topic was to explain that deleting software will NOT make your mac faster. Why does everybody think I'm asking for help? I have a $2000 gaming desktop. I'm just tired of seeing these ads, and I made it clear I was explaining, not telling.

[TDP_Equinox]

Umm no. 
All those programs are fake, yes. But there are many ways to speed it up. 
A) Make sure file vault is off. With the update to Yosemite they made file vault on by default; and everyone just spams next during the setup.
B) More RAM
C)Get an SSD. Remember that an SSD with file vault is the equivalent of a regular hard drive; and a hard drive with file vault is the equivalent of a potato

D) Remove malware; Yes, MACS GET MALWARE.

E) Permission repairs help a TONNE.
F) Re install or downgrade your OS

My 2011 MBP is still rocking after the recall mobo replacement; Rocking strong!

Threw an SSD in there and 8 GB of RAM and this thing flies.