iMac G5 iSight feels slow-- Should I reinstall OSX?

[JTTech]

So I've got an iMac G5 iSight (from '05 I think), running OSX Tiger.

It has become really slow, and feels like it is "chugging" along when I have multiple Firefox windows open. Never used to have this problem, but after 4 years of use I'm guessing that this is somewhat normal. I'm fairly savvy with these things on the PC, but I'm newer to tackling Mac issues as this is my first problem in 4 years!

Disk space isn't the issue, b/c I'm only using 120/250 gigs.
Do Macs need the occasional disk/file cleanup/defrag like PC's do?

Should I reinstall OSX, or would you all recommend an alternative strategy?

 

[iPhone 62S]

Repair your permissions. Open Disk Utility, click your main HD on the side and click "Repair permissions". This is the Mac equivalent of defragging.

 

[armoguy94]

Repair your permissions. Open Disk Utility, click your main HD on the side and click "Repair permissions". This is the Mac equivalent of defragging.

No it's not, but either way, try repairing permissions as he said.

 

[iPhone 62S]

No it's not, but either way, try repairing permissions as he said.

Well, it dosen't do the same thing, but it tends to have the same effect that defragging does on PCs.

 

[JTTech]

it tends to have the same effect that defragging does on PCs.

Thanks 🙂 That's exactly the effect that I'm looking for. Will give it a shot this weekend.

 

[aross99]

Duplicate post...

 

[aross99]

Use Activity Monitor (in your Utilities folder?) to see how much CPU you are using. Your CPU might be overloaded...