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thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 28, 2005
9,455
4,057
Pennsylvania
I've had this computer since 2006.

It started slowing down, and so I put more ram into it... a few years later, Applecare told me my hard drive was failing because it took so long to boot up. I wiped the computer, which got rid of many of the start up items, and sped it up... I upgraded the OS to Snow Leopard (which I immediately downgraded). Then I got the mouse fixed.

By this time, the computer was slow, hot, the mouse was erratic, and programs took a long time to upgrade. My Windows 7 netbook would run better. Applecare just told me it was because my computer was old, and a new computer would fix my problems.

Then I saw a post by someone on here, who said that he created a new user account and it made his powerbook run like new. I did that, rebuilt the driver cache, and guess what. My erratic mouse is no more, and my computer runs like new again!

So let this just be a word of warning, OS X suffers from OS Rot just like any other OS, and sometimes a fresh install, without transferring your user account, but creating a new one, can really help speed up your computer.
 
No, this is just a case of not knowing what you are doing just like Windows users.
 
No, this is just a case of not knowing what you are doing just like Windows users.

Wow. A user posts a tip that has worked for many people and helps to track down the cause of problems (in this case, a user account issue) and you respond with a rather rude post. There is nothing wrong with creating an additional user account in order to isolate or work around an issue.
 
Wow. A user posts a tip that has worked for many people and helps to track down the cause of problems (in this case, a user account issue) and you respond with a rather rude post. There is nothing wrong with creating an additional user account in order to isolate or work around an issue.

Where did I dispute that this isn't a good troubleshooting technique?

The OP was giving this as a solution to a problem, not as a method for determining the root of a problem.
 
For my wife it was a failing hard drive.

Sloooooow as crap when it should have screamed for months. Then a few days ago she was working in iPhoto when the event she was working in just disappeared. I then opened up Time Machine to restore the iPhoto library when it stalled before finishing freezing the computer. I forced it off and it refused to boot. I popped in the Snow Leopard disc (I still think it's better than Leopard) and when it couldn't find a hard drive I tried the Tech Tool Deluxe (from AppleCare) diagnostic disc which it refused to run. Made a Genius bar appointment and got a brand new hard drive (w/40 more GBs to boot). That's the 4th hard drive I've had die on me over the years. I HATE mechanical HDs. SSDs are where it's at.
 
Wow. A user posts a tip that has worked for many people and helps to track down the cause of problems (in this case, a user account issue) and you respond with a rather rude post. There is nothing wrong with creating an additional user account in order to isolate or work around an issue.

ahhh New Zealand

"home of the long ... <insert must be appropriate> ..." :confused:
 
Never heard any proof that setting up a new account and transferring all you're data to that new acc works but...
 
I'll have to keep this in mind just in case my MB starts to get slower than cold tar in a few years :rolleyes: has anyone been able to make this same type of result with Snow Leopard?
 
I've had this computer since 2006.

It started slowing down, and so I put more ram into it... a few years later, Applecare told me my hard drive was failing because it took so long to boot up. I wiped the computer, which got rid of many of the start up items, and sped it up... I upgraded the OS to Snow Leopard (which I immediately downgraded). Then I got the mouse fixed.

By this time, the computer was slow, hot, the mouse was erratic, and programs took a long time to upgrade. My Windows 7 netbook would run better. Applecare just told me it was because my computer was old, and a new computer would fix my problems.

Then I saw a post by someone on here, who said that he created a new user account and it made his powerbook run like new. I did that, rebuilt the driver cache, and guess what. My erratic mouse is no more, and my computer runs like new again!

So let this just be a word of warning, OS X suffers from OS Rot just like any other OS, and sometimes a fresh install, without transferring your user account, but creating a new one, can really help speed up your computer.

This method has worked for me in Lion.
 
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