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OS X slowing down on macbook

B

bigjimbob

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
34
0
Sydney, Australia
Hi Guys,
not sure if anybody can help but i'd very much appreciate it. I bought a macbook shortly after they were first released and it was my first proper foray into the world of OS x.

Something that I'd read and appealed to me about OS X, was that, unlike Windows, the speed and performance of OS X wasn't effected by the number or type of programs installed.

However over the last 8 or so months, the performance of OS X has dropped noticeably. Boot up used to be lightning fast, now it takes 4 times as long. I'm getting an awful lot of of beach balls as well.

I don't really do any processor/ram intense work, mainly internet the odd video processing. The only non UB software i use is office 2004 and i use it rarely. I've a 2ghz Core due with 2gb ram. HDD seems fine.

Is this normal and the things i read were rubbish, or is something up. The only programs i've installed are:

Azureus
Delicious Library
Deventhink personal
Disco
DivX
Firefox
google/gmail notifier
Newsfire
office 2004
Shapeshifter (not in use but installed)
Speedit
Wolfenstein ET (unplayable unfortunately)

I've only got 3 widgets as well - calculator, dictionary and istat nano.


Help please!

Thanks
Jimbob
 
Basically use MainMenu or OnyX to run maintenance. I used to use both, but I see no need to anymore. If you don't want to download anything, in Terminal type:
Code: 
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
.
 
4 minutes to boot is too long for your computer.

Definitely run the maintenance scripts, also check what is in login items.
 
I am pretty much in the same boat. I am using just 5 Widget Clocks and iStat for the widgets. Also use Quicksilver for file launching and FanControl for Fan Adjustments. I have a MBP with 2G Ram and 48G left on a 100G Drive. I use Maintenance to run weekly scripts but its usually Quicksilver that does a lot Beachballing. I use Entourage and Firefox mainly for surfing and email. Other than that not much else. When it is finished it runs very smoothly. Its still quicker than my Windows 3.6Mhz XP Machine...

Bill.....
 
MatthewCobb said:
What do you use the machine for?? :)

Seriously, try re-installing OSX. Doesn't sound normal to me.
Click to expand...
that is honestly like the biggest jump in steps i have ever seen on here. i mean one thing is the standard try repairing permissions, but reinstalling, come on......
 
Aniej said:
that is honestly like the biggest jump in steps i have ever seen on here. i mean one thing is the standard try repairing permissions, but reinstalling, come on......
Click to expand...

Oh no, it's quite normal for somebody to suggest that as the first step. ;)

I would also strongly recommend running fsck in single user mode.
 
Oh no, it's quite normal for somebody to suggest that as the first step.
Click to expand...

:) that's my normal answer when people have these kinds of problems with XP

Running the "periodic daily weekly monthly" command did speed the OS X Loading part of the boot up a little bit but in session performance still isnt' what it used to be - I notice the biggest slowdowns when running firefox with about 3 tabs open.

(it isn't 4 minutes to load, more like 15 seconds but when i first got the machine it took about 4 seconds).

Plenty of HDD space, i was down to about 1gb spare but i freed up about 17gb by deleting a video my brother was working on (and then deleting his profile).

Two things to note, the very first screen before OS X starts loading (grey with the apple) used to only be on screen for about 1-2 seconds, now it lingers for about 5. And when the desktop used to load, everything (icons, things on the taskbar) showed up pretty much instantly. Now there is a few seconds of delay.

I'll try some of the maintenance programs and see what results they yield
 
Alright Buddy

Alright buddy, I'm going to make your OS X install so fliping fast your going to poop your pants.

1st download and install onyx

2nd type in your pasword and go to maintenence

3rd delete all internet related things + caches (especially font) + logs and everything in general

restart your computer, it should be a little slower. Run permissions + maintinance scirpts + optimizations. restart again and it should be as fast as its going to get.

For my box i noticed that certain run all the time programs slowed down my computer. Those were quicksilver and growl. after getting rid of those two programs i experienced a speed up.

If this doesn't work, reformat and install one program an hour until you notice a slow down.

oh and hopfully you don't have norton anti-virus installed. if you do then reformat your computer.
 
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