Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

what makes the login and user interface slow down after a while

T

tivoboy

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 15, 2005
4,094
920
So, had the intel imac about two weeks now, gettting pretty used to it. One strange thing that DOES seem to be like the windows world, is an apparent interface slowdown with certain users.

MY user, I have setup mail and moved some files over, put about 20 songs in itunes and done some simple configuration to the preferences, brightness, mouse setup, etc. Interface startup, login, etc is still fast mind you, no real complaints,

But, now the OTHER user I setup for the GF, I only setup her mail, haven't moved any of her files over, haven't setup itunes or iphoto.

And the startup is just FAST FAST FAST, and using the interface it just seems a lot faster. REAL fast. I know in windows, the user files, desktop, mail, my stuff etc as it gets big, it makes things slow down, but I didn't expect this here and certainly not this quickly with such small adjustments.
 
Well, I'd start by checking the Login Items in the Accounts section of System Preferences. Are there any apps that you've installed solely on your account and not hers? If you switch to her account without logging off yours, is the computer still slow? :)
 
best solution

is the best solution to keep a folder at the root level and then a SMART folder on the desktop?

what about putting a folder in the DOCUMENTS folder associated with my accounnt, is that going to lead to the same associated performance ding?
 
I keep a Downloads folder on my Desktop, and then I tell Safari to save all my downloads into that folder so that my Desktop doesn't get bombarded with files. Then I have one other folder for other stuff on my Desktop. Basically, if you just have a few folders or other items on your Desktop you should be fine. Dropping items in your Documents folder is great too, you won't see a performance penalty for that.
 
Umm, I haven't found having too many icons on the Desktop has slowed down any Mac past those of the mid-nineties. I still try to keep things to a minimum though - just the Hard Disk and the iPod. :)
 
mad jew said:
Umm, I haven't found having too many icons on the Desktop has slowed down any Mac past those of the mid-nineties. I still try to keep things to a minimum though - just the Hard Disk and the iPod. :)
Click to expand...
As noted in the macosxhints article, it's easy to confirm using Quartz Debug that each item on your Desktop is in fact a small Finder window. Each window uses a small amount of resources.

Most users with an average Desktop won't notice the difference. However, I used to use the Desktop for oodles of individual files, including all my downloads. The performance difference after removing thousands of files from my Desktop (and thus closing thousands of windows) is obvious on my laptop. That's why I asked if he had "a ton" of Desktop items. If he doesn't, the hint probably won't help him.
 
If you've set out a bunch of Dashboard widgets, those can slow you down. Any open widget, including the ones Apple includes, will borrow some resources.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back