Your Most Optimized Setup For A Mac

[finishmarketing]

Hey fellas,

im new here and new to mac,
been a long time pc guy and love it
but just got the mac, and just getting use to it
pretty freakin sweet here and there.

anyhow with my pc, im super optimized,
all settings are set to always keep my pc running smooth.

Like i use.
1. ccleaner,
2. ctrl **** esc, which task manager
and so on and so on.

Just wanted to know what tips you guys got to keep this machine humping...
any optimization tips appreciated. thanks

 

[Asuriyan]

Control ***** escape? Man, that's my favorite key combination!

Beauty of Macs? The best way to keep 'em optimized is not to worry about keeping 'em optimized. MacKeeper, antivirus, and most of those apps are completely redundant and unnecessary as long as you're a reasonably careful browser. OS X is not as bloated with spaghetti code as Windows, and requires very little additional optimization.

I do recommend ClickToPlugin, as it disables pesky Flash (which is mostly used for ads anyway) until you require it. Depending on model, gfxCardStatus can be used to save you a bit of battery by selecting the integrated GPU over the dedicated.

Other than that? Don't worry too much.

 

[Orlandoech]

I love:

CleanMyMac
CleanMyDrive
BlueHarvest

I use all of them.

 

[53kyle]

I use "Onyx" and "CleanMyMac 2"

 

[mykem]

I'd stay away from any apps claiming to keep your mac optimised.

Keep the amount of apps to a minimum, only necessary files should be stored on the laptop (store the rest either on external drive or Cloud storage) and don't be a rat pack. I know it's easier said than done especially if you're lucky enough to have more than 256 or 512 GB internal storage. Still, it's a good place to start by streamlining the approach to storage.

 

[GGJstudios]

Just wanted to know what tips you guys got to keep this machine humping...
any optimization tips appreciated. thanks

I would not recommend using CleanMyMac or any of its variants, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. Here's a recent example. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it, especially since there are free alternatives that have better reputations, such as Onyx.

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Most only remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. In fact, deleting some caches can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths​

 

[nudoru]

Looking for app recommendations? Workflows?

Some utils that I depend on:

Moom (window management)
Witch (better task switcher)
Hyperdock (roll over previews like win7)
Bartender
Popclip
Textexpander
Hazel
Alfred 2 or Launchbar

CCleaner is on the Mac App store - works the same as the windows counterpart.


Also, welcome to Mac! Take a listen at old episodes of the Mac Power User's podcast - it helped me a ton when I came from windows a year ago. Now I'm never going back!

 

[finishmarketing]

Intresting mix'd point of views
some say use the software some say DONT

some say your mac will take care of it self.

well my mac didnt take care of itself its slower than ever...
and it needs a clean up...

is there a defrag for mac?
if your mac is slow already what do you do now?

 

[B...]

Intresting mix'd point of views
some say use the software some say DONT

some say your mac will take care of it self.

well my mac didnt take care of itself its slower than ever...
and it needs a clean up...

is there a defrag for mac?
if your mac is slow already what do you do now?

The slowness is because of, I assume, low levels of RAM, a mechanical HDD, and the processor and GPU not being able to keep up as well with new OSXs and software. Up the RAM and switch to an SSD (SSD first, then RAM if possible).

 

[GGJstudios]

is there a defrag for mac?
if your mac is slow already what do you do now?

With very few exceptions, you don't need to defrag on Mac OS X, except possibly when partitioning a drive. OS X is not the same as Windows. You don't need to "maintain" or "clean" it.

About disk optimization with Mac OS X

You probably won't need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X.

If you're having performance issues, this may help:

Performance Tips For Mac OS X​

 

[akdj]

Intresting mix'd point of views
some say use the software some say DONT

some say your mac will take care of it self.

well my mac didnt take care of itself its slower than ever...
and it needs a clean up...

is there a defrag for mac?
if your mac is slow already what do you do now?

The advice, for the most part is sound. I'm of the opinion as a couple others are to Not use 'cleaners' as its true...the files they eliminate are typically language files and others that come stock with the OS that down the road u may or may not need. That said, appcleaner is an excellent little app I use to rid myself of a program and its associated files

That said...I'm not quite understanding your challenge. Your OP mentions being new to Apple and OSx...you just got a Mac...and it's already slowed down significantly. Did you buy a second hand Mac? Which model? Can you share your specs? In what ways does it seem 'slow' to you? Is this in comparison to your experience in Windows? And what is your most recent (build/OS) on the Windows side of the equation?

I ask these specifics because it'll be obvious if you're coming from an SSD equipped Windows machine with a desktop cutting edge GPU and extreme Ivy Bridge processor....to a second hand 2009 core 2 duo iMac with a 5400rpm 250gb HDD.

Macs off the shelf are quick. Even with spinners and stock amounts of RAM. If you've bought a new Mac and its slowing on you, what software have you loaded? Where, specifically, are you noticing the slowdowns?

J

 

[GGJstudios]

That said, appcleaner is an excellent little app I use to rid myself of a program and its associated files

If you elect to use such apps, be aware that in most cases, app removal software doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

 

[davidlv]

Intresting mix'd point of views
some say use the software some say DONT

some say your mac will take care of it self.

well my mac didnt take care of itself its slower than ever...
and it needs a clean up...

is there a defrag for mac?
if your mac is slow already what do you do now?

Perhaps an actual example will help you grasp somewhat the differences people here are talking about. A friend had a 13" MBP he bought last year in Sept. and used it often for business, travel related PR etc. It was getting bogged down and I helped him with that. The "slow down" was due to multiple factors. First, while OSX doesn't generally need defragging, the directory can get fragmented, and Disk Warrior will optimize it. His HD directory was 49% fragmented, making the relatively slow stock 5,400rpm HD even slower. Speed improved considerably after running DW on that system. Second, he had user habits that were not good, given that he had only 4GB of RAM. That MBP only has the integrated Intel GPU, which takes about 376-512MB out of that 4GB to start with, and he was in the habit of leaving all apps open, so he had huge page outs (see your Activity Monitor system memory readout), which slowed the machine down to a crawl when the computer was writing to the HD. Installing 8 or 16 GB of RAM will cure that issue, something no optimizing routine can do. Changing those kind of habits is hard for most people too. The mind set required for using a Mac is different than it is for Windows. If you like to tinker with the system, or "optimize", you can do that on a Mac too, but it really isn't necessary if you have the "optimized" hardware for the tasks involved.

 

[finishmarketing]

Thank you all for the tips and tricks

special thanks to gstudio, the references helped
and the @davidly thanks for the experience.

I optimized my computer in the tips recommended,
and made a habit of keeping a small amount of programs opened
and cleaned the hard drive of extra stuff
and uninstalled some software

the computer is running much smoother now!
and going to also add some ram

and @akdj it is 2nd hand mac pro

thanks guys, if anyone else got more tips,tricks,stories
im all ears, and love to hear your side

 

[glenthompson]

Thank you all for the tips and tricks
. . .

thanks guys, if anyone else got more tips,tricks,stories
im all ears, and love to hear your side

If you want the best speed improvement, install a SSD. I can now boot up in less than 10 seconds. Every app is noticeable faster. Wish I had done it sooner.

 

[redkamel]

Do not use any maintenance apps. You may want Onyx just as a backup to empty caches, but I haven't used it in over 2 years.

No routine maintenance is required. The only "utilities" I use to keep things clean are:

-AppCleaner, so when I delete apps small associated files go too (I am very into a clean mac)
-Disk Utility for partitioning, formatting, repairing harddrives/permissions if need be
-SuperDuper! (soon to be Carbon Copy Cloner AND Time Machine) for backup
-Disk Inventory X so I can see what files are using up my memory.
-AdBlocker Ghostery, and Clean.r safari extensions for an ad and cookie free browsing experience.