View Full Version : What Slows down a computer the most
When I first got my Powerbook, it was *fast*, everything about it was totally snappy, and it was awesome. But, as with every computer I've used, after times, things start to get bogged down, and today, my powerbook, while still very snappy, is quite as fast as it used to be.
So what is it that slows things down? I was thinking it was a combination of the hard drive, the RAM, and caching, but I don't know really WHY it would be those things, they just seemed to make sense.
or does your computer not really slow down at all, and it's all a perception based thing?
Clear the application caches? (Why/how do they get to needing cleared in the first place? :confused: )
Yeah, after a clean install, it's fast again! Heck, even using a different account you might notice a speed difference.
DMBand0026
2004-08-06, 17:27
Yeah, just what ast3r3x said. A clean install will fix up any problems you might have. Once it starts to slow down, backup and clean install and it'll be like brand new again :)
Aren't there utilities to clean some of that gunk up? I think one is called Cocktail, but it's been a while. And I think there are others, too.
DMBand0026
2004-08-06, 18:30
Here (http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/11/21/maintenance.html) is a great link with some maintenance stuff you can do. But if you're really noticing that much of a lag, update prebinding, or just do a clean install. You'll be really surprised at how much faster things are.
yeah, I know that clean install will speed up a computer, that's not my question though. What exactly happens over the course of general computer use that causes it to slow down in the first place.
edit: after reading through DM's link, I'm still left wonder a bit. So basically most of the typical slow down is caused by inferior application installers that don't play nice with the rest of the computer?
Where is Brad when you need him?
Where is Brad when you need him?Funny you say this. :)
I had started typing up a response, but then I saw that DMB's link (http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/11/21/maintenance.html) covers exactly my points.
Basically, don't waste your money on Cocktail when there are free utilities both from Apple and third parties that'll "clean up" just the same.
I actually wish Apple would have a "reinstall OS" option that would restore only apple software. (not the archive/install option) I would love to erase/reinstall the OS but it would take too much time to reinstall my apps too. Not that I have any problems now, but when I did, I would have used it. I know it is like a necessary evil, but I don't know what apps installed things into the system and which didn't.
I actually wish Apple would have a "reinstall OS" option that would restore only apple software.
You mean like the Software Restore CD that came with your computer? ;)
I use MacJanitor (http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html) . Its from the same guy who brought us Brickhouse. Its free, and seems to work.
Which reminds me...
You mean like the Software Restore CD that came with your computer? ;)
Maybe that wasn't clear. What I asked for is a little different. But I have a very, very annoying cat on my lap who is pestering me in every way a cat possibly can, and I wanted to finish my post quickly. You still have to reinstall your apps that added stuff to your system folder if you choose restore. That is what I want to avoid. :)
Er... so what you want is a fresh OS, with zero Apple supplied apps, since those may add things to /System/Library?
Hmmm.
I guess your wanting to have it install 'only Apple software' had me confused.
I ran daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Updated pre-binding. Repaired Permissions. Updated pre-binding. Deleted Caches. Restarted and ran fsck. And now I'm here. It does seem a bit faster. There were 21 things I couldn't update pre-binding for. Maybe I'll try it again next time in single user mode, incase there were dependancies or something of something running...although that doesn't make much sense to me if I understand pre-binding, which I don't really.
Kick, explain that to me.
curiousuburb
2004-08-06, 22:04
Some of the things you couldn't update pre-binding for might have been because it was the active startup volume. Same thing used to limit repair under prior OS's. Boot from CD or another FW device and run the utilities on the non-boot volume 'remotely'.
curiousuburb
2004-08-06, 22:12
I went hunting and cleaning one day (primarily to reclaim drivespace, but also as housekeeping) and discovered I'd added dozens of screensavers and found crap in the library from demos I'd deleted long ago. At one point after rebooting into OS 9, I discovered another load of leftovers that had .filenames or .foldernames which were invisible in OS X.
If your drive is nearly full it might account for performance slowdown. Figures vary by drive capacity, but IIRC, if you have less than 15% or <800MB free space, virtual memory will sometimes fail to dynamically clear built up cache from apps, eventually slowing down the machine as it pages and swaps itself into a low disk space warning.
Er... so what you want is a fresh OS, with zero Apple supplied apps, since those may add things to /System/Library?
Hmmm.
I guess your wanting to have it install 'only Apple software' had me confused.
No, no. That's not it at all. Is it just me? :confused: I had a problem months ago where the finder would crash over and over and would never fully load. I would have liked to reinstall the operating system, keeping all non-apple plugins in their place. Right now, your options are to erase the entire system and install another, or to archive the system and install a new one. The problem with the archive is that you can't drag & drop files that non-apple programs create in the system folder because you can't find them all. Reinstalling all my applications takes the better part, it not a full day (for me anyways). What I would like is an option to overwrite files in the current system folder with new copies, but keep all third party extensions, preferences, and junk where it is.
Third ones a charm. Sorry to hijack the thread. :o
SilentEchoes
2004-08-07, 03:29
Some of the things you couldn't update pre-binding for might have been because it was the active startup volume. Same thing used to limit repair under prior OS's. Boot from CD or another FW device and run the utilities on the non-boot volume 'remotely'.
Actually I am pretty sure you can ONLY prebind things that are on your startup drive.
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