When you have been using your computer for a long time, there is a tendency for your performance to decline. There are numerous reasons for this, and the solution to the performance issue lies in looking at the causes.

For this reason, we will look at the various reasons for your Mac performing worse than before. Afterward, we will discuss how to improve the performance back to its new best.

What Could Make The Performance Of Your Mac Decline?

Many things lead to your Mac not performing at its optimum level with time. Some of these are:

  • Your Mac is infected by malware: Having a virus on your Mac will make it slow down massively.Mac is running at overcapacity: This is one of the major reasons for the decline in computer performance. Overcapacity could be the storage capacity being near its limit, which causes the computer to start lagging. It could also be the Ram getting overwhelmed by the processes and apps running.Your operating system is outdated: You should always ensure that all software on your Mac, especially the operating system itself, should always be up to date. This is because there are always bugs and issues to fix in every software, and updating them regularly helps you keep the pace.

These are the general reasons for Mac not running as well as it used to. And knowing these reasons, we can now grasp the ways we can resolve the issue.

How To Make Your Mac Perform Like New Again

Now that we know the reasons for the decline in Mac performance over time, how to reverse time so the performance will remain impeccable is the next thing.

Uninstall Redundant Apps

The more applications are on your Mac, the more work you are giving it to handle. However, it is almost inevitable that you will have some applications you installed for some purpose, but you don’t use anymore. Go to the Applications folder and drag the app to the trash to install. To get rid of all these apps, empty your trash afterward.

Use Activity Monitor To Turn Off Heavy Processes And Apps

Some apps and processes require a chunk of your memory while running. This leaves less memory for other functions by Mac. Follow the path Applications—>Utilities—>Activity Monitor and go to the CPU tab to turn them off. Set it to %CPU to see the processes using the most memory. However, you shouldn’t just turn anything off because some are crucial for running your Mac.

Clean Up Cache Files

Over time, cache files build to large sizes and can cause lag. Asides from their size, they can also get corrupted and affect Mac performance this way. To make your Mac run optimally, try clearing all caches in browsers and those you can remove in apps.

Update Your macOS

Updating your macOS to the latest version is another cool trick to get the best performance. To do this, follow these steps:

  • Click the Apple menu in the top corner of your screen and go to System PreferencesGo to Software update in the system preferences tabHere, you see two options–”Upgrade now” and “Update now”. The “Update now” option installs the most recent update of the macOS version on your laptop. On the other hand, the “Upgrade now” option lets you install a new version suitable for your Mac. Choose the one you feel is best.

Note that you should back up your Mac before updating it so you won’t lose any files in the process.

Use An App To Clean Up Your Hard Drive

Your Mac should have a significant portion of its space available for optimum performance. It is often advised that the free space should be at least 10% of the overall capacity.

Clean Up Your Login Items

A Mac that boots slowly will run slowly when you start using it. To make launching smoother, you have to reduce the number of apps that are opened automatically every time you launch it. To do this, go to System preferences and then Users & Groups. Choose your username and remove every program you don’t need to start immediately with the system launch.

Do A Malware Scan And Remove Any Found

As said previously, having malware on your computer is bound to affect its performance and a lagging system can often be a symptom of a virus attack. To check for malware, you can use antivirus software to scan. You can also go through parts of your Mac like the login items, applications, browser extensions, and running processes to search for hidden viruses.

Conclusion

Having a slow-performing Mac is one of the most frustrating things to experience, especially when you know that the computer can do better. However, you can resolve this issue by following the steps in this article to make your Mac run like brand new again.