Intro
If you're a Mac Voiceover user, there's one word you absolutely hate
hearing, the B word.
Of course, I'm talking about the word, "Busy." It may pass after a few
seconds, causing only minor annoyance, or it can happen frequently and
significantly disrupt your workflow.
Often times, repeated experiences like this mean you probably have some
performance issues to address. In this guide, I will give an overview of
some of the most common problems and solutions. That being said, a slow Mac
is a nonspecific symptom with many possible causes; so there might be other
explanations for your problem.
Terminology
If you're a Voiceover user, you're probably accustom to hearing the word,
"Busy," spoken at various points and not being able to navigate normally.
This phenomenon describes intense processor activity that limits your
ability to navigate within the focused app, and in extreme cases, your
entire system.
Visually, this is conveyed by a spinning beachball, affectionately known as
the, "Spinning beachball of death," or, "pinwheel of death." Therefore, if
you are seeking help from a sighted user, describe the problem as something
like, "I'm getting the beachball," or, "It's beachballing." Likewise if you
are helping a sighted user who describes a problem this way, you know it is
the same as if a Voiceover user says, "It's going busy." In formal terms, an
app that exhibits this behavior is said to be unresponsive.
When completing a processor or graphics intensive task, such as media
editing or complex video rendering, this is normal. However, if it happens
during basic tasks, such as word processing, file management, or simple web
browsing, you likely have some underlying problem, either software or
hardware related. You will find solutions to some of the software problems
in this guide, but keep in mind that there is a multitude of possible
problems and individual use cases to consider, making discussion of every
possible diagnosis impossible. If you believe your problem is hardware
related, you should backup your data and take your Mac into a professional
for servicing.
Storage? Memory? Ram?
In this guide, I will refer to memory or ram, which is confusingly enough,
different from storage.
Storage, as the name implies, refers to the capacity of media such as a hard
drive or solid-state drive to store data. Memory, or ram, refers to your
computer's capacity to multitask. Therefore, in a nutshell, the more ram
your computer has, the more apps it can run at once.
Some quick tips for busy apps
If an app you're using has gone busy for no apparent reason, the first thing
to try is to Command Tab away from it, wait for Voiceover to announce that
the app in question is ready, then Command Tab back to it. If that doesn't
work, Command Tab away from the app and turn Voiceover off, wait a few
seconds, then turn it on again.
Finally, if all else fails, force quit the app by Command Tabbing to it and
pressing Command Shift Option Escape. Alternatively, you can press Command
Option Escape to open the force quit window and select the problem app from
the table. Command Option Escape is the closest thing to Control Alt Delete
on Windows.
If one app does this consistently, it's possible the app doesn't work well
with Voiceover or your version of macOS, or has some other bug that
substantially affects performance.
On the other hand, if the issue spreads to the point that your computer has
gone completely unresponsive, there is likely a deeper problem with your
system. If such a problem occurs, first try pressing and holding the power
button for about a second. In the resulting dialog, click restart. If that
doesn't work, perform a force shutdown by pressing and holding the power
button for about ten-seconds then pressing it again to turn the computer
back on.
Important: if you force shutdown your computer, you'll lose any unsaved
work, so do this only as a last resort.
Third-party maintenance utilities
While usually not requiring the level of maintenance that Windows does to
stay healthy, there are a few things you can periodically do to maximize
your Mac's performance. Generally, there are two approaches to completing
these tasks; either manually or with the help of third-party maintenance
utilities.
In my experience, I don't need to conduct Mac maintenance very often, so I
find I can get away without third-party software. If my internal disk get's
full, one of the leading causes of slowdowns, I can get away with manually
deleting old and unnecessary files.
Many other common problems can be resolved using the Terminal app to issue
commands directly to the OS. However, if you are having problems and don't
feel comfortable manually cleaning or working with the command line, you may
benefit from third-party software. The app I recommend is Onyx, by Titanium
Software, which you can download here.
<https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html> This free and accessible
utility includes multiple tasks that can speed up and resolve problems with
your Mac. It also allows you to configure macOS settings and parameters that
may not be visible or easy to accomplish manually.
If you're looking specifically for an app that will remove leftover files
from previously installed apps, I would recommend AppTrap, which you can
download here. <http://onnati.net/apptrap/> This free and accessible
preference pain will trigger any time you move an app to the trash, allowing
you to remove its associated support files.
Whichever method you use for maintaining your Mac, it is important to update
your software so you have the latest patches, and to backup your data so you
have it in the unlikely event that something goes wrong.
Manual tasks
If you decide to go the manual route, here are some things to get you
started.
Checking system resource usage
If specific apps are persistently slowing down your Mac, you can see how
much of the CPU and ram they're using, as well as their impact on energy
usage and disk and network activity.
Open Activity Monitor, located in the Utilities folder, or find it with
Spotlight or Siri. Select what you want to view in the, "View tabs," radio
group in the toolbar, such as CPU or memory. The table to the right of the
toolbar shows a list of processes, with the most taxing ones on top. You can
quit processes to make more of the CPU or ram available, but only quit them
if you know what they are.
If an app you need is using a disproportionate amount of system resources,
try reinstalling it or contact the developer with your findings.
De-Cluttering your desktop
While it is convenient to drop your most used files on the desktop, the
desktop process is constantly running. The more files that are there, the
more ram is needed to retain the window, subtracting from what would be
available for completing tasks.
Therefore, it is a good idea if you have a lot of files to put them into a
couple of folders.
Optimizing storage
As mentioned earlier, a lack of available disk space can be a leading cause
of slower than expected performance. To make the best use of your Mac's
internal storage, macOS includes tools that let you store files remotely in
order to save space locally, as well as other options to delete unnecessary
files.
To view recommendations and set options, choose Apple > About this Mac, and
select the, "Storage," radio button in the toolbar. In the scroll area,
click the, "Manage," button next to your startup disk, usually called
Macintosh HD. The resulting dialog shows a table with options to store files
in iCloud, remove watched iTunes movies and tv shows, and automatically
remove items from the trash after thirty days.
You can also view large files, as well as the contents of your Documents and
Downloads folders, places where files commonly accumulate.
When you store files in iCloud, they will still appear in the Finder as
normal. Pressing Command O or a similar action to open that file will cause
it to download to your computer where you can work with it as normal. Files
that you haven't opened recently will be offloaded to iCloud. More
information about iCloud can be found in this guide.
<https://www.applevis.com/guides/ios-macos/icloud-explained>
Manually locating large files
In addition to viewing large files in the storage settings discussed in the
previous section, you can manually search for large files using Spotlight.
If you have large files that you no longer need, you should delete them to
save space.
To locate large files in the Finder, follow these steps.
1. Press Command Option Space to open the full search window.
2. Change the criteria popup menu to other, and choose file size from the
resulting table. Tip: you can press the letter F in the table to jump down
to the, "File size," option. If there is no popup menu in the window, click
the, "Hide search criteria," toggle button to reveal it.
3. Specify your search criteria. For example, you could search for files
larger than one gigabyte.
The search results should show all the files matching the criteria you
defined. Delete any files you don't need, empty the trash, and restart your
computer.
Verifying your disk
If your Mac is persistently unresponsive, EG various apps inexplicably go
busy when doing basic tasks or nothing at all, you may have a problem with
your internal disk. If it is a problem with the integrity of the file
system, it can usually be repaired with Disk Utility or in some cases, a
reinstall of macOS. However, if your disk is physically failing, you should
take your Mac to a professional for servicing.
To assess the health of your disk, follow these steps.
1. Open Disk Utility, located in the Utilities folder, or find it with
Spotlight or Siri.
2. Select your disk, usually called Macintosh HD, in the table, and click
the first aid button in the toolbar. During this process, your computer will
become unresponsive and there will be no Voiceover feedback. As Disk Utility
states before it starts, this is normal and should clear up when
verification is complete.
3. If Disk Utility reports problems that it cannot repair automatically,
start up your Mac while holding down Command R, and run first aid from Disk
Utility in macOS recovery. Note: in this mode, you must turn Voiceover on
manually; it doesn't respect your user settings. The only voice in this mode
is Fred, which cannot be changed.
Clearing browser data
Over time, data from your web browser, such as history, caches and cookies
accumulate, which can take up storage space and potentially degrade
performance. Therefore, it is a good idea to periodically clear this data.
To clear website data in Safari, choose Safari > clear history.
To clear cookies while keeping history intact, press Command Comma to access
Safari preferences and click the privacy button in the toolbar.
Alternatively, you can access this window by choosing Safari > preferences
from the menu bar. Click manage website data, and in the resulting dialog,
select the individual cookies you want to remove, or click remove all to
remove all cookies. Clearing cookies will sign you out of any websites you
were previously signed into and which remember your computer when you visit
them.
Clearing caches and logs
Like browser data, caches and log files from macOS and your various apps
accumulate, which have the potential to become corrupted and degrade
performance. To clear this data, follow these steps.
1. In the Finder, press Command Shift G or choose Go > go to folder.
2. In the resulting dialog, type or copy and paste the following path.
~/library
3. Your user Library folder should open. Open the caches folder, select
all the files in it, and move them to the trash. Important: only delete the
files in this folder, not the folder itself.
4. Go back to the Library folder and open the logs folder. Repeat the
process, select and delete everything.
5. Press Command Shift G or choose go > go to folder.
6. In the resulting dialog, type or copy and paste the following path.
/library
7. The library folder at the root of your startup disk should open. Repeat
the process for the caches and logs folders in this location, as well as in
the library folder in the system folder at the root of your startup disk.
The file path for this location is /system/library. Note: in the Library
folder at the root of your startup disk, as well as the one in the System
folder, you'll be prompted to enter your administrator password to delete
files, as these are system rather than user files.
While you're in the library folders, you can look for leftover files from
apps you may have uninstalled. These files are found most commonly in the
application support and preferences folders.
Caution: the library folder's contain essential files needed for macOS to
function. Therefore, only delete files if you know what they are and know
you don't need them. When you're done, restart the computer and empty the
trash.
Conclusion
This guide contains a number of possible solutions I am aware of to clean
and speed up your Mac.
More help is available in your Mac's built in help, Apple support
<https://support.apple.com/> and the AppleVis forum <https://applevis.com/>
to name just a few good sources.
Submitted by Tyler - Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team at:
www.applevis.com
===========================================================
The fb-exchange mailing list
Manage account, subscribe or unsubscribe:
//www.freelists.org/list/fb-exchange
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/fb-exchange ;
Administrative contact: insight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
===========================================================
