My iMac is very slow How to improve and increase the speed of your computer with MacOS? step by step guide

macOS is an operating system which is characterized by its powerful performance. However, over time, iMacs begin to exhibit sluggish or very slow operation that minimize the quality of the user experience.

Given this, people are interested in knowing what are the main reasons why your Mac computer is running slow and gives them headaches or upsets. Which, we will proceed to detail below.

Also, we will announce the best tips to implement to improve the speed of a Mac and enjoy the feeling of using a brand new computer. Furthermore, we will emphasize hardware errors which also affect its performance.

Why is my iMac slow?

Over time, it is common any Mac starts running slower, since no one is saved. But, beyond knowing this, it turned out to be ideal to know more closely what are the real reasons why the operation of an Apple computer is affected.

In fact, below, we highlight the most frequent reasons why your iMac may be very slow:

• Many programs running in the background: When there are various softwares that start automatically without your knowledge and they operate in the background, Macs tend to slow down because these elements keep consuming all the resources of the hardware.
• The hard drive is very full: If your computer’s hard drive is maxed out, by default, your Mac will run slowly. Taking into account that, apart from hosting the OS and programs, it also stores documents, photos, videos, etc.
• Failure to update the operating system: If your Mac has an outdated operating system, it’s common for it to run slower than normal. Since, it is essential to update the operating system to optimize the speed of any MacOS computer. Otherwise, its performance suffers.
• Insufficient RAM: Whenever RAM malfunctions, multitasking between applications becomes difficult and programs are not as responsive.
• Using a slow internet connection: Sometimes the slowness of your iMac is not caused by the system itself, but rather by the Internet connection. Which, unfortunately, tends to lead to laggy page loads and heavy buffering while playing videos.
• The computer has not restarted: Another of the most common reasons why a Mac is running slowly is that it hasn’t been restarted in a long time. Which, produces the deficit of cleaning the files in the cache and does not allow to give a new start to the RAM memory.
• Multiple applications open at the same time: If you use many applications simultaneously or perform multitasking, it is likely that the Mac is being cluttered unnecessarily and as a result, it starts to operate very slowly.
• Incompatibilities of an app with the Mac: It is also possible that any app installed on your iMac has incompatibilities with it when you open it, either due to its type of processor or graphics card. So, it affects the performance of the computer.

Learn how to improve the speed of your iMAC

After know what are the main reasons why your iMac may be slowit’s easier to figure out what solution you need to quickly optimize your operation.

That is why, below, we offer you 15 helpful suggestions to increase the performance of your Apple computer:

Use Activity Monitor

To locate resource eaters, it is recommended to do using Activity Monitor what do you find pressing the keyboard shortcut Barra espaciadora + cmd and writing “Display”. Once you access, you will be able to see where the system resources are being dedicated (either in the CPU, RAM or battery) by percentage.

Here’s an idea:

• In the CPU sectionyou can get if a program is overloading it to proceed to close it and thus improve its speed.
• From the Memory tab, you’ll find out if your iMac manages memory efficiently. If not, it will be yellow or red, indicating that the computer is running out of RAM.
• Through Energyyou will be able to know which programs you have to close so that the battery lasts longer.

Check the hard drive

To check if there is free space available on your Mac’s hard drive, start by opening the Apple menu and selecting “About this Mac”. Then click on “More information” and click on “Storage”. Now if the remaining space it shows you is less than 2GB, it is best to do a cleaning; be it deleting unnecessary files, deleting old downloads, etc. But if that doesn’t work, consider upgrading to an SSD.

Clean up a full disk with CleanMyMac X

If you want to do without upgrading to an SSD to improve the performance of your Mac’s hard drive, we suggest making use of a third-party tool called “CleanMyMac” that takes care of suppressing what is necessary, safely and without affecting the system. Thus, it will be much more practical to speed up your Apple computer and even, improve system services at a deep level reorganizing the databases.

Check your internet connection

Of course a slow Internet connection can interfere negatively in the operation of any computer. Therefore, for your Mac to operate with better performance, it is also appropriate that check your internet connection.

To do this, start by holding down the Option key and then press the WiFi icon from the menu bar. Then select the option “Open Wireless Diagnosis” and after running this diagnostic, you will be able to check if there is any problem with the network connection. In that case, They will show you the instructions to follow on the screen to be able to solve any detected problem and thus, enjoy a much more capable Internet connection.

Prevent apps from opening when your Mac turns on

To prevent them from “resource eaters” slow down your computer’s startup, it’s a good idea to know which apps start up when your Mac starts up so your Mac starts up slowly. To do so, access the System Preferences menu and click on “Users and Groups”. Now, go to the Launch at startup section and there, you will see what programs start when you turn on the computer. After, it only remains to eliminate those that you do not need.

Uninstall apps that you do not use

Another effective method to recover and/or speed up your iMac is to uninstall apps you don’t need anymore. Considering that, this doesn’t just mean tossing them to the Trash, but uninstalling them completely to delete the gigabytes of useless data that won’t go away.

So if you want to uninstall such apps from your Mac, the procedure is based on click on the launchpad icon from the Dock. Subsequently, search for and select the app you want to delete, in order to proceed by holding down on the application until it begins to shake and, finally, in the upper left corner, click on the X and then click on “Delete”.

Update the Mac (operating system and hardware)

Inherently, installing the latest version of Apple software (that is, updating the operating system) is synonymous with reset the speed of any mac computer. Therefore, find out what the latest version of MacOS is and check which one your computer has, from the section “About this Mac” in the Apple menu. If the option is available, select “Update now”.

Aside from keeping your Mac up to date on its operating system, it’s also appropriate upgrade hardware. Which, although it is much more expensive, it is pertinent to do it if it is within your reach to enjoy better yields derived from certain parts of the hardware.

Clear the cache on your Mac

Only when you urgently need space on your computer and to improve the performance of your Mac, it is recommended to clear the cache. The procedure to get rid of it, begins by open Finder and click on the “Go” menu. Once the menu is displayed, press the Option key and when you see the Library section, you have to look for one there that It’s called “Caches”. Next, you will be presented with all the temporarily saved items and you must choose all the ones you want to delete.

Free up RAM in Terminal

Not all users are skilled enough to be able to use the Mac Terminal app properly. However, the truth is that it is not difficult to do it either and It is a great solution to speed up MacOS when a Mac runs very slow.. The present trick consists of accessing the launch pad on your computer to open the Terminal app. Followed by that, copy and paste the command sudo purge and proceed to press enter key. Now, enter the system password and you’re done.

Remove browser extensions

If more than 90% of the time you spend your Mac browsing online, it is likely that your computer may be affected by a broken browser with certain extensions or plug-ins. Which, show floating windows and ads that slow down your computer, worsen your user experience, etc. Then, to remove such items from Safariyou just have to access the Preferences menu, click on the tab “Extensions” and remove all those extensions you want.

Reset the PRAM of your Mac

This type of memory that stores various settings necessary for system startup and general Mac settings (screen resolution, speaker volume, time zone, etc.), can be reset to improve computer performance, regaining its speed. Although it is not common to do it, it is not really complicated. Well, the steps consist of: Shut down your Mac, press the power button, press the keys Comando + Opción + P + R simultaneously until the system reboots, release the keys and voila.

Disable visual effects

All animations and graphics tend to consume a lot of resources and therefore to gain speed on Mac it is advised disable visual effects. Otherwise, the computer may go slower and slower.

In this case, you have to start by entering the System Preferences menu and selecting the option “Dock and menu bar”. Next, find and uncheck the boxes that say “Animated app launch” Y “Hide and show the Dock automatically”. Finally, click on “Minimize windows using” and proceed to change the “Aladdin Effect” to “Scale Effect”.

Avoid having many apps open and close the ones that are necessary

Many users assume that clicking on the red button located in the upper left corner of the window closes the apps. However, this action is not responsible for closing them completely and in effect, the dock shows them with a small gray circle under their icon. That way, These apps continue to consume resources and can slow down your Mac. To avoid this, it is best to close them completely using the keyboard shortcut Comando + Q and thus, they will no longer be activated automatically.

Reset the SMC

The SMC, which is in charge of controlling the main functions of the Mac, can present serious failures and, consequently, slows down the computer noticeably. In these cases, the most suitable is reset the SMC distinguishing between Macs that have removable and non-removable batteries (because the process is different). For computers that have removable batterythe following must be completed: Turn off the equipment, remove its battery, press the power button for 5 consecutive seconds and press the power button again.

In the case of teams with non-removable batterythe procedure is: Shut down your Mac, use the keyboard shortcut Mayús + Control + Opción along with the power button, keep the keys and the power button pressed for 10 secondsrelease the keys and press the power button to start the Mac.

On the other hand, for recover the speed of an iMac, the step by step consists of: Turn off the computer, unplug the power cord, wait 15 secondsreconnect the power cable and after another 15 seconds, touch the power button.

Start your Mac in safe mode

If sometimes, while typing, time freezes for a couple of seconds and there is keyboard response lag, this tends to slow down the whole system. To solve it, we advise you start your mac in safe mode.

In case you don’t know how to do it, you must complete the following: Restart your Mac and quickly press the Shift key. Once you see the user login window, release the key and you will enter safe mode. then check how does the keyboard respond when you enter data in notepad. Next, you should restart your Mac in normal mode and the problem will be solved.

Hardware bugs that also affect MacOS performance

As usual, Macs start to perform slowly when they have faults in the internal part of the system. However, there are some hardware failures that also influence negatively in the performance of any MacOS computer.

Next, we will tell you which are the most frequent and how they can be easily solved:

Bad RAM

One of the most common symptoms when RAM is failing on Mac is that the longer the computer is on, the slower it runs and even forces users to perform a reboot. In addition, apps crash unexpectedly, the operating system freezes, files get corrupted, and it exhibits boot issues.

To check the status of your computer’s RAM memory, you can resort to Apple Diagnostics (or Apple Hardware Test). In that case, you should start by restarting your Mac, then hold down the D key and follow all the instructions until the test is complete. Finally, this utility will provide a detailed report in which the user will find a brief description of the problems detected. In this way, we can proceed to solve them.

hard drive errors

When your computer frequently freezes and shuts down much slower than usual, hard drive errors are likely. In these cases, it is essential check its status via Disk Utility on Mac.

To do this, after starting Disk Utility from Applications, proceed to find and select the hard drive from the left panel. then click “First aid” and click on “Check Disk” in the lower right corner. Thus, you will get different messages about the health of the hard drive and if red text appears on the screenit means that something is wrong.

processor damage

Aside from running very slowly, there are also cases where the Mac turns on normally and does nothing. That is to say, it receives energy and the ignition process begins, but it doesn’t work normally and instead, it emits warnings with the sound of a bell that indicates the existence of problems in some hardware component.

In that case, when five beeps sound (that is, the equivalent of 5 tones), it means that the processor has severe damage. Therefore, you will have to resort to an expert in the field to solve the problem of this physical part of the Mac.