mariiia123

Q: Resetting macbook to improve speed

My macbook pro is about 4 years old and recently has been running a little on the slower side. I was wondering if any of you have wiped out all files/programs etc from the laptop in order to clean it out and, hopefully, improve the speed? Or are there better ways for me to improve speed?

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Jul 27, 2014 6:30 PM

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Q: Resetting macbook to improve speed

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Jul 27, 2014 6:36 PM in response to mariiia123
    Level 10 (271,169 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 27, 2014 6:36 PM in response to mariiia123

    It's easy enough to do if you are willing to take the time:

     

    Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch

     

    Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

     

    OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X

    OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X

    OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X

     

    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

                because it is three times faster than wireless.

     

    You could try to track down what is slowing down the computer:

     

    Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs

     

    If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:

     

    Start with visits to:     OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney;

                                      The X Lab: The X-FAQs;

                                      The Safe Mac » Mac Performance Guide;

                                      The Safe Mac » The myth of the dirty Mac;

                                      Mac maintenance Quick Assist.

     

    Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:

     

    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion

     

    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.

     

    Repair the Hard Drive - Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks

     

    Boot to the Recovery HD:

     

    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilites Menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD disk icon and click on the arrow button below.

     

    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

     

    Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:

     

    For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior;  DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.

     

    Note: Alsoft ships DW on a bootable DVD that will startup Macs running Snow Leopard or earlier. It cannot start Macs that came with Lion or later pre-installed, however, DW will work on those models.

     

    Suggestions for OS X Maintenance

     

    OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.  Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger.  These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or later and should not be installed.

     

    OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive.

     

    Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection

     

    An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.

    Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.

    See these Apple articles:

     

      Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection

      OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

      OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware

      About file quarantine in OS X

     

    If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using VirusBarrier Express 1.1.6 or Dr.Web Light both from the App Store. They're both free, and since they're from the App Store, they won't destabilize the system. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for these recommendations.)

     

    Troubleshooting Applications

     

    I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX, Mavericks Cache Cleaner, or Cocktail that you can use for removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache, log, or temporary files can cause application or OS X crashes as well as kernel panics.

     

    If you have Snow Leopard or Leopard, then for similar repairs install the freeware utility Applejack.  If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line.  Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. Applejack does not work with Lion and later.

     

    Basic Backup

     

    For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:

     

    1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;

    2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is

        used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine

        requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the

        drive being backed up.

     

    Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):

     

      1. Carbon Copy Cloner

      2. Get Backup

      3. Deja Vu

      4. SuperDuper!

      5. Synk Pro

      6. Tri-Backup

     

    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

     

    Referenced software can be found at MacUpdate.

     

    Additional Hints

     

    Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.

     

    Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.

     

    Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.

     

    Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:

     

    Pre-Mavericks

     

    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu.  Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

     

    Mavericks and later

     

    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the View menu.  Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

     

    Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.

     

    Please download and install EtreCheck 1.9.12. Run the program then copy it's report and paste it in your next reply here.

  • by N.Vishwanath,

    N.Vishwanath N.Vishwanath Aug 14, 2016 4:36 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 14, 2016 4:36 AM in response to Kappy

    Hey Kappy,

     

    This my EtreCheck report. Could you tell me what are the actions I need to do? Thanks a ton in advance !

     

    EtreCheck version: 3.0 (300)

    Report generated 2016-08-14 17:00:18

    Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 4:22

    Performance: Good

     

    Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Problem: No problem - just checking

     

    Hardware Information:

        MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2

        1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

        8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

        Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

        Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 237

     

    Video Information:

        Intel HD Graphics

        NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB

            Color LCD 1440 x 900

     

    System Software:

        OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G31) - Time since boot: about 8 days

     

    Disk Information:

        Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02 disk0 : (320.07 GB) (Rotational)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

            Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 318.84 GB (43.27 GB free)

                Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

                Core Storage: disk0s2 319.21 GB Online

     

        MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898   ()

     

    USB Information:

        Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

        Apple Card Reader

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

        Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

     

    Gatekeeper:

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions:

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.haier.driver.evdo (1.0.6 - 2016-08-02) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.74 - 2016-08-02) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverVSP (0.0.74 - 2016-08-02) [Support]

     

    Startup Items:

        HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

        HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect

        StartOuc: Path: /Library/StartupItems/StartOuc

        Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

     

    System Launch Agents:

        [not loaded]    9 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    148 Apple tasks

        [running]    81 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons:

        [not loaded]    44 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    152 Apple tasks

        [running]    94 Apple tasks

     

    Launch Agents:

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-12)

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2013-12-04)

     

    Launch Daemons:

        [failed]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-14)

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-07-12)

        [running]    com.huawei.mbbservice.plist (2016-06-24)

        [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2010-08-25)

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2013-12-04)

     

    User Launch Agents:

        [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2010-10-07)

        [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2011-03-18)

        [loaded]    com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (2016-05-13) [Support]

        [failed]    com.google.GoogleContactSyncAgent.plist (2012-08-15) - /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/A/Resour ces/gconsync: Executable not found!

     

    User Login Items:

        HP Device Monitor    SMLoginItem  (/Library/Printers/hp/Utilities/HP Utility.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HP Device Monitor.app)

        HP Device Monitor    SMLoginItem  (/Library/Printers/hp/Utilities/HP Utility.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HP Device Monitor.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/HP Device Monitor.app)

     

    Internet Plug-ins:

        DirectorShockwave: 11.5.8r612 (2010-09-21) [Support]

        o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-17) [Support]

        Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-25)

        Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.3.6.5 (2010-11-24) [Support]

        OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.3.6 (2013-04-17) [Support]

        RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (2011-03-25) [Support]

        Silverlight: 4.0.50917.0 (2011-01-30) [Support]

        FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.192 - SDK 10.9 (2016-06-21) [Support]

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-25)

        Flash Player: 22.0.0.192 - SDK 10.9 (2016-06-21) Outdated! Update

        googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

        iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (2010-10-01)

        AdobePDFViewer: 9.5.5 (2013-05-15) [Support]

        SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.2 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-21) [Support]

        JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 101 build 13 (2016-07-24) Check version

     

    User internet Plug-ins:

        CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.105 (2016-02-05) [Support]

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes:

        Flash Player (2016-06-14) [Support]

        Flip4Mac WMV (2010-11-24) [Support]

        Java (2016-07-24) [Support]

     

    Time Machine:

        Skip System Files: NO

        Mobile backups: ON

        Auto backup: YES

        Volumes being backed up:

            Macintosh HD: Disk size: 318.84 GB Disk used: 275.57 GB

        Destinations:

            Time Machine Backups [Local]

            Total size: 499.76 GB

            Total number of backups: 13

            Oldest backup: 10/07/12, 2:32 PM

            Last backup: 15/07/15, 5:45 PM

            Size of backup disk: Too small

                Backup size 499.76 GB < (Disk used 275.57 GB X 3)

     

    Top Processes by CPU:

            29%    kernel_task

            16%    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

             6%    WindowServer

             2%    airportd

             2%    WiFiAgent

     

    Top Processes by Memory:

        761 MB    kernel_task

        549 MB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

        459 MB    softwareupdated

        319 MB    mds_stores

        254 MB    mdworker(15)

     

    Virtual Memory Information:

        1.39 GB    Free RAM

        6.61 GB    Used RAM (2.30 GB Cached)

        14 MB    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information:

        Aug 12, 2016, 09:41:09 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/iTunes_2016-08-12-214109_[redacted].hang

            /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

        Aug 12, 2016, 06:03:50 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/iTunes_2016-08-12-180350_[redacted].hang