System Optimizer?

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Level 1

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System Optimizer?

I have been curious about this for a few days now. I own a MacBook now and notice upon start up it's super slow. I'm not sure if this is because I am doing my daily Software Update check while the computer is automatically Syncing with MobileMe and backing up onto an external HD through Time Machine. Afterwards, it runs find but every now and then while using Safari the pages take a longer to load up than usual. So, if this isn't hardware is there some type of Mac Optimizer Software I can use to speed up my laptop?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 12, 2009 8:42 AM

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Answer 1

May 12, 2009 8:48 AM in response to iSync & iCal

Hi iSync & iCal;

I seen a number of products that claim to help OS X. So far I have not found any I trust.

How full is your disk?

When is the last time you used Disk Utility to repair the disk and permissions?

Allan

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

May 12, 2009 8:55 AM in response to iSync & iCal

Also how much memory does you MacBook have?

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Answer 3

May 12, 2009 2:38 PM in response to iSync & iCal

" I'm not sure if this is because I am doing my daily Software Update check while the computer is automatically Syncing with MobileMe and backing up onto an external HD through Time Machine. "

All of those actions will slow down startup. Why do you check for software updates every day? Once a week or even every two weeks is probably sufficient. Apple does not release software updates every day.

When the slowdowns during normal use occur are you synching data? If so, that could cause a slowdown in page loading.

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Answer 4

iSync & iCal Author

Level 1

0 points

May 18, 2009 6:29 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I bought my computer in November 2008 with the basic memory configuration: 2GB (two 1GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM. Since then I have 2 Western Digital External Hard Drives going into the mac. (1. 500GB Time Machine 2. 350GB) In addition, I have a MobileMe account that syncs to the 10GB internet hard drive upon start up. Also, I just installed iLife '09 and my internal has about 92GB of free space left.

So, I am wondering if upgrading my memory to 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 (PC3-8500) - 2x2GB SO-DIMMs will help with it's performance. Starting up my mac is usually pretty fast but shutting down can take up to a minute sometimes. For a fairly new mac I am a bit surprised it's already dragging.

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Answer 5

May 18, 2009 7:00 AM in response to iSync & iCal

Hi iSync & iCal;

While you did give us some very good details on your hardware configuration, you did not say anything about what you are doing on this Mac. The software you are running will give you the best insight as to the need for more RAM. You can turn on Activity Monitor and watch how much memory you are using. It will also show you what is using CPU. Some times finding out what is using CPU can be a really eye opener.

Allan

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Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

May 18, 2009 3:50 PM in response to iSync & iCal

Allen is right about Activity Monitor -- that's the place to start.

And, it has good Help. It's fairly basic, but should give you a good general idea of what all those terms and numbers mean.

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