MacKeeper

Macorin --

I myself wouldn't use anything that "cleans up" my Mac.
But I wanted to make sure you found these reviews on MacUpdate:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33710/mackeeper

Why do you want to delete anything? What problems are you having?

macorin --

Really, there's not a lot to do. The major thing that would slow your Mac down would be loading on and keeping huge video, music, or photo editing files. Or if you decide to load on anything Peer-2-Peer, and download questionable apps or files.

I think this article from Macworld might help you understand better:
http://www.macworld.com/article/133684/2008/06/maintenance_intro.html

That looks like a beautiful example of "suckerware" -- useless garbage marketed to unsophisticated users who are accustomed to similar things on Windows. Even if it had any value, the price would be excessive.

+I was just looking to clean out any junk that might be cluttering my system and to optimize my performance.+

Windows users take a while to get used to the idea that the Mac OS has no registry to get cluttered with junk. "Registry cleaners" and such have no Mac equivalents.

The sort of junk that really will clutter up your system and reduce performance is mainly third-party kernel extensions, especially the ones installed by "anti-virus" software. Stay away from that and you'll be fine.

Hey macorin,

If your computer is slowing down, here are the things you need to consider:

1) Age of the computer. The older & more used a computer is, the higher the likelihood is that the hard drive is failing. Hard drives tend to last 3~5 years, though they can survive longer.

2) Amount of RAM. If you're trying to run too many applications & your computer doesn't have enough RAM, you'll definitely see slowdowns. The minimum for Snow Leopard is 1GB. Most users here will recommend no less than 2GB, and to max out your RAM if at all possible.

3) Lack of hard drive space. The general recommendation is 15% of your drive should be free space. If you pair a lack of free space with a lack of RAM, your computer will really be hurting.

4) Directory corruption. If you've had to force your computer to power off, or if it's abruptly powering off on its own, the directory may become corrupt, and this will slow down the computer. You can use your install discs to repair the hard drive in most cases.

If you'd like me to provide instructions for checking the health of your hard drive, where to get a RAM upgrade & checking for directory corruption, let me know!

~Lyssa

Lyssa --
Excellent advice!

~Bee,

Thanks a million 🙂

~Lyssa

Hey Mac,

Some questions for you to consider about how your computer is behaving:

1) How much time does it take for the computer to start up, shut down, and sleep?
2) How much time does it take to open an application? Most applications should be ready within a few seconds, though larger stuff (such as the Adobe Suite) will take longer. Microsoft Office tends to open slowly as well.

And some health suggestions for your computer:
1) SMART Utility will check the physical health of the drive. Anything other than "Passed" means your hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced: http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php

2) Take a look at Activity Monitor (it's in Applications>Utilities). Click on the *System Memory* tab and look at the pie there, and also look at the information on the left-hand side. Also look at the line labeled Pageouts . It would be best if you restart your computer & then monitor the RAM usage on your computer. If you are seeing a high number of pageouts after going about your activities for the day, you definitely need more RAM. If not, you don't need it, but more RAM is almost always better.

3) Check for directory corruption. Again, this won't hurt anything and gives you the assurance that your computer is in good condition. Open Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities), click on *Macintosh HD* in the upper left-hand corner, then click the *Verify Disk* button. On my machine, Disk Utility tends to look like it's not responding, so my advice would be to click the button, then leave your computer alone for about 5 minutes (go have some coffee!) or, at the very least, leave the Disk Utility window alone.

Once the verify is complete, you should see "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK" in green text. If not, please post what Disk Utility is unable to repair & we'll let you know how to proceed.

As for where/how to get more RAM, I personally buy RAM made by Crucial. However, many users (including myself) will suggest OWC as an excellent alternative. I'm told(as I have no direct experience myself) that they have great customer service and offer lifetime warranties on many of their products.

You don't need to partition your drive unless you're planning to install a second operating system. Partitioning the drive really doesn't offer much benefit for OS X. In some cases, partitioning the drive may slow the computer down!

Sorry for being long-winded (again!), but hopefully some of this will help!

~Lyssa