ellabt

Q: my mac is running slow. Help

hello

 

my emac is running slow is there a way to clean my mac?

 

ellabt

Mac OS X (10.5.8), emac running slow

Posted on Mar 17, 2013 6:56 AM

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Q: my mac is running slow. Help

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  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Mar 17, 2013 8:26 AM in response to ellabt
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Mar 17, 2013 8:26 AM in response to ellabt

    Help us out a bit. Is everything running slow or only certain programs or activities. Most PowerPC eMacs now struggle with modern web pages but still work fine with routine computing tasks like mail, word-procesong, photo-editing, etc.

     

    Can you also post how much RAM is installed (from "About this Mac") and how much free space is available in the hard drive? The latter can be determined by single-clicking your Hard Drive icon and then doing the key combo command i. The results look like this:

     

    volume_ get_info_box.png

     

    Please post what yours reads for "Capacity" and "Available.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Mar 17, 2013 7:46 PM in response to ellabt
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Mar 17, 2013 7:46 PM in response to ellabt

    How much RAM memory and how full is your hard drive?

  • by ellabt,

    ellabt ellabt Mar 21, 2013 6:18 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2013 6:18 PM in response to MichelPM

    Everything runs slow.

    My ram is 512 mb

    My hard drive is total 75 gigs with 1.8 gigs available

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Mar 21, 2013 6:50 PM in response to ellabt
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Mar 21, 2013 6:50 PM in response to ellabt

    Thank you. Your answers show the problems, and they compound each other:

     

    My ram is 512 mb

    I believe the min RAM recommended for actually getting OS 10.5 to almost work is 1GB RAM. Every eMac can handle up to 1GB RAM. If yout processor speed is 1.25 or 1.42Ghz, you can go all the way to 2GB RAM IF you get the RAM from the right place. This is what I bought for our eMac 1.42Ghz:

     

    1GB PC2700 DDR 333MHz CAS 2.5 184 Pin DIMM

     

    Works without problem.

     

    With insufficient RAM, the OS has to use Virtual Memory (VM) to write data to the hard drive, which is a slow process anyway compared to real RAM. And that bring up the second problem:

     

    My hard drive is total 75 gigs with 1.8 gigs available

     

    It's a wonder your computer runs at all. 1.8 Gig availble is far below minimum. You should have at least 10GB on that size drive available for virtual memory and programs that use swap files. You need to offload about 10G of files to an external drive.

     

    VM has to look for certian qualifying blocks on the HD for writing data when the installed RAM is too little like yours is. With less than 2GB free, it will struggle to find available blo cks that meet its needs

     

    Clean up the hard drive first, then worry about RAM; the hard drive space is the heavy hitter at the moment.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Mar 21, 2013 7:41 PM in response to ellabt
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Mar 21, 2013 7:41 PM in response to ellabt

    You need to free up lots of hard drive space.

    At a minimum, at least, 15 to 20 GBs of space.

    Perhaps even more.

    Hard drive full or near full:

    You are going to have to delete, move or archive your data to regain hard drive space.

    Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock?

    If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.

    If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!

    Other things you can do to gain space.

    Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive older emails you want to save.

    Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.

    Again, archive or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.

    Uninstall apps that you no longer use. If the app has a dedicated uninstaller, use it to completely uninstall the app. If the app has no uninstaller, then just drag it to the OS X Trash icon  and empty the Trash.

    Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.

    When you install and launch it, let it do its thing initially, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run all of the processes in the tabs. Let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.

    Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.

    If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be thinned out, moved, also, to the external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.

    You may have to Purchase an external FireWire or Thunderbolt hard drive to move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.

     

    Good Luck!

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Mar 21, 2013 10:12 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Mar 21, 2013 10:12 PM in response to MichelPM

    You may have to Purchase an external FireWire or Thunderbolt hard drive to move these files/data off of your internal drive

     

    I hope the OP doesn't buy a Thunderbolt drive. It will be hard to find a TBolt port on a circa 2004 eMac!

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Mar 22, 2013 9:54 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Mar 22, 2013 9:54 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Yeah,

    He'll need a Dremel Tool for that one!