How to Increase the Speed of a Macintosh Computer

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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Try these tips to speed up both startup time for your Mac and overall performance.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Step 1

Rebuild your desktop once a month by holding down the Command and Option keys as you restart your computer. Leave the keys pressed until the computer asks if you want to rebuild the desktop. Click OK.
Step 2

Remove fonts you never use. (Open the Fonts folder in the System Folder and drag the fonts out.)
Step 3

Open the Extensions Manager control panel and turn off system extensions you don't need. For example, if you're not on a computer network and don't have a printer, you can turn off printer drivers and file-sharing extensions.
Step 4

Purchase and install speed-increasing software, such as SoftwareFPU from John Neil & Associates, Speed Doubler from Connectix, and Norton Utilities from Symantec.
Step 5

Add RAM if your computer takes a long time to open programs and slows down when working with multiple programs or large files.

Tips & Warnings

If you experience problems after turning off extensions, turn them all back on, then turn them off one at a time. Restart the computer and see if the problems recur. If they don't, turn off another extension, then restart and repeat until you find the one you shouldn't have turned off.
Remove only those fonts you have added that are not required by any program.
Don't turn off an extension unless you're sure you won't need it. If you have a PowerPC, be especially wary of extensions marked .lib or library. Multiple programs use these libraries, and you may experience severe problems if you turn them off.

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