Dismantle Me

Mac people sometimes begin to believe that they are immune to normal PC problems. For the most part, this is very true. However, mac users will of course still experience the occasional setback from time to time. One that seems common to me is the old “My computer is slow” issue. If you have a PC, this is a much more convoluted issue as it could be any number of things from a virus, to a rogue program to a fragged disc. If you have a mac, the solution is likely much more simple.

Two things usually contribute to the slowness you experience on your mac. I’m not talking about slowness that comes from installing Leopard on an emac, or the slowness that comes from running pro tools on an ibook. I mean slowness where your mac is clearly slower than it was when you first had it.

1. Disc permissions
2. A Cluttered Desktop

Often times when your mac slows down, its because the permissions on your disc need to be repaired. This is really easy to do. Go to your disc utility in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder. Select your hard drive (Usually called Macintosh HD) and select “Verify Disc Permissions”. When this action has completed, select “Repair Disc Permissions”.

For some reason that I will never know, if you clutter the desktop of a mac – especially if its a G series mac running Tiger, the whole computer will slow down. Clear off your desktop. Put everything in folders somewhere in your home folder. You computer will look much better anyway after you do this.

After you have done these two things, you are going to do something that PC users do several times a week. Reboot. Don’t panic, it’s not going to become a habit.

Your mac should now be back to its normal speedy state.

BTW – I know I “sound” like an Apple Fanboi, but I’m not. I’m actually a PC. It’s a religious debate. I won’t start on it. Just know that I see the advantages in both systems and I choose PC.