[Strix]

I have a iBook 500Mhz which until installing the last update was nice and snappy under OS X.

Since the update the computer is very slow to responding to mouse clicks. It's most noticeable under Safari. I've cleared the cache in Safari which improves performance for a matter of minutes, but then needs clearing again.

Even when Safari isn't open, performance is still slow. I've repaired Permissions, and also run Onyx a number of times, but overall performance doesn't improve.

What can I do to improve things? Do I need to reinstall Panther and start again

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Love Calm Quiet]

People will probably want to know how much RAM you have.
Installing a couple freeware apps would indicate from moment to moment (when things feel slow) if your memory is Paging Out (relying on virtual memory):
Memory Monitor http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6173

And general CPU activity
MenuMeters http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10451

Starting up the Terminal application and running "top" command will show who's hogging cpu:

top -u

[Strix]

I've got 384 MB of memory. I'll give the top command a try later.

[Love Calm Quiet]

With 384 Meg you're probably getting a lot of paging (virtual memory access).

Highly recommended: ask Santa to come WAY early this year. RAM is cheap (if not purchased via Apple). Search other threads for rec on cost + quality sources. OS X is MUCHO sensitive to RAM quality (as well as quantity).

[jon l. dawson]

384 should be fine for running Safari or just about anything, I'd just not recommend it for running many apps at once.

[Strix]

I don't think memory is an issue, as 10.3.7 worked really well.

The strange thing is, that I've come home to run the top -u and find that it's now back to being nice and responsive.

I have left it switched on for 24 hours, so could OS X have been running some maintenance stuff in the background?

[Love Calm Quiet]

Yep: at about 2am. Which you can run anytime (esp. the "weekly" cleaning for memory) via the freebie MacJanitor.