[gaogier@runehints.com]

Hello, my mac is starting to play up, i have had it since november, and want to know how can i speed it up.

When i first got the mac, it loaded within 10seconds, now takes about 5 mins...

what can i do to speed it back up?

Also, applications have started to crash.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Somethings wonky and defragmenting won't help it. OS X doesn't need to be defragged.

About disk optimization with Mac OS X

MacFixIt - Does Mac OS X need a disk defragmenter/optimizer?

I suggest creating a new user and see if the same problems appear. If so, you may need to reinstall the OS.

[analogika]

Unless your hard drive is *very* full - as in less than a GB free space - gut feeling says your hard drive may be dying.

Nevermind that it's still so new - might still be.

Make a backup of EVERYTHING of value NOW, if you haven't already.

[vertigociel]

Try verifying your disk and permissions with Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility). I've seen many a mac bogged down under thousands of bad permissions.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by vertigociel 

Try verifying your disk and permissions with Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility). I've seen many a mac bogged down under thousands of bad permissions.

I haven't seen a single one since 10.2, but go ahead and try that.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by vertigociel 

Try verifying your disk and permissions with Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility). I've seen many a mac bogged down under thousands of bad permissions.

Permissions don't cause performance problems...

[larkost]

Verifying disk permissions does almost nothing. You should try verifying the disk (not permissions, the other buttons), but you unless you have 10.4.9 or above you will need to boot off another disk (such as the installer DVD).

But a better hit would only work if you have 10.4. If so, then use Font Book to validate your font files (/System/Library/Fonts, /System Folder/Fonts, /Library/Fonts, and ~/Library/Fonts). And you should try cleaning out all of the cache files (there are many tools to help you with that). I would also comb thourgh the logs to see if there is something obvious, but if you aren't expereinced that can be a little tough to start.

[Tomchu]

Download the iDefrag trial edition, analyze your disk, and see whether the level of fragmentation it reports is severe. Both of my Macs hover between 100 - 200 fragmented files, and you can't really avoid that. It's mostly files that I've just recently downloaded and my Spotlight library that stay fragmented.