Why Is My Mac So Slow? Fix Mac Running Slowly with 5 Best Solutions

February 02,2021Amanda Brown

Is Your Mac Running Slowly? Check for Reasons Hidden Behind:

78% Mac users have met a slow Mac when using it. Under these circumstances, you may need to figure out why your Mac is running slowly. Here are some common reasons explaining why your Mac is running so slow.

Physical damage

Not enough hard drive

When the hard drive is running out, your Mac should be running slower than before. You need to check if there is free storage space on your Mac.

Data overwritten

Not enough RAM

Your Mac can get slowed down due to not enough RAM on your Mac. At this time, you should free up and upgrade memory on your Mac.

Accidental/intentional deletion

Too Many startup items

When you start your Mac, a lot of things triggers in the background. This is surely to slow down your startup time and your Mac performance.

Logical damage

Icon clutter on desktop

Sometimes, you don't want to classify the document, song, video, PDF, etc. but save them to your desktop casually. So, your Mac is getting slower.

System failure

Too many background programs

If your Mac has too many programs running in the background, your Mac will definitely slow down. Actually, most background programs are not needed. You should delete programs from Mac.

Virus attack

Outdated Mac operating system

Your Mac's OS is another factor why your Mac is getting slower. Older operating system your Mac runs, the slower your Mac would be.

Improper handling

Old Mac Hard drive

Maybe your Mac may just be too old to fix. If your Mac hardware gets too old, your Mac will be running slow. You can do nothing to fix it, but upgrade the hardware.

Others

Others

Other unknown reasons, for example, junk files or trash just cluttering on your Mac due to some settings on your computer.

5 Solutions to Fix Your Slow Mac - Start Fixing

Check your Mac, you may find various movie files stored on the hard drive, many documents or folder messed up on the desktop.It is time that you should clean up your Mac hard drive to solve 'my Mac is running slow now' or similar problem.Delete files or folders one by one?Too time- consuming and leave alone some junk files, cookies or cache.

Solution 1. Clean up Mac hard drive

The best option is to adopt one Mac cleanup program, such as Mac Cleaner. This Mac cleaning software lets you clean download files, delete unneeded files, remove large or old files with just a few of clicks.

After deleting files, logs, cache, you will find your computer is no longer the Mac running slow before. Here is a tutorial on how to clean Mac up with Mac Cleaner to speed up slow Mac.

box

Downloads

Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner - Best Mac Cleaning Tool

  • Monitor Mac status, such as disk utilization, battery status, memory usage and CPU usage.
  • Support iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro.
  • Apply to Mac OS X 10.10 or above (macOS Sonoma included)
  • Compatible with iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro.
  • Works on Mac OS 10.10 or above (Mac OS X Yosemite, Mac OX El Capitan, macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave, macOS Catalina, macOS Big Sur, and macOS Sonoma included).
Free DownloadFor macOS

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1. Open Mac Cleaner
Download and launch Mac Cleaner. The Mac cleanup software is able to monitor system status of your Mac, so you can see how your Mac is or how much available storage space you can use.
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Free DownloadFor macOS

Secure100% Secure. No Ads.

2. Scan junk files
Three main modules are offered for you, "Junk Files", "Unneeded Files" and "Large & Old Files". With this software, you are able to quickly clean up your Mac to speed up slow Mac. Taking junk files cleaning for example, here we choose Junk Files and click the Scan button.
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3. Click Review button
The scanning process will quickly begin. After that, you can click Review button to see the scanning results.
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4. Review and select items
Junk files including application cache, system logs, photo junks, system cache and so on are listed in categories. Check the junk files to speed up slow Mac, such as "Application Cache", and the detailed junk data will display on the right window. Finally, click the Clean button.
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5. Cleaning done
Then all the junk files are deleted from your Mac. Mac Cleaner can be the best choice to clean up and speed up your slow Mac.

Note: As for "Unneeded Files" and "Large & Old Files", the steps to clean Mac up is the same as that of "Junk Files".

Solution 2. Manage your Startup items

Give your Mac a clean startup and drive Mac OS X running faster. If you don't manage your Startup items, it's time-consuming when you turn on Mac. And then you will wonder why my Mac is running slow. Lighten the load and manage the startup items on your Mac.

Get a quick Mac startup by deleting unnecessary apps. Go to your System Preferences > Users & Groups, and then click on your username. Now, click on Login Items, click on the name of an application that you don't need and then click the "-" symbol located below the list to the left. Then you'll remove the application from Mac.

mac-startup

Solution 3. Shut down unneeded background programs

Apple offers Activity Monitor feature, so that you can the processes that are running on your Mac. Quitting an app using up a lot of processing power could speed up your slow Mac. Open up your Applications folder > Utilities folder > Activity Monitor. From the list, you will see a lot of apps and processes are running background. Why is your Mac slower? Answer may be here.

Click on the Memory tab, here sorts the programs by the amount of space. It means that those programs are taking up Mac RAM. The higher the number, the more power they use up. Click on the app from the list and hit the gray "x" icon at the top-left corner of the window. But never delete the processes you don't know, or some tragedy may happen.

mac-backgroud-programs

Solution 4. Update your OS X

Commonly, a new MacOS version can bring amazing features. You can update your Mac system to a new version as to experience a faster operating speed.

Having the latest version of OS X is good practice. You can download the latest version or a higher version, including macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, and macOS El Capitan. Head over to the Mac App Store and search for "macOS Mojave". Install and update the Mac OS and you'll probably see a faster Mac.

macos-majave

Solution 5. Upgrade your hardware

Everything referred above are tried, but your Mac is still running slow. It's time to check whether the hardware of your Mac is too old. If so, you should consider upgrading the Mac hardware. Unfortunately, this will cost you much money. Some Mac hardware cannot be upgraded. You'd better think it over to speed up Mac using this method.

mac-hardware

Useful Cleaning Features You Should Know about Mac Cleaner

Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner is the professional Mac manager and cleaner to clean junk files, cookies, cache, history, downloads, large & old files, remove unwanted apps, for better monitor your Mac performance.

Clean junk files Clean junk files

Clean junk files

If you don't want to keep junk files on your Mac, just pick the best junk file cleaner to erase junk files on your Mac.

Clear cookiesClear cookies
Clear cookies

Cookies are stored on your Mac when browsing the Internet. You can clear cookies from Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc.

empty cacheEmpty cache
empty cache

Various caches piled up in the background? No worries. You can remove useless cache data and history quickly and safely.

erase-historyErase history
Erase history

When surfing the internet, download history will be preserved in your Mac. You can delete the history to speed up your Mac.

delete-downloadsDelete downloads
Delete downloads

Mac Cleaner helps you delete downloads on Mac. You can delete everything in the folder, including video, music, apps, etc.

Clean large/old filesClean large/old files

Clean large/old files

Sometimes, you may find your Mac storage has been taken up. You can remove large and old files to free your hard drive space.

Uninstall appUninstall app

Uninstall app

Some stubborn software like malware is not easy to be removed from your Mac. Mac Cleaner will help you uninstall these apps easily.

OthersOthers

Others

As a professional Mac management tool, Mac Cleaner can help you to delete duplicate files, shred files for better monitoring Mac performance.

Several Situations You May Need to Fix Mac with Mac Cleaner

Under these circumstances, you should use a Mac cleaning app to keep it from junk, cache, clutter, and monitor your Mac performance.

Black screen Sometimes, you may encounter a black screen when Mac boots up. Well, you can stop your Mac screen going black and fix it in one click.

Frozen Mac Mac gets frozen due to an unresponsive app? You can prevent Mac from freezing, with the professional Mac Cleaning tool.

Error code Get an error code when copying or transferring files to external hard drive? By using the Cleaner feature of Mac Cleaner to fix this issue.
Mac crash Many reasons can lead to Mac crash, such as third-party software error, Mac OS bugs, malware virus, etc. Prevent it with Mac Cleaner.

Reinstall Mac OS Want to wipe your Mac and erase personal information when selling your Mac or giving it to others? Delete private files with Mac Cleaner.

Others

Other situations like to clean the Mac disk, erase memory, remove unneeded apps, and others you may need to fix your Mac.

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Why Is My Mac So Slow? Fix Mac Running Slowly with 5 Best Solutions