Ok, thanks I will be doing it for her, your comments noted about not doing the OSX update till it's sorted.
Regards Pete > On 25 Jan 2015, at 11:27 am, Ronda Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Peter, > > DON'T attempt to upgrade the operating system until you have the MacBook > running perfectly. > Do the correct Preparation before upgrading to Yosemite, or you will have > problems. > > There are other things to look for that cause slowness on a Mac. > I'll post after your wife has cleaned up the Desktop and filed everything > away in the correct locations in her Home Directory (Folders) > > Then if you need information on how to Prepare To Upgrade, post back to the > list when your wife has the MacBook running well. > > Cheers, > Ronni > Sent from Ronni's iPad4 > > >> On 25 Jan 2015, at 11:00 am, Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Thanks for that Ronni, will do those tidy ups then see how it responds. >> >> Thanks >> >> Pete. >> >> -------- Original message -------- >> From: Ronni Brown >> Date:25/01/2015 10:11 (GMT+08:00) >> To: WAMUG >> Subject: Re: VERY slow Macbook >> >> Hi Peter, >> >> Very quick reply.... First Thing to Do - Clean Up The Desktop!!! >> 6.6GB of video files etc on the Desktop will be slowing the MacBook down. >> Your wife's MacBook only has 4GB RAM installed so having that amount of >> files on the Desktop would be a drain on memory. >> >> Why You Should Keep Your Desktop Clean in OS X >> >> A desktop is exactly what it sounds like: a place to store temporary >> projects. >> Once you’re done working on a project, store it in a folder. >> >> The folder system is really well done on OSX, just go to Macintosh HD > >> Users > YourName and you’ll find 9 different folder categories, ranging from >> music to documents. Use these folders to store your files. >> >> Mac OS X considers every icon on your Desktop a window, and because every >> window uses additional RAM, more Desktop icons means greater RAM usage. >> >> Keeping your desktop clean is really important because every icon, folder or >> alias on it is loaded into the RAM, slowing your system down. >> >> If there is a certain folder or file you need to access regularly, leave it >> where it should be and slide it into the right side of the OSX dock; this >> will create a stack, a feature that is incredibly useful. >> >> Your Desktop is actually a Folder. >> >> It lives at your startup disk, usually called “Macintosh HD” > Users > (your >> user name) > Desktop. >> The difference is that the desktop folder displays it’s contents on your >> desktop as icons. >> >> These are not your normal icons, because the operating system treats every >> icon on the desktop as a window. >> And because every window uses additional RAM, more Desktop icons means >> greater RAM usage. >> >> So having 100 icons on your desktop is like having 100 windows open at the >> same time. >> This uses tremendous amounts of system resources and slows everything down. >> >> It’s easy for the desktop to get out of hand. Icons on the desktop are >> generally laid out in a grid. >> When the grid fills up, the operating system starts to place any additional >> icons in the same place, stacking them on top of icon for your start-up >> disk! >> So now, the problem is getting worse and worse and you don’t even realise it. >> >> The solution is easy: >> >> Start by creating a new folder on your desktop. (File > New Folder) >> Name it “Stuff to file”, or something like that. Then, take everything on >> your desktop and put it in that folder. >> It doesn’t matter how many items are in that folder or how much space those >> items take up. >> To the operating system, it’s just another window. >> >> Once you have done that, you should notice an immediate improvement in >> performance. >> >> Then Do some house cleaning: >> >> Start moving things from the “Stuff to file” folder into the proper folders >> in your Home Folder: >> Documents, Music, Pictures or Movies. >> Create sub-folders in those folders, if necessary. >> >> Then, just keep track of the amount of icons on your desktop. >> >> >> Cheers, >> Ronni >> >> 13-inch MacBook Air (April 2014) >> 1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost to 3.3GHz >> 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM >> 512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage >> >> OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 >> >> >>> On 25 Jan 2015, at 9:53 am, Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Good morning, my wife's Macbook Pro (13" mid 2012) 4GB memory, running OSX >>> 10.9.5 is running very slow and has been for a long time. It has 114GB free >>> out of the 499GB hard disc so I don't think that in itself would be a cause >>> for immediate concern. >>> >>> She has some large items on her Desktop (video files and lots of other >>> extraneous stuff) totalling 6.6GB and a huge amount of Mail. She is a >>> prolific emailer. 1500 Inbox and 14,000+ in Sent dating back to 2011. Plus >>> additional Mail accounts for kids each ill maintained as well. >>> >>> The thing is, it is slow all the time, whether Mail is running or not. >>> >>> She uses it for two main things, Mail and Safari for Facebook and general >>> web browsing, and eBay for buying stuff. >>> >>> Is there a step by step process for doing some 'housekeeping' clean up and >>> decaching of various things that will declutter this thing. It is sooooo >>> slow its nearly unusable. >>> >>> I want to update her MBP to Yosemite but would like to do the clean up >>> first, maybe update to Yosemite would be a good thing and clean up stuff in >>> the process. >>> >>> Tips much appreciated. >>> >>> >>> Regards >>> >>> >>> Pete > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
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