Ok thanks for all that Ronni. Thank you very much for this assistance, I am sure my wife will be happy when it is all singing and dancing again.
Have a great Australia Day and break too from this stuff. Regards Pete > On 25 Jan 2015, at 5:22 pm, Ronni Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Peter, > > Perform each of these steps on existing Mac to ensure the system is ready for > Yosemite: > > 1. Click the Mac's upper left-hand corner Apple icon, select About This Mac, > and confirm sufficient RAM is installed. > > 2. Using the About This Mac window, click the More Info button, and confirm > the Mac's model year. > > 3. Using the About This Mac window, click the Storage tab, and confirm the > amount of free disk space. > > 4. Perform a rudimentary system load review by opening Activity Monitor > (reached from Applications | Utilities) and confirming the Mac's current CPU > and Memory loads are within tolerable ranges (less than 15% CPU use and less > than 50% of memory capacity when seemingly idle). > > 5. Open Disk Utility (from Applications >Utilities) and ‘Repair disk > permissions’ using the provided button. > Consider a fresh installation of Yosemite if the current underlying OS is > corrupt. > > 6. Boot into Recovery HD partition (Hold down the OPTION key during boot and > choose the “Recovery” option, or Hold down Command+R keys during boot to > access the Recovery HD partition.) Which method you will want to use depends > on your Mac model, but the OPTION trick works on every Mac. > A). Reboot the Mac and hold down Command+R (hold down Option key on some Macs) > B). Select “Recovery HD” from the boot menu > C). Choose “Disk Utility” from the Mac OS X Utilities screen > D). Click the hard drive, click the “First Aid” tab, and now click on “Repair > Disk” > After Repair Disk has run successfully, you are free to boot OS X as normal > and the drives issues should be resolved. > > Consider replacing any system older than three years whose disk is > experiencing errors or failures. > > 7. Review and uninstall any programs that you no longer need. > Review Login Items (accessed from System Preferences | Users & Groups), > disabling any applications that do not need to automatically load at startup, > thereby reserving resources for other programs. > > My normal post to WAMUG for installing OS X Upgrades > INSTALLING YOSEMITE OS X 10.10 > DON’T FORGET TO BACKUP FIRST: > > 1. Backup your system BEFORE installing > 2. Repair Permissions before installing > 3. Turn OFF Time Machine in System Preferences > 4. Unmount & Disconnect any External USB & Firewire Drives /TimeMachine > 5. Download the Yosemite OS X 10.10 upgrade app from the Mac App Store. > 6. Run the Yosemite OS X 10.10 upgrade app to Install Mavericks > ** Apple warning for installing Updates: > Do not interrupt the installation process once you have started to update > your system. > > What to do after installation of Lion-Mountain Lion-Mavericks-Yosemite > completes and your Mac restarts > Spotlight > > 1. In most cases, as soon as Lion-Mountain Lion - Mavericks - Yosemite starts > up the first time, Spotlight begins indexing (or re-indexing) all the files > on all mounted volumes. > This process can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending > on how many files you have and the speed of your CPU and disk. > > During this time, you’ll notice a lot of disk activity (along with, perhaps, > somewhat sluggish overall performance), and you’ll see a pulsing dot in the > centre of Spotlight’s magnifying glass icon on the right side of your menu > bar. (Clicking this icon during indexing displays an estimate of the time > remaining for each volume.) > > Software Update > > 2. After Spotlight has finished indexing the Volume: Run Software Update > The next thing you should do is to update Mac OS X itself (and any other > crucial Apple software) to the latest version. Sometimes Apple releases bug > fixes and security updates almost immediately after a major upgrade, and if > any such urgent updates are available, it’s in your best interest to install > them right away. > > Shortly after your Mac starts up under Lion or Mountain Lion for the first > time, Software Update should run automatically; if it finds updated software, > it displays an alert “Software updates are available for your computer......” > > If Software Update does not run, choose Apple > Software Update. Software > Update checks if a newer version of Mac OS X (or any of the software > installed with it) is available—and if so, offers to download and install it. > > Repair Permissions > > 3. Repair Permissions > > Let Apple Applications Update their Databases > 4. Open Apple Mail from the Applications folder and let it update the Mail > Database > > 5. Open iPhoto from the Applications folder and let it update the iPhoto > Database > > 6. Open iTunes from the Applications folder and let it update the database > > > <http://www.apple.com/au/osx/> > <http://www.apple.com/au/osx/how-to-upgrade/> > > This is my final email to WAMUG Mailing list - I need one day break from > support work over the long week-end :( > Tomorrow I will be visiting my family and setting up a couple of new iPhones > for 2 of my family... Then they will confiscate all my technology for the > rest of the day. ;-) They do this to me Christmas Day and Australia Day! > > 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 3:55 pm, Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi Ronni, well I cleaned up the Desktop and it is remarkable how much >> quicker it is now. Given the explanation below that every icon on the >> Desktop is seen as a Window open, it's no wonder it was bogged down. There >> were around 170 items on the desktop!!! >> >> I think I will have to remind her again how housekeeping is important with >> computers - not just the house! >> >> So I checked operation of Mail and Safari and it seems as good as new now. >> >> I've not done the OS update yet as you indicated there are some preparatory >> steps. >> >> Will stand by for those. >> >> 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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