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Why Is My Mac So Loud When I Play Games

Mar 12, 2017  Can You Play Games on a Mac? Macs are made of the same components as any other PC. They’re just an Intel x86 computer in a fancier case with a different operating system. This means there’s no real hardware barrier to gaming on a Mac. It’s not like a PC has some magic video game component that your Mac lacks. Aug 19, 2019  How to Play iPhone or iPad Games on Mac to Enjoy Full Screen Gaming Gaming on the iPad and iPhone is amazing, thanks to Apple's marvelous technology. But if the same can be played on a Mac full screen then that will be an icing to the cake. Feb 01, 2020  The 100 Best Mac Games today. It’s so light, in fact, that you can even play it on your browser. That means that Spelunky’s Mac version can be played on even the oldest Macs. Verdict: Not Demanding. This is a funny game too and can easily make you laugh out loud. And don’t let the goofy graphics trick you.

Comments

  • edited February 2015
    It's just the nature of gaming on a laptop. My Retina iMac fan comes out full boar pretty quickly when playing but performance never suffers.
    Do you notice a decrease in performance or is it just the fan noise that bothers you? If you just want to reduce the fan noise, look into getting a cooling pad for your laptop (with a fan in it). These fans are usually larger and more quiet, allowing the computer temperature to stay lower, preventing the internal fan from needing to kick in.
    Given the aluminum body of the Macbook Pro, these cooling pads should be able to dissipate the heat fairly effectively. Try to ensure a good centimeter air gap between the cooling pad and the bottom of the MBP.
    There's not much else you can do about it.
  • Mine definitely does. But it's nothing new for me, since it was exactly like this with Sims 3 as well. You kinda grow used to it. Just make sure you're letting air through the vents and not covering it with a blanket/fabric, it helps.
    1
  • > @ErikTheRod said:
    > It's just the nature of gaming on a laptop. My Retina iMac fan comes out full boar pretty quickly when playing but performance never suffers.
    >
    > Do you notice a decrease in performance or is it just the fan noise that bothers you? If you just want to reduce the fan noise, look into getting a cooling pad for your laptop (with a fan in it). These fans are usually larger and more quiet, allowing the computer temperature to stay lower, preventing the internal fan from needing to kick in.
    >
    > Given the aluminum body of the Macbook Pro, these cooling pads should be able to dissipate the heat fairly effectively. Try to ensure a good centimeter air gap between the cooling pad and the bottom of the MBP.
    >
    > There's not much else you can do about it.
    Nope haven't noticed any decrease in performance it is just really the fan noise that bothers me being that loud i'm not use to it, will grabbing a cooling pad from Amazon be fine or is there something specific i should look for before buying one?
  • I got myself a fan/cooling pad. It'll help, your Mac is precious so save it, don't let it over heat.
  • > @nightxchangesxx said:
    > Nope haven't noticed any decrease in performance it is just really the fan noise that bothers me being that loud i'm not use to it, will grabbing a cooling pad from Amazon be fine or is there something specific i should look for before buying one?
    Should do the trick. Just keep in mind you do get what you pay for with these things, so expect to spend $15-20 for a 'good' one.
    Typical rule of fans is that the bigger (in diameter) the fan, the slower it has to spin to move the air. Slower fans are usually more quiet so you'll want a pretty good sized (single fan). I don't have one myself to swear by, but I would stick to the 'known' companies like Cooler Master and Thermaltake. You don't need to go all out with the fancy 'gaming' fans with LEDs and whatnot.
    To keep it as quiet and efficient as possible, don't go lower than 160mm fan size. I would try to stay under 2000 rpm as well (for noise), 1000 would be pretty good, though you'd likely be looking at 200mm fan size.
  • Im not used to the fan myself since I'm always on my iMac which is like 8-9 years old. Any suggestions on a good cooling pad?
  • With the iMac, you're going to need something better than a cooling pad. You could try a box fan on low or something similar. I have also seen some USB fans that can pivot/arch, maybe some of those pointed at the back could help? You'll have to find out where it gets hot and try to apply a quieter cooling method to it.
  • I use one of these under my 15' MBP and it works like a dream. It doesn't have a fan because the aluminium really helps dissipate the heat, like the casing of your Mac
    http://www.raindesigninc.com/ilap.html
    0
  • Mine is loud like hell even on low settings...Really annoyed me.
  • I recommend a Chillow (Cold Pillow) I believe they're sold at CVS I always have it under my laptop when I play, and or just play on a cold surface.
    0
  • Perfectly normal. If the GPU got too hot, it would shut off automatically. Apple didn't 'forget' to work out a cooling system on their devices, they look after and cool themselves. Unless there is a mechanical fault with the machine, you'll be fine. Happy simming! :smile:
  • Can anyone recommend a laptop cooler for MBP which does not rely on having fans and plugged in to the laptop ?
  • You could > @jimbbq said:
    > Can anyone recommend a laptop cooler for MBP which does not rely on having fans and plugged in to the laptop ?
    Most of them are going to be USB-powered, but you could use a USB wall adapter to power them instead of your laptop. If you need a longer cable there are USB extenders as well, all of these are pretty cheap. I would recommend that your USB wall adapter be rated for at least 1A of power (not just 500mA).
    Most newer smartphone or tablet chargers are rated for 1A or 2A, you could use that too.
  • The more I play, the more my fans are kicking in REALLY loudly. I don't mean play as in hours at a time, I mean the frequency. I've never actually worried about this before but having used Macs in all forms for the last 25 years, for the first time I am worried at how frequently and noisily this is happening. I'm going to download iStat again and keep an eye on the temperature.
    0
  • I think as long as our fan is going, our laptop will be fine in terms of heat, it is just so loud that it makes the game less fun!
  • My fan has been running loudly with The Sims 4, but it's not terrible yet. Maybe that's because I'm from Boston and it's only five degrees outside and I play near the window.
  • Hello :)
    The noise doesn´t really bother me because I play with headphones.
    But after 1-2 hours I always quit playing because I 'm really afraid that my MacBook breaks down. :D Can anybody tell me if this could really happen when I play for a few hours without a break? I have a Rain Design mStand so the circulation of air shouldn´t be a problem...
    Please excuse my bad English grammar... :#
  • If you play on any kind of laptop, you need to make sure that it has plenty of space to insure that the fans can vent the heat. If your fan is too loud that means your computer is running hot. The newer MacBooks do not have fans however and you still need to make sure it has a nicely vented place to play.
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • @BlueBellFlora keep an eye on the Mac, fan issues and heat. I know you said it got better on Mac but it just may have gotten worse. CPU got worse since the new patch. Just spoke to someone who has a new 960m laptop and their cpu has gone to 94 c which is bad and this is the only game that does this. I hope its not effecting Mac too
  • @BlueBellFlora keep an eye on the Mac, fan issues and heat. I know you said it got better on Mac but it just may have gotten worse. CPU got worse since the new patch. Just spoke to someone who has a new 960m laptop and their cpu has gone to 94 c which is bad and this is the only game that does this. I hope its not effecting Mac too

    Thanks. Apple have switched over to AMD GPUs again thankfully. Don't forget they write their own drivers too. Still running better on my NVIDIA 650M 1Gb than it was before. El Capitan has really improved it. And I'm up to date patch wise.
    0
  • @BlueBellFlora keep an eye on the Mac, fan issues and heat. I know you said it got better on Mac but it just may have gotten worse. CPU got worse since the new patch. Just spoke to someone who has a new 960m laptop and their cpu has gone to 94 c which is bad and this is the only game that does this. I hope its not effecting Mac too

    Thanks. Apple have switched over to AMD GPUs again thankfully. Don't forget they write their own drivers too. Still running better on my NVIDIA 650M 1Gb than it was before. El Capitan has really improved it. And I'm up to date patch wise.

    Its the CPU not the GPU causing the heat issues and the fans racing etc. Seems to be effecting laptop and like computers which some Mac might fall under laptop like. Just keep an eye on CPU temps since the new patch
  • @BlueBellFlora keep an eye on the Mac, fan issues and heat. I know you said it got better on Mac but it just may have gotten worse. CPU got worse since the new patch. Just spoke to someone who has a new 960m laptop and their cpu has gone to 94 c which is bad and this is the only game that does this. I hope its not effecting Mac too

    Thanks. Apple have switched over to AMD GPUs again thankfully. Don't forget they write their own drivers too. Still running better on my NVIDIA 650M 1Gb than it was before. El Capitan has really improved it. And I'm up to date patch wise.

    Its the CPU not the GPU causing the heat issues and the fans racing etc. Seems to be effecting laptop and like computers which some Mac might fall under laptop like. Just keep an eye on CPU temps since the new patch

    Macs that can support Metal, which was introduced with El Capitan, have shown significant CPU and GPU improvement thanks to the way it works. Hardly seeing any reports of this now.
    0
  • @BlueBellFlora keep an eye on the Mac, fan issues and heat. I know you said it got better on Mac but it just may have gotten worse. CPU got worse since the new patch. Just spoke to someone who has a new 960m laptop and their cpu has gone to 94 c which is bad and this is the only game that does this. I hope its not effecting Mac too

    Thanks. Apple have switched over to AMD GPUs again thankfully. Don't forget they write their own drivers too. Still running better on my NVIDIA 650M 1Gb than it was before. El Capitan has really improved it. And I'm up to date patch wise.

    Its the CPU not the GPU causing the heat issues and the fans racing etc. Seems to be effecting laptop and like computers which some Mac might fall under laptop like. Just keep an eye on CPU temps since the new patch

    Macs that can support Metal, which was introduced with El Capitan, have shown significant CPU and GPU improvement thanks to the way it works. Hardly seeing any reports of this now.

    Interesting well hopefully it's only PC
  • I touched a new machine in the Apple shop without anything playing on it and it felt like getting a small electric shock.
    Sims 4 is currently getting my powerful Windows laptop running hot even with the fan running underneath. This has only happened recently and I am only building houses at the moment.
  • I touched a new machine in the Apple shop without anything playing on it and it felt like getting a small electric shock.
    Sims 4 is currently getting my powerful Windows laptop running hot even with the fan running underneath. This has only happened recently and I am only building houses at the moment.

    Please monitor your temps http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
    Open the app at desktop ,leave it open, start the game when you exit the game read the app. It will read your temps on everything.Pay close attention to cpu if your over 80 c on a laptop this is bad

We've got a few reasons and fixes.

How to speed up a slow Mac

All Macs begin to slow down with age — MacBook Pro, iMac, it doesn’t matter. Performing several heavy tasks at a time, your Mac may get slower, and it’s okay. Although, when you’re facing unresponsive windows and slow load time more often these days, your Mac definitely needs a boost.
We’ve found the best ways on how to make your Mac faster. Some work better than others (depending on your Mac) but we’ll show you all of them and you can decide for yourself how to make your slow Mac faster.

1. Your hard drive is getting full

Nothing slows down a Mac more than having too much on your hard drive. If you can lighten the load on your Mac, you’re sure to see an increase in speed.

How to fix it: Clean up your hard drive

Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Cleaning up old movie files, organizing your Desktop, and searching your Mac for old files you don’t need is the easy part. However, the hard part is cleaning up your system, and figuring out all the stuff that can be safely removed for more space. The best option is to use a Mac cleanup tool, like CleanMyMac X. It cleans up your entire Mac, the easy stuff and the hard stuff. It knows what to clean and where to clean, and is incredibly safe to use. It removes caches, logs, language packs, and more to help you speed up your Mac — Click here to download it free!

2. Your storage is not optimized

Apple developers have already anticipated the problem with slow running Macs. You can easily find their helpful recommendations on managing and optimizing your Mac’s storage. Here’s how you can reveal some useful advice:

  1. Click the Apple menu and select About This Mac.
  2. Here choose the Storage tab and select Manage.
  3. In the new window that opens, you will see some suggestions for faster performance of your Mac.

How to fix it: Manage your files and data

You can transfer your files and data to iCloud to save up some space on your Mac. Just click Store in iCloud and choose files you want to save to iCloud storage. Another useful tip is to optimize storage on your Mac by removing large files such as Apple TV films and TV shows. To make sure your Bin is not cluttered with old junk, you can set up Empty Bin Automatically. You could also give a swift look at your documents and remove the items that are piling up. You can do this by clicking Reduce Clutter.

Games

3. Outdated macOS

Your Mac’s OS is extremely important to how it performs. An older OS typically runs slower — that’s why Apple releases new macOS every year or so.

How to fix it: Update your macOS

Having the latest version of macOS is good practice (the latest version right now is macOS Catalina 10.15). Don’t think of it as adding more junk to your already slow Mac — think of it as new software that makes your Mac run more smoothly. So, update your macOS and speed up your Mac, go to the Apple menu and click About This Mac. Then click Software Update. If a new version is available, update software and you’re good to go!

If for some reason your Mac is running slow after macOS Catalina update, don’t panic. It could happen that disk permissions are broken. You can repair them with CleanMyMac X. Download the app and go to Maintenance tab, click “Repair Disk Permissions”.

4. Startup is slowing you down

When you start your Mac, a lot of things load up in the background. Not only do they slow down your startup, but they continue to do so the whole time you’re on your Mac.

How to fix it: Manage your startup items

Give your Mac a clean start and make macOS run faster. When you don’t manage your startup Items, it’s like making your Mac run a sprint with a gigantic, book-filled backpack — it’s going to take a bit longer for it to get moving, right? Lighten the load on your Mac.

Slow

You can do all routine action we'll discuss below yourself or just download CleanMyMac X and get faster Mac in a couple of minutes.

Get a fast Mac startup by removing unnecessary apps. To turn off Login Items 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 you don't need to launch during startup, and then click the '-' symbol located below the list to the left; this will remove the application from the list — the fewer applications on the list, the better. This should help out a ton with speeding up your slow Mac.

5. Too much running in the background

When you’ve got too much running in the background, your Mac can’t even handle simple tasks.

How to fix it: End processes with Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor will show you what processes are using up your system resources. Quitting an app that’s taking up a lot of processing power could make a huge difference in speeding up your slow Mac. Open up your Applications folder and then your Utilities folder. Here you’ll find the Activity Monitor, open it. Check out the list of apps and processes that happening on your Mac in real-time. Pretty complex, eh?

From here you can see what’s causing trouble with your Mac. Click on the Memory tab at the top, then the Memory filter at the top of the list; this sorts the programs by the amount of space they’re taking up on your Mac RAM. The higher the number, the more power they need. Stop an app from operating by clicking on the app in the list and then clicking the gray “x” icon located at the top-left corner of the window. Don’t remove anything you don’t know!

6. You’ve got old hardware

Sadly, your Mac may just be too old to fix. When your Mac hardware gets too old, your speed drops drastically and you can do little to fix it without taking some serious measures.

How to fix it: Upgrade your hardware

You’ve done all the stuff above and your Mac is still running slowly. It’s time to look into upgrading your hardware. Unfortunately, this can be a bit pricey and some Macs are beyond help (kidding… some just can’t be upgraded).

The most straightforward way is to replace your current hard drive with an SSD disk. You should shoot for at least 240-256 GB of storage space. You will need to open the bottom case of your MacBook and replace it with the newly-bought SSD drive.

Additionally, look into buying more RAM. Something around 4 GB is no longer enough by 2020 standards. You can buy China-produced 8 GB RAM card for around $30. If your MacBook originally had 4 GB of RAM, this should make it 12 GB in total which is a pretty solid amount nowadays.

7. You have too many unused apps

As your Mac may be behaving slowly due to storage issues, it’s good to check whether you have some free space left. Unused apps are the biggest space-wasters. All of us download applications that seem helpful and exciting at first, but turn to clutter up our disk instead of being used frequently.

How to fix it: Uninstall unused apps

So, it’s time to get rid of those or at least honestly tell yourself which ones you don’t use anymore.

  1. Open Finder and navigate to the Go menu.
  2. From the drop-down list, select Applications.
  3. You will see all applications installed on your Mac. Organize the list by size to reveal the largest apps.
  4. Right-click on the app and select Move to Bin.

Mind the fact that if you delete the apps, the chances are that some leftover files will remain on your Mac. That’s why it’s recommended to clean your machine of such remnants with tools like CleanMyMac X. Its Uninstaller module shows how many apps you have and gathers all leftovers in one tab - so you can quickly delete them.

If you don’t want to delete apps, you can quit them and therefore stop your CPU from wasting the resources on this app.

  1. Open Activity Monitor (Finder > Applications > Utilities).
  2. Click %CPU to sort processes in descending order.
  3. Select the app you don’t use.
  4. To quit the apps or processes, press the “X” sign in the top left corner of the window.
  5. Click Force Quit.

Now, these apps won't be using your Mac's power in the background.

8. Cluttered desktop

If you use your desktop as a file dump, it’s high time for a cleanup. Not many people know this, but every desktop icon is, in fact, a little active window that your macOS has to render and process. If there are myriads of icons, no wonder your Mac is slow.

How to fix it: Plow through your desktop items

To make your Mac run faster, organize files on your desktop into separate folders. Right-click on your desktop and select Use Stacks. Then, you can move them to another location. Never hesitate to send to Trash things you rarely use, like apps you had downloaded months ago. Cleaning the desktop isn’t the funniest job in the world, but it does pay off in terms of adding speed to your Mac.

9. Browser is full of junk

Most of us use our Macs online 90% of the time. In other words, if your browser is slow, your Mac will be slow too. Even the fastest machine can be dragged down by hundreds of opened tabs and extensions.

How to fix it: Remove extensions to make your Mac run faster

Hidden add-ons, plug-ins, and extensions often come disguised as free software. You download something and the next moment see weird search bars, pop-ups, and torrents of advertisements on your screen. Of course, there are perfectly legit extensions that extend what your browser can do, but every extension weighs on your Mac’s speed. And lastly, such tools may stealthily collect your data.

How to remove Chrome extensions manually

  1. Launch Chrome.
  2. Click a three-dot icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Click More tools > Extensions.

Then you’ll have a nice overview of all Chrome add-ons you have installed. You can either disable extensions or delete them completely, which is preferable especially when you don’t recognize what it is.

How to remove Safari extensions manually

  1. Launch Safari.
  2. Click Safari > Preferences in the upper menu.
  3. Choose the Extensions tab.
  4. Remove the extensions you don’t need.

The rule of 9 tabs
To make your Mac run faster while in the browser, minimize the number of opened tabs. Many IT consultants recommend to always have no more than 9 opened tabs at a time. This way you don’t overload the browser and the title for each tab is perfectly visible.

10. Lots of outdated cache files

Cache files come in many flavors: system cache, user cache, app-generated caches and more. User caches (tied to your user account) make up for about 70% of junk on your Mac. The manual deletion method involves a bit of clicking and typing. So here you are.

How to fix it: Trim down caches on your slow Mac

Why Is Mac So Slow

  1. Open Finder and click “Go to Folder” in the Go menu.
  2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and press Enter
  3. Locate a cache folder tree
  4. Go into each folder and delete its contents
  5. Empty the Trash bin

Note: It’s not recommended to remove the folders themselves, but only their insides.

Now it is time to delete System caches. The path is the same but this time you should type in:

/Library/Caches (without a ~ tilde sign)

Once again, the method is the same: you locate the main cache folder and drill down into its sub-folders removing all the content stored there. Before you start, you can preemptively back up the Caches folder as meddling with cache folders can be risky. For a bulletproof solution, you can clean out caches with CleanMyMac X - it was made just for this purpose, though it has lots of other uses. Download CleanMyMac X for free, install it and click Smart Scan. From there, you will be able to delete cache and temporary files.

The lesser-known trick to fix Mac running slow

If you followed the tip from the previous section and downloaded CleanMyMac X, you should be able to perform another trick which proved quite effective on most Macs. From our experience, it does boost up the performance of many applications.

  1. Launch CleanMyMac X.
  2. Click Maintenance tab.
  3. Tick “Run Maintenance Scripts”

Running this command helps to “polish up” the performance of the deep-level system services. What it does is rebuilds system logs and reorganizes select databases on your Mac. Try it and see how your Mac is doing.
In the same app, there are also controls for your “Hung Applications” and “Heavy Memory Consumers” — use them to disable your biggest memory hoggers.

11. Your user profile grew out of proportion

All your user files and applications may over time become a heavy burden for your macOS. This is tied to your user account. It simply contains too many caches, cross-links, user logs — more than your Mac can chew.

How to fix it: Give yourself a “profile refresh”

Though it sounds a bit radical, you can activate a new user profile. It is absolutely safe and is a bit like starting a new life. You will have to copy all the needed app files such as Preferences to the new user. As a result, your Mac may become much snappier.

To create a new user:

  • Click on the Apple logo
  • Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups
  • Click the Unlock icon
  • Now, click “+” to add another user

To transfer your important files from one account to another, you need to drop them into the Shared folder which is found on your hard drive. To find it, click on a Finder window, then navigate to Go > Computer > Macintosh HD > Users. Voila, you’ve found the Shared folder!

12. Visual overload

Animations and rich graphics are extremely resource-hungry. We are not suggesting you should switch your Mac back to 1984-style simplicity. But in case of a slow Mac, the less is sometimes more.

How to fix it: Cut down on animations

Open System Preferences > Dock

Disable the following items by unticking:

  • Magnification
  • Animate opening applications
  • Automatically hide and show the Dock

Click 'Minimize windows into application icon' and change Genie effect to Scale. The scale is a much simpler zoom and less taxing on memory.

13. SMC-settings are corrupted

SMC stands for System Management Controller and manages a whole range of low-level functions of your Mac: fans, lights, power, system volume, and other parameters. Quite often SMC preferences get broken and your Mac gets slow.

How to fix it: Reset SMC to factory settings

If your Mac’s battery is removable:

  1. Turn off your Mac.
  2. Take out the battery.
  3. Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds.
  4. Reinstall the battery.
  5. Press the Power button and start your Mac in a normal fashion.

For non-removable batteries:

  1. Shut down the Mac.
  2. Press Shift + Control + Option keys and the Power button simultaneously.
  3. Hold down these keys for 10 seconds.
  4. Let go of the keys.
  5. Press the Power button to start your Mac.

How to reset SMC on iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Mini

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Unplug a power cord.
  3. Wait for about 15 seconds.
  4. Plug the power cord back in.
  5. Wait a few seconds and turn on your Mac using the Power button.

14. You are out of free RAM

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This memory is like a fuel for all your apps. That is the reason you often get “Your system is out application memory” message. One solution is to physically upgrade your RAM — a good idea if you have no more than 4 GB of RAM. But that is a time-consuming operation that will cost you around a hundred bucks. Luckily, there is a shortcut.

How to fix it: Flush your RAM using Terminal

You can perform this operation if your system urgently needs a fresh memory. This is often the case with media converters and video editors that consume all the RAM they can get. A native macOS tool, Terminal has a special command to release your available RAM.

  1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
  2. Now copy-paste the following command into the Terminal window: sudo purge
  3. Enter your user password to confirm.
  4. Hopefully, you’ll immediately see the results.
Tip

A safer option is to free up RAM using CleanMyMac X’s Menu App. This service app shows you how heavily is your RAM loaded and helps you free it up with just one button click.

15. Slow keyboard response

An often-reported lag that could seriously alter your productivity. Sometimes, when you type, your keyboard would freeze for a fraction of a second. This lag usually affects the Notes app as well as Chrome. The issue is reportedly caused by outdated system caches that are responsible for keyboard performance.

How to fix it: Start your Mac in the Safe mode

  1. Shut down your computer
  2. Restart your Mac
  3. Hold down the Shift key
  4. Let go of the key when the login window appears
  5. You’re in the Safe mode — take a note of your keyboard’s response
  6. Restart your Mac in a normal way

Entering the Safe mode erases lots of unneeded caches and repairs some software paths inside your macOS. Your Mac should perform better if you’ve followed the steps correctly.

16. Your Mac wakes up slowly

If you don’t use your Mac for a while, it will eventually succumb into a standby mode to save some energy. Just as with humans, some Macs are more difficult to wake up than others — no matter what keys you are pressing your screen is still black.

How to fix it: Try a special Terminal hack

Normally, the standby mode activates after 3 hours of no operation. You can prolong this time by using a command in the Terminal. What it does is change the standby threshold to 24 hours so your Mac takes a quick nap rather falls into a deep sleep.

  1. Open the Terminal application.
  2. Paste in the following command: sudo pmset -a standbydelay 86400
  3. Enter your system password.

In order to reverse it, you will need to change the number in the above command to 10800. Bookmark this article so you don’t forget!

17. Broken or conflicting permissions

Files on your Mac have permissions that determine which applications and services are allowed to access these files. Over time, permission problems occur, causing your macOS to lag, freeze and even crash.

How to fix it: Repair disk permissions

macOS is able to address broken and conflicting permissions via the Disk Utility application (Applications/Utilities). Once in Disk Utility, you need to highlight your startup disk and click on the First Aid tab. Now click on the Run button, then press Continue and your Mac will scour your drive, finding and fixing permissions so that next time an application needs that file, your Mac can find it immediately.

Note: Users with El Capitan OS X will notice that this option is not available anymore. This is because Apple have added SIP (System Integrity Protection), which automatically repairs disk permissions. However, not all apps receive these automatic repairs.

CleanMyMac X is able to repair all disk permissions thanks to its Maintenance Module. With CleanMyMac X you also gain the ability to run other powerful scripts that will optimize your Mac in a number of other areas as well.

To fix broken and conflicting permissions with CleanMyMac X:

  • Download CleanMyMac X — a link to a free edition of the app
  • Click Maintenance tab > Choose Repair Disk Permissions

The utility will automatically take care of the rest. Fixing conflicting and broken permissions doesn’t get any easier than with CleanMyMac X.

18. Piles of large and old files

There are two places that usually become “data dumps” on anybody’s Mac. That’s Downloads and Trash folders. As an outcome, your drive space shrinks and performance drops.

How to fix it: Clean up Downloads and Trash folders

Right-click on Trash bin and choose Empty the Trash. Now, go to your Downloads and sort files by size. There you’ll probably encounter things you hardly remember downloading, like old movies or photo albums.

  • Search for .DMG files in Downloads

Why Is My Mac So Loud When I Play Games Lyrics

  • Move your media files to iCloud
  • Transfer data to an external drive
  • Remove duplicate files and folders

The good solution to remove duplicate content is an app called Gemini 2. It can tell copies from originals and even locate look-alike files (not exactly identical). Give it a spin — the download is free.

19. Too many open windows

If you didn’t know, the Finder is very memory-demanding. Unlike Windows, windows in Finder often overlap and go into the background. This is true for Preview, Mail, and many other apps. So you’re faced with dozens of open windows without even knowing where they are located.

How to fix it: Click “Merge All Windows”

This lesser-known trick has been hiding in plain sight and will soon become your best weapon against windows overload. “Merge All Windows” works for Finder as well as Preview. You can find it inside the Window menu in the upper bar.

  • Click Finder
  • Click Window
  • Click “Merge All Windows”

See what happened? All your scattered windows now joined together in one. From there you can close them one by one thus saving your precious memory resources.

20. Your photo library is too heavy

How many gigabytes of photos are there on your drive? 5 GB, 10 GB, have any idea? That’s exactly the point. We seldom bother to check how many photos we have collected over the years. In any case, there will be more than you expect. This results in a lagging computer because your hard drive space is quickly vanishing.

How to fix it: Move your pics to an external drive

Not only does this get you a few gigabytes of extra space, but it also motivates you to put your photo library in order. Better late than never. You may transfer your photo library to Google Drive or DropBox, or move it to separate storage. How to do it:

  1. Quit Photos
  2. Go the external drive in the Finder to choose a new storage place.
  3. In a new Finder window, locate your current Photos library. It is usually located in Users > [username] > Pictures.
  4. Drag and drop your library to its new destination.

Why Is My Mac So Loud When I Play Games Free

After your library is copied and you’ve checked that it opens from the new destination you may delete your current library to save disk space.

Final thoughts on how to fix Mac running slow

So we have run over the main methods to speed up a slow Mac. They all boil down to one simple idea: give your Mac some space to breathe. Eventually, any Mac is going to fill up with all kinds of garbage that's consuming resources, memory and disk space. You can speed up your Mac either manually or use an app like CleanMyMac X (which does 80% of things we’ve described in this article). More realistically, you will devise your own mix of automatic and manual solutions that will bring your Mac back to speed again.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my Mac running slow?

Your Mac may behave laggy due to resources-heavy apps. Another reason is the lack of free space on your hard drive. If you’re running an old macOS or outdated software version, it can slow down the performance of your Mac as well.

How to optimize storage on Mac?

To optimize your storage, go to the Apple menu and click About This Mac. Here, choose the Storage tab and click Manage. In the window that appears, you will see the recommendations on saving some space on your Mac.

How to speed up my browser?

The reason why your browser is slow and unresponsive may be trivial: too many tabs opened. Make sure you don’t have more than nine tabs opened simultaneously. You can also try removing browser extensions and deleting cache and cookies in order to make your browser run faster.

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