FEATURE Speed up your Mac
Try these simple changes
for easy speed-up wins –
they can really help!24 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformathere are a number of fairly
simple tweaks you can make
to optimise the performance
of your Mac without making
too many compromises to the way
you work. These include things like
turning off automatic startup at login
for apps and processes you rarely
use, as well as making sure all your
apps and browser extensions are up
to date, and keeping open browser
tabs to a minimum.(^1)
Check login items
Go to > System Prefs >
Users & Groups, then
click on your username
followed by the Login
Items tab. Select any item
you don’t need and click
the ‘–‘ (minus) button.
Getting around your Mac faster
isn’t just about relieving it of an
excessive number of tasks. There
are great gains to be made by limiting
how much burden you place on your
own shoulders too.
Here we’ll show you methods to
achieve this, including shutting out
distractions and moving around your
Mac’s storage faster than digging
down through folders every time you
need something. All of these methods
are built in to macOS, so they’re free.
1
Turn off notifications
Unless you really need them, turn off
notifications that you don’t need popping
up on the Desktop. They’re a distraction.
Go to > System Prefs > Notifications and
go through each app, choosing None as
the alert style for those you don’t want.
2
Shortcuts in the Dock
Folders you use frequently can be
dragged into the Dock’s rightmost group
for easy access. ≈-click it there to tailor
its appearance. You can view it as a Stack
to see a preview of the most recent file
added, or show files in a fan, list or grid.
Icon previews
macOS shows the contents of some
files in their icon. Redrawing those
previews each time you open and scroll
through a folder takes up resources.
To turn off the previews, switch to
Finder and go to View > Show View
Options. Untick ‘Show icon preview’
and click ‘Use as Defaults’ to apply
this change to all folders that are set
to use the same view as this one.
(^2)
Change Finder’s
default location
If opening a new Finder
window displays the
Recents view, head to
Finder > Prefs > General
and set the relevant item
to a folder with little in it.
The improvement will
be small, but may be
noticeable – not least if
your Mac has a hard disk
rather than an SSD.
Easy performance tweak s
Speed up the
way you work
T