How to Optimize your Mac’s Performance

1. Clean out Startup Items

Some applications automatically (or when asked) set themselves as a "startup item", which causes them to open at every restart or login. You can find out what is in your startup items list by navigating to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. You may be surprised at how many there are.

To remove them, simply select the item by clicking on its name and then hit the "minus" button at the bottom of the list. However, be sure that you know what you're removing; otherwise you may kill some critical function for the next time you restart.

2. Turn off Universal Access, Bluetooth, Speech Recognition, and Internet Sharing if you don't use them

While System Preferences is open, take a look at a few other things. Apple has generously included a number of very useful features as preferences. Some, however, may not be useful to you, such as Universal Access (which offers help for visually and hearing impaired users) or Bluetooth (which allows certain devices to be used wirelessly). If you don't use these features, verify that they are turned off. This will save you some valuable RAM and processor resources.

3. Clean Out 'Other' System Preferences

Don't close System Preferences yet! Take a peek in the bottom section of your System Preferences window, labeled "Other". How many items are down there? Do you know what they do? Do you use what they do?

If there is a Preference Pane that you don't use or that you use only occasionally, disable it (either turn it "off" within the Preference Pane itself or remove it from the folder "~/Library/PreferencePanes").

4. Check out what 'build' your software is

If you're running an Intel Mac, some of your software may be running under the "Rosetta" translator, which allows applications built for a PowerPC processor to run on an Intel chip. Rosetta is surprisingly efficient, but don't use it if you don't have to! There may be a patch for your favorite application that will upgrade it to a "universal build". By making sure you're running the latest version you can be confident you're not using Rosetta in vain (a utility like the App Update widget will help with this).

5. Clean out unnecessary code

You're either running a PowerPC or Intel processor. You don't have to understand what this means, but you should know that, with both being options, most recent software comes programmed for both. But you don't need optimization for both - you only need optimization for your computer. Fortunately, there are utilities like XSlimmer (and Monolingual - more on this in a minute) that will strip out unnecessary code in your software. This not only helps the applications run faster; it also saves hard drive space (sometimes a lot of it).

Editor's note: If you're using a PowerPC Mac and anticipate migrating to Intel, you might want to defer "slimming" your programs until you've made the switch. Otherwise all the programs you've slimmed for PowerPC will be running under Rosetta on your Intel Mac - unless you take the time to do a fresh installation.

We've also hear horror stories of XSlimmer eviscerating Rosetta, so if you use it on an Intel Mac, be sure you don't strip the System frameworks. dk

6. Get rid of languages and translations you won't use

Apple is very considerate in providing language localizations for many, many languages. But the chances are you aren't using the Catalan, Farsi, or Klingon language localizations on your Mac. And even if you are, you can strip out the other ones you aren't using and gain more efficiency and drive space using a utility like Monolingual.

By the way, the latest version of Monolingual will also strip out unnecessary architecture from your system - but not your applications - so it also performs a function similar to XSlimmer, yet different.

7. Cool off

The new MacBooks got a bad rap at first for running very hot; the truth is, every Mac will run more efficiently with a cooler processor. Even though they've largely fixed the cooling issue in the MacBooks, I use a utility called Fan Control on mine, which allows me to change the threshold for when my MacBook's fan turns on and off. This allows me to keep my 'Book running cooler, which maximizes performance (though it does shorten battery life a little bit).

8. Evaluate your Widgets

If you're using Mac OS X 10.4.x "Tiger", you have probably played around with the Dashboard. There are hundreds of useful widgets available, most for free - but there are many that you won't use, even if they are very helpful to others. This includes some that came with Tiger.

It takes RAM and processor power to keep these widgets running, even when Dashboard is hidden - so a judicious evaluation of what widgets you do use can boost computing efficiency nicely. Do you really need that Ski Conditions widget or the Clock widget running? If not, disable them to conserve RAM and processor use.

9. Keep an eye on Activity Monitor

There may be other things hogging your processor's attention or sucking up RAM. How will you know about them? By using Apple's Activity Monitor, which comes with OS X. Activity Monitor will tell you about CPU usage, RAM requirements, virtual memory usage, and whether a given application is a PowerPC or Intel (Universal) build. Check it occasionally to see if there are any red flags - or keep it running for a few days (with one of the useful Dock icons or floating windows enabled) to keep an eye on when things are spiking.

10. Clean off your hard drive

It doesn't matter how large your hard drive is - eventually it will begin to fill up. Whether it is a huge iPhoto library, some videos you're editing, or simply accumulation of lots of "stuff", a full hard drive can cause problems. (One colleague couldn't figure out why her drive was so full - until she realized that she hadn't emptied her Trash in almost four years!)

You may not realize that Mac OS X (and the Classic Mac OS, too) uses the free space on your hard drive as "virtual memory", and it depends heavily on that virtual memory to run efficiently. If you're starting to feel sluggish, it may be because your drive is too full. There are lots of ways to clean it off - maybe a different article will cover that - but sometimes a little more free space is all you need to be a peak performance again.

11. Run OnyX

Whenever things get slow on my Mac, one of the "go to" solutions is to run a utility like OnyX. (There are several, many of them free; I've found Cocktail and TinkerTool to be other good and popular options.)

These utilities offer a variety of "jobs" and "repairs" to the system, and while some are skeptical about how much this is necessary, my experience has been that they do bring a good level of optimization back to my Macs. I tend to run the whole battery of tools - both the maintenance and the cleaning options in OnyX - at the same time, but you may prefer to set them to run as scheduled routines in a certain order.

How to Improve Typing on the iPad

1. Keep Keyboard Clicks Enabled – Though the sound effects can be incredibly annoying, they’re also one of the only forms of feedback you can get from typing on a touch screen. Keeping this enabled helps to type more accurately, that’s probably why Apple enables it by default. If you disabled these, here’s how to turn it back on in Settings:
   • Tap on “General” and tap “Sounds”
   • Switch “Keyboard Clicks” to ON
2. Trust in Auto-Correct – Autocorrect can be a source of frustration, but it’s actually very smart, and learning to trust it a bit can really speed up typing on the iPad. While you’re typing and you see a disaster of letters that isn’t even close to what you intended to write, just keep typing, chances are good that it’ll autocorrect to the proper word. Make sure autocorrect is enabled:
   • Open Settings and tap on “General” then tap “Keyboard”
   • Swipe “Auto-Correction” to ON
3. Use Dictation – This is a big one, though it’s limited to iPad 3 and iPhone 4S users. Dictation works very well. The downside to Dictation is that you’ll need internet access to be able to use it, because each phrase is analyzed by some service somewhere off in Apple’s cloud. Strangely, some iPads came with Dictation disabled, if that’s the case for you here is how to turn it on:
   • Tap on “Settings” and “General”
   • Tap “Keyboard” and make sure “Dictation” is switched to ON
4. Use the Split Keyboard – Splitting the keyboard is by far the most useful typing tip for when holding the iPad in your hands. It’s also very forgiving, because there are 6 hidden keys that let you type the letters directly across from each other if you accidentally tap in that direction. We have recommended this tip on several occasions for good reason, it’s that useful.
   • With the keyboard visible, tap and hold the keyboard icon in the lower right corner, raise it up to split the keyboard and move it to a comfortable position
5. Use a Bluetooth Keyboard – If you’re planning on typing anything of length on an iPad, do yourself a favor and just connect an external Bluetooth keyboard to the iPad. It’s very easy to do, turn on Bluetooth and find the keyboard:
   • Open Settings and tap “General” then “Bluetooth”
   • Select the keyboard to pair
6. Use a Mac Keyboard – Don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard to spare? No problem, you can use a Mac keyboard to type on the iPad itself with the help of an app called Type2Phone. Type2Phone costs $4.99 on the Mac App Store, which is about $45 less than the cost of a new Bluetooth keyboard, not a bad deal when you consider that. The other fantastic feature of Type2Phone? You can copy and paste from a Mac directly to the iPad.

Android OS Tips & shortcuts

Use the keyboard

You can enter text using the onscreen keyboard. Some apps open it automatically. In others, you open it by touching where you want to type.

As you type, the keyboard displays suggestions above the top row of keys. To accept a suggestion, touch it.

Basic editing

• Move the insertion point: Touch where you want to type.The cursor blinks in the new position, and a green tab appears below it. Drag the tab to move the cursor.
• Select text: Touch & hold or double-tap within the text.The nearest word highlights, with a tab at each end of the selection. Drag the tabs to change the selection.
  The tab disappears after a few moments, to get out of your way. To make it reappear, touch the text again.
• Delete text: Touch  to delete selected text or the characters before the cursor.
• Cut, copy, paste: Select the text you want to manipulate. Then touch the Paste , Cut , or Copy  button:

To make the keyboard go away, touch Done.

Tips & shortcuts

The Input options menu appears. Choose the option you want to adjust.

• Type capital letters: Touch the Shift keyonce to switch to capital letters for one letter.Or touch & hold the Shift keywhile you type. When you release the key, the lowercase letters reappear.
• Turn caps lock on: Double-tap or touch & hold the Shift key, so it changes to. Touch the Shift keyagain to return to lowercase.
• Show numbers or symbols: Touch the ?123 key. To see more choices, touch the = \ < key.
• Quickly access common punctuation and symbols: Touch & hold the key to the right of the space bar (period key).
• Type special characters: Touch & hold the Shift keywhile you touch a key with a small gray character in its corner to enter the gray character.Touch & hold any key to see alternative letters, symbols, or numbers, which you can then touch to type.
• Change input language or keyboard: Touch & hold the key to the left of the space bar (with ... in the lower-right corner), and then release it.

Related settings

To change your phone's keyboard and input methods, touch the Settings icon  > Personal > Language & input.