What is the cheapest way to speed up my mac? It seems to run very slow when more than one app is running?

Question

I have an E-mac 1.25

GHz Power Pc G4

with a 60gb hard drive

running on mac os

10.3.9 with 256mb ddr sdram.

Answer 1

To speed up your computer and free up space and memory for free:

Go to the Start Menu> Run

Type in "appwiz.cpl"

Uninstall whatever you don't need.

Next, go to Start> Run and type in "msconfig".

Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck everything you don't want to startup. If you want, you can uncheck everything, and your anti-virus will still restart itself when you log on.

Now go to My Computer> Hard Drive> Documents and Settings> [USER NAME]> Local Settings> and delete everything inside the Temp Folder. (This is a hidden folder so you will need to have "show hidden files and folders" checked in Folder Options) All the files in this folder are just temporary files that your Internet stored for certain websites.

Next, you should install CCleaner; it will get rid of alot of temporary files on your computer. It also has a registry repair system, which is easily the best free one available on the Internet:

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Another option is to try defragmenting your computer.

Go to the Start Menu and go to All Programs

Go to Accessories and System Tools.

Choose Disk Defragmenter and when it loads click defragment.

Next, go to Device Manger (Start> RightClick My Computer> Properties> Hardware Tab> Device Manager) and expand all listings. Now rightclick and update all drivers.

Another thing I would say is to compress your files if you already haven't.

Open My Computer and right click on your hard drive

Check the Compress Drive button and let it do its thing.

Finally, make sure your Hard Drive doesn't have any bad sectors. Go to My Computer> Right Click Hard Drive> Properties> Tools Tab> Check Now> Check both boxes and Start. It will ask you to reboot, so reboot. This will clear out any bad sectors on your Hard Drive.

These are short-term solutions however. The easiest way is to just upgrade the RAM on your system, but at least the ways above are free.

Good Luck =]

Answer 2

Give it more memory.

Answer 3

256MB is not going to cut it for memory anymore.

Add memory, I would recommend up to at least 1GB worth. Memory is relatively cheap these days, that's the first thing you should do.