My DS friends: tips to tidy up MacBook Pro

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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Hey!

I only use my MacBook Pro for music production, DJing and basic web surfing (nothing grotty!). It still runs really well but have noticed that iTunes and the Internet have been running slower than normal.

Any tips to tidy things up?
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  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    define "running slower than normal"
  • Chairman___MeowChairman___Meow Posts: 414
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Hey!

    I only use my MacBook Pro for music production, DJing and basic web surfing (nothing grotty!). It still runs really well but have noticed that iTunes and the Internet have been running slower than normal.

    Any tips to tidy things up?

    Some basic housekeeping tasks you can do are:

    1) Go to Disk Uitility and Repair Disk Permissions/Repair Disk

    2) Get 'Clean My Mac' and a system scan will remove temporary, old preference and unwanted files.

    3) Zap the PRAM. (Have a Google)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    When I open up iTunes, the images take longer to load. I don't think it's the Internet speed because everytime I run a speed test (speedtest.net), I get around 30 to 40meg.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    When I open up iTunes, the images take longer to load. I don't think it's the Internet speed because everytime I run a speed test (speedtest.net), I get around 30 to 40meg.

    image from what?
    images from your music library or images on the itunes store?

    the former are stored locally so internet connection is irrelevant.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    chenks wrote: »
    image from what?
    images from your music library or images on the itunes store?

    the former are stored locally so internet connection is irrelevant.

    iTunes store.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    iTunes store.

    just the itunes store being slow then.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    chenks wrote: »
    just the itunes store being slow then.

    Has the store been slow for you then and for weeks?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    Some basic housekeeping tasks you can do are:

    1) Go to Disk Uitility and Repair Disk Permissions/Repair Disk

    2) Get 'Clean My Mac' and a system scan will remove temporary, old preference and unwanted files.

    3) Zap the PRAM. (Have a Google)

    Thanks, will give 1) a go now.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Has the store been slow for you then and for weeks?

    rarely use it.
    what else is slow for you ?
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Thanks, will give 1) a go now.

    a disk repair permissions is unlikely to make any difference to slow image loading in the itunes store.
  • Chairman___MeowChairman___Meow Posts: 414
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    chenks wrote: »
    a disk repair permissions is unlikely to make any difference to slow image loading in the itunes store.

    Least I'm being a lot more helpful than you are :cool:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    Least I'm being a lot more helpful than you are :cool:

    Quite and to be honest, it actually has helped a little bit so thank you.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Least I'm being a lot more helpful than you are :cool:

    i'm trying to get more specific details of the problem.
    "running slower than normal" is too vague to start a diagnosis.

    at the moment all we know is that "images in the itunes store" are slow to load. if that's the only problem then clearly the issue is with the itunes store.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Quite and to be honest, it actually has helped a little bit so thank you.

    likely to be placebo affect.
    a repair permissions won't make images load faster in the itunes store.
  • edExedEx Posts: 13,460
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    Sounds like your caches need cleaning. Google "OSX clean caches" and you'll get plenty of links on what to do.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    chenks wrote: »
    likely to be placebo affect.
    a repair permissions won't make images load faster in the itunes store.

    No, it's not anything like a placebo effect and a rather patronising comment to make to be honest, because it has made a difference. Slow iTunes store images may not have been the only symptom, but because I don't use the Mac for too much else other than two music programmes, it's the only symptom I had and the same symptom has been prevalent for weeks so when I see the images now loading several seconds quicker, I'd say it's NOT a placebo affect.
  • edExedEx Posts: 13,460
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    ^^ Repairing permissions does solve a lot of issues you might encounter on OSX. Definitely worth a try as a first step, although I still reckon in this case it's the Internet caches causing the slowdown.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    edEx wrote: »
    ^^ Repairing permissions does solve a lot of issues you might encounter on OSX. Definitely worth a try as a first step, although I still reckon in this case it's the Internet caches causing the slowdown.

    Thanks for the tip. I've only been a Mac user for a year or so after building my own desktops - I still feel the need to check with other users before doing the things I did with ease when using PCs!
  • s2ks2k Posts: 7,410
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    Presuming you have already performed the disk tests suggested earlier and it is still persisting to the point where it has become troublesome...there is always the option of backing up your docs/music/etc and perform a fresh install of OS X. Some will argue that it is overkill but it eliminates a number of software faults from the equation. Perform all the updates but keep any extra programs to a minimum. If it still runs slowly after that it is more likely that your computer is simply ageing as software has advanced. iTunes isn't the most efficient program in the world and music creation software tends to gobble up resources so it could be that you might benefit from a RAM upgrade or an SSD.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    s2k wrote: »
    Presuming you have already performed the disk tests suggested earlier and it is still persisting to the point where it has become troublesome...there is always the option of backing up your docs/music/etc and perform a fresh install of OS X. Some will argue that it is overkill but it eliminates a number of software faults from the equation. Perform all the updates but keep any extra programs to a minimum. If it still runs slowly after that it is more likely that your computer is simply ageing as software has advanced. iTunes isn't the most efficient program in the world and music creation software tends to gobble up resources so it could be that you might benefit from a RAM upgrade or an SSD.

    Yeah, I back up my music regularly in case I need to go down this route. So far, I've not felt the need.
  • TheBigMTheBigM Posts: 13,125
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Thanks for the tip. I've only been a Mac user for a year or so after building my own desktops - I still feel the need to check with other users before doing the things I did with ease when using PCs!

    Would be great to get some insight from you on how you feel about Macs after a year, especially if you were a proficient windows user.

    Can PM me if you don't want to write in thread.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    TheBigM wrote: »
    Would be great to get some insight from you on how you feel about Macs after a year, especially if you were a proficient windows user.

    Can PM me if you don't want to write in thread.

    Okay, a quick insight;

    Well, for DJing, music and video production, Macs seem much more stable and worthy of the extra money spent on them. Even today when the gap between Mac & PC seems to be shrinking.

    I bought a Sony Vaio i7 core laptop w/8gb memory for around £750 and this took an age to configure to work properly for a Traktor Pro set-up using a Traktor Kontrol S4.....but even then, anything more than 2-channels being used created a rather buggy, crash-happy set-up.

    I now have a MacBook Pro i7 core laptop w/8gb memory (£1,200) and the difference with running the same set-up is astounding, it really is! I can now confidently run 4-channels at once with zero fear of the damn thing crashing....and this was pretty much an "out the box" set-up! I've not needed to use any of the 8 sample banks yet, but it'd be interesting to see how stable it would be if I was to try running 4-channels, plus 8 sample banks (which, at the risk of sounding patronising, is basically saying 'can it handle upto 12 songs at once')!

    But to be fair, if a person won't be doing a lot of multimedia production, I think getting a Mac is probably overkill and would probably be more about style and the need to appear trendy/cool and IMO, a waste of money. We still have the Sony Vaio and with W7, MS Office, Project and Visio installed, it really is a great work laptop!
  • MartinPickeringMartinPickering Posts: 3,711
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    Gilbertoo wrote: »
    Any tips to tidy things up?

    1. Disable any "antivirus" software. You don't need it and it could cause the effect you described. That includes other stuff such as "Little Snitch" that run in the background.

    2. Make sure you have at least 25% free space on your Hard Drive. Any less than this may force the OS to create non-contiguous files, which can slow things down.

    3. Clear any files from your "Desktop". Put them where they belong.

    4. Do NOT install any form of "clean my Mac" software. I've seen this have dire consequences for speed - especially the insidious "MacKeeper", that pops up adverts everywhere.
  • bspacebspace Posts: 14,303
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    onyx
    OnyX is a multifunction utility for Mac OS X which allows you to verify the startup disk and the structure of its System files, to run misc. tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, QuickTime, Safari, Mail, iTunes, login window, Spotlight, and many of Apple’s applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, and more.

    http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadonyx.php
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    1. Disable any "antivirus" software. You don't need it and it could cause the effect you described. That includes other stuff such as "Little Snitch" that run in the background.

    2. Make sure you have at least 25% free space on your Hard Drive. Any less than this may force the OS to create non-contiguous files, which can slow things down.

    3. Clear any files from your "Desktop". Put them where they belong.

    4. Do NOT install any form of "clean my Mac" software. I've seen this have dire consequences for speed - especially the insidious "MacKeeper", that pops up adverts everywhere.

    Thanks for the tips;

    1.) I don't have AV installed on my Mac
    2.) There's at least 25% HD available
    3.) Yeah, already do this
    4.) Agreed - no "cleaning" software currently installed
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