General Mac software discussions forum: MacBook Pro running slow

Did this problem start suddenly or just build up over time?

More RAM would certainly help but that machine was fairly sprightly to begin with and should not take forever to switch between programs.

A lot of converts (switchers) from the Windows world have developed the habit of clicking the Red X, at the top right of the application window, to make the program quit.
Although there is a Red button, top left of the application window, in OS X; it does NOT quite the application. The windows are closed but the program is still running. Those little black triangles under the icons on the dock indicate what programs are running.
Having a lot of programs running will soon chew up 512MB of RAM and leave your system frantically moving data on and off the HD to make room.
Take a look and see if this could be the problem.

If it is not, it may be time to consider an Archive and Install of the OS. Note a big deal and all your data will be preserved.

P

You are right, having those three programs open should not slow the machine down that much.

The Archive and Install option puts a replacement OS on the drive while keeping all your data, settings and preferences in one piece.
It archives all your stuff, renames the old system folder, creates a new unused system folder from the DVD, puts all your stuff back where it came from.

Once that's done, update the system to the current for your OS version and you are good to go with a virgin copy of the system installed.

P

If you are indeed running 10.4.ONE you are nine updates late. The current version is 10.4.10 If that was just a typo and it really meant 10 then an archive and install would be a possibility. Another possibility is some updates actually complete some or all of their installation and optimization when the computer is shutting down or starting up but that only happens after the update not every time.

A thing to check is just what may be running in the background, things like AV scans can suck up cycles with some AV programs being worse than others. Activity monitor might help you track this.

Have you tried shutting Airport off before shutting down? I have had some major problems with booting up if Active Directory and Airport are both on. The computer seems to try to check authentication against the AD while still in the booting process. If you just have your own system you are almost certain to not be running against Active Directory issues but if the computer in question is/was used in a networked (with Windows systems) AD my have been turned on.

Another thing to check is if the computer is connected to or trying to connect to some server somewhere. If it is, this could cause a slowdown while it is trying to make the connection.

If all those don't bring things back, you could always try a "Safe Boot". It will take a bit longer than normal (maybe a couple of minutes to boot but it is checking the hard drive for data problems while booting. It will also prevent network connections if that is a part of the problem you may notice a change there.

Another option is find someone that has Disk Warrior (in the version you need) and let it rebuild the directory. That has cleared some problems for me on weird acting systems.

If nothing else clears the problem, then Archive and Install followed by software update (probably a couple of times till you get the report that there is no new software available for your system) would be in order.

I've had my Macbook for about nine months. It was always running smooth. And so, I researched on google and found your post. I also realized what was wrong. I'm Comptia certified and I've gone to school for this mess. Anyway, I troubleshooted the problem, and it seems that OS X Tiger and Leopard I imagine needs at least 10 gigabytes or more free on the hard drive to run smoothly. Maybe it's virtual memory or something, but I deleted a lot of old movie files and what not, and gained around 60 extra gigs. It was all pretty much junk, so... go figure. Anyway, after freeing up around sixty gigabytes off of my 140 gigabyte hard drive (on my Macbook Pro) I never seemed to have the problem of slowness again. Instead of following all these people's suggestions, I would first try that. Try freeing up a bit of hard drive space and getting rid of files you pretty much don't need. This will give your computer more resources. Your Macbook Pro should run much smoother, too. Have a nice day!

Yes, it is true indeed. I was very lucky to find that much, and after nine months of playing on the thing and downloading everything under the sun - even those humorous one time viewed pictures friends send? - then I came up with that much. However, I think 5GB is pushing it. I think it's a good thing to at least have 25% of the your hard drive space free. It's good for resources, and it's also good for smooth operation of the particular system. Yes, 5-10GB would be about right on the free space. I was just being safe.

My mac Mini is packed with data and virtual machines, and is nearly always below 10GB. Despite when we're running a lot of apps the 1GB of RAM on this machine, the OS screams.

I have been searching for a while, Fontbook wasn't showing up anywhere as something to even consider. I tried your advice. TAH-DAHH! Perfection.

THANK YOU!

with Chinese fonts. Some of them are system fonts and removing them may cause problems. One has to look in the description and leave all system fonts intact.