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Not unlike very old automobiles, computers tend to slow down substantially as compared to their performance when new. Just as with cars, computer tune-ups help improve performance. Since PC’s dominated the computer market for so long before Apple came along with a reasonably priced and competitive product, the majority of instructions out there are for PC’s. Here are three how-to’s to keep a Mac running smoothly.

• Remove the clutter – All those programs, pictures, downloaded materials, documents, and all the rest that you’ve acquired and left on your desktop wreak havoc. They require memory to be displayed in a ‘continually available’ fashion. Create a folder for desktop material and stash that in your document folder. Put everything into that. Remember that the larger files create more system drain. Remove pictures before you worry too much about a text document.

• Run a defragmentation program – Mac’s get defragmented too, although they are reputed to be better about repairing themselves. But a program like Tech Tools Pro 5 provides the capability to run a defrag at will. If your computer is more than two years old, this will provide a noticeable performance improvement. (Like adding nitrous to a car!)

• Run the disc repair utility – Go to the Applications folder, find Utilities at the bottom, and select Disc Utility. Select your hard drive, and then run the ‘Repair Disc Permissions’ selection. Over time, program codes become less than perfect, losing bits of data in the constant erasing and overwriting process. This function clears away these problems, restoring like new performance.

Don’t hesitate. These are easy to implement fixes that will add horsepower to your computer today!