For anyone looking for a reliable computer, Macs are a perfect option. Apple devices are regularly considered as one of the most reliable computers on the market. The question is, how long does that reliability last?
If you want your Mac to keep working well, Mac maintenance is essential. Follow the seven tips below to make computer maintenance a breeze.
-
Run Regular Malware Scans
Viruses and malware aren’t something you usually think of when you think about Macs. After all, Windows is the most common target for hackers. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have risks yourself.
The rising popularity of Macs has made these computers a more popular target. This means there are now many threats out there that can compromise your machine. If you have no protection on your device, you’ll never know if you’re infected.
If you want to stay safe, keep a malware program on your computer, and run regular scans. A scanning schedule will help keep malware off your machine. Your scans will find any problem files and quarantine them so you can delete anything that looks like trouble.
-
Back-Up Your Files
It’s tempting to keep all your files on your computer. It provides easy access to everything you need. The question is, what happens when a computer problem causes you to lose your files?
You can solve this issue by scheduling backups of your critical files. These files are your documents, pictures, music, and anything else you don’t want to lose.
Your first option is a cloud hosting platform. These services offer space online to store your files. You download a program to your computer that creates a folder for the files you want to back up online.
Your second option is a backup service. These programs will copy your files at a specified time to an online service. If you end up losing data, you can log into your backup service to download any missing files.
-
Manage Your Startup Programs
If you’ve had your Mac for a while, you likely have a lot of software installed. If your programs don’t open until you want them to, it’s not much of an issue. If they start when you boot your computer, that’s another matter.
When you have several programs running at startup, you’re going to slow down your start time. If you need to jump on your computer quickly to get something done, this can be a hassle.
Schedule time to look through your startup programs and find software that doesn’t need to load at startup. Keeping only essential programs in this list will keep your startup time to a minimum.
-
Keep Your System Updated
No software on the market is perfect. Even the best developers make mistakes and release software with bugs. These bugs can cause anything from performance problems to security issues.
Keeping your software updated will help you in these situations. New security threats are found all the time, and your software might not be able to stop them if you don’t have the most up to date version of the software.
If that isn’t enough, think about new features. If you want to take advantage of the latest and greatest, you need to have app updates turned on. Developers won’t always tell you when they release updates.
The good news is that keeping things updated is simple. Head to the app store to turn on automatic updates. Anytime an update is available, the app store will update OS X and your software the moment updates are available.
-
Remove Old Files and Apps
Do you want to spend your time hunting for something to remove when you want to download a new file or program? If not, it pays to do some cleaning before you’re in this situation.
Open up your software list and sort it by last used. Look at the programs that you aren’t using and decide if they deserve a spot on that list. Remove anything you don’t see yourself using in the future.
The same is true for your regular documents. If you use your Mac for file storage, you’ll end up using a lot of space. Remove things you don’t want, and move the rest to online storage.
Your internet browsing can also eat up your disc space. Make sure to regularly clean your cache so any internet files your browser downloads won’t take up space in the future.
-
Restart Your Computer and Applications
Many people leave their computers on all the time. It’s convenient when you don’t need to wait for it to start up every time you want to do something. Unfortunately, this can cause problems.
Some applications will continue using memory for as long as they are open. As time goes on, your apps will continue consuming more and more memory. If they use too much, your computer will start slowing down.
Closing applications and rebooting your system will solve this problem. When you do this, applications are removed from memory, and that space is cleared up for other software to use.
-
Monitor Your Hardware
While Macs are good quality, they don’t last forever. Even with good Macbook maintenance, you never know when you’ll suffer from a hardware failure. However, there are tools available for you to check on things.
Mac computers have a utility called SMART. This software monitors your device to look for problems. Look at the reports on occasion to see if you have any hardware problems.
Finding and solving these issues ahead of time can save you time and money. You can solve these problems before they turn into something worse.
Don’t Ignore These Critical Mac Maintenance Tips
While you may be able to get away with ignoring the health of your Mac for a while, the time will come where it stops functioning like normal. Use the Mac maintenance tips above to extend the life of your device and keep it running smoothly. A little work now will save you a headache in the future.
If you’re looking for more tips for effectively using your Mac, head back to our blog. Our latest posts will help you keep your days productive.
