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All iMac models come with a 1Gb Ethernet port, and now you can configure the 27‑inch iMac with 10Gb Ethernet for up to 10 times the throughput of the previous generation. Ultrafast Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are standard on every iMac, and the 27‑inch model features Bluetooth 5.0, so you’re instantly connected to your favorite content. Cool Material’s “Creepiest But Also Pretty Cool App of the Year” winner, Wakie is essentially a wakeup call service. You select a time to receive a call, go to bed, and let the app do its. Mac apps are generally available in one of two places: the Mac App Store or the developer’s website. Since Apple takes a 30% cut on any apps sold in the App Store a lot of developers are reluctant to use it, which makes things a little more complicated than on iOS. See full list on business.tutsplus.com.
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First things first: Now that we’ve Apple’s macOS 10.14 (Mojave). If your iMac is running an older macOS version, we recommend you upgrade. Here are several important things to prepare your Mac for macOS Mojave.
Beach balls belong at the beach — which is probably why Mac’s loading cursor has been “lovingly” nicknamed the spinning beach ball of death. Whether you call it the beach ball or the pinwheel, it certainly doesn’t make you feel like you’re at the beach.
So are you seeing that cursor more often with your iMac? And you wondered why your Mac is running slower?
The longer you’ve had your computer, the more likely it is that your iMac is going to suffer performance issues — but even newer models can seem to slow down at times. So what gives?
There’s actually a number of different reasons out there — but don’t let them discourage you.
By pinpointing the likely culprits, you can find the simplest ways to solve the issue and get your Mac machine back to its usual pace — perhaps then you can spend some time at the actual beach ?
In this guide, we are going to share with you those common reasons why an iMac may freeze up or run slower, and more importantly, what you can do to speed it up.
Why is My iMac so Slow?
To add to the frustration of seeing that spinning beachball, there are a number of different reasons why your Mac could be sluggish in performance, ranging from hardware issues to even simple user errors. Here are a few of the top offenders:
- Not enough disk space: with too many files crammed onto your hard drive, your iMac doesn’t have much room to breathe even if you’re holding the latest iMac with Retina 5K display and 2TB in storage.
- Too many programs open: sometimes, a slow Mac simply comes down to bad habits. If you have too many programs open, your computer won’t be able to multitask well enough to function without a reduction in speed. (Be honest, how many programs do you have running right now?)
- Outdated software: when Apple releases a new software update, the upgrade often offers an improvement in speed. At the same time though, some updates have been known to cause speed issues, instead of fixing them, like many users are experiencing with macOS High Sierra and now Mojave.
- Outdated hardware: old hardware can’t always keep up with the demands of new technology, including new operating systems, new applications and even simply new high-resolution graphics.
- Adware or malware: while a Mac may not be subject to viruses to the extent of a PC, there are a few bugs that can affect your computer’s performance. Never install applications like MacDefender that promise to keep viruses at bay — they are actually bugs themselves. If you downloaded MacDefender, uninstall it immediately.
- Bad computer habits: while habits are usually hard to break, this one is actually one of the simplest issues to fix. Bad habits like having too many start-up programs, using the wrong web browser, and leaving files and programs directly on the desktop can all slow down your computer.
Any of those issues sound familiar to you? Good — if you can pinpoint the cause, it’s a bit easier to discover how to fix it.
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Still not sure? Don’t worry, there are some more hints below as to what solutions may work best for you.
1. Improve Overall Performance with Better Computer Habits
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The first thing any Mac users should do when that spinning beach ball starts popping up too often is take a look at how the computer is being used. Ask yourself these questions:
- How much hard drive space do I have left? Click on the Apple logo, then About This Mac and then navigate to the Storage tab to see how much free space you have on your iMac.
- How many apps are you running currently? Always close out apps that you aren’t using.
- What apps are causing the most issues? Open the Activity Monitor, then click the CPU column to arrange your applications by how much work your computer has to do to use them.
Sound familiar? Thankfully, there are a few easy fixes that improve your Mac’s overall performance.
First, clean up your hard drive.
Use an external drive to save files you don’t access very often, like older family photos or videos. Uninstall any applications that you don’t use any more. Even clearing out your bookmarks will help. If you prefer the easy way, you can use CleanMyMac, an app that automatically searches for system junk and unnecessary files and removes them with one click.
Second, look at the apps you are using.
Programs that essentially do the same thing can be drastically different in terms of speed. Firefox tends to be much slower than Safari. In general, third-party apps tend to run slower than native Apple programs. For example, using Microsoft Word instead of Pages may make your iMac run slower.
Then, clean out your desktop and dock.
This can also improve your computer’s performance. Instead of storing files and apps directly on the desktop, leave them on the hard drive and use a shortcut icon for the desktop.
Some slow issues can also be improved by resetting the non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), helping to free up some of the active memory your Mac machine uses. Apple has a detailed guide here. Clearing out the system management controller can help too — the process is as simple as turning the iMac off and also unplugging from the outlet.
2. Optimize iMac Startup Speed
Macs run fine most of the time, but acting more Tortoise than Hare when powering up? There are a number of issues that can cause your computer to start up slow even freeze to death. For example, when your computer is trying to start several programs at once, performance suffers. There are a few ways to fight off that start-up sluggishness.
The easiest way to manage Mac startup items is by using MacBooster (via the “Startup Optimization” feature, there you just select the items you don’t want to start up and click “Disable”, that’s it). By the way, the software does a number of things to keep your iMac in good shape.
If you’re a power user, it’s also relatively easy to get that done manually. First, reduce the number of programs that start automatically. These settings are available in System Preferences > Users & Groups. Don’t see some of the start-up programs there? Click on the app on the dock, then under options uncheck “Open at Login”. When shutting the computer down, make sure to also uncheck the box that says “Reopen windows when logging back in” or you’ll still have several programs running at startup.
Second, make sure that your computer isn’t working harder at the start by disconnecting any accessories. Leaving an external hard drive, SD card or even a printer plugged in at startup will slow down the process. Finally, make sure you are still using good computer habits. https://mbje.over-blog.com/2021/02/apple-magic-keyboard-compatibility.html. Keep your hard drive clean, and give your Mac a check up occasionally by looking at the system report.
3. Fix iMac Frozen and Crash Issues
Sometimes the issue isn’t that the machine itself is slow, but that it’s not running at all with frequent freezes and crashes. First, determine if the issue happens only when you are using a certain app or only when you have a certain accessory (like a hard drive or printer) plugged in, or if it happens universally across several different tasks.
If the issue seems to be an app, check the manufacturer for updates and install them, since many will include bug fixes that prevent crashes. If you are still having trouble, contact the application developer with specific details to try to resolve the issue.
But, if the crashes aren’t happening when you are using a certain program, it’s likely an iMac issue. First, make sure you have enough space on your hard drive, once again you can use CleanMyMac to free up more disk space. If your iMac has stored a lot of duplicate files like copies of photos and backups, remove or transfer them by using this smart duplicates finder called Gemini.
Also, close any applications you aren’t using. If the issue persists, use Disk Utility to check for any errors from your start-up disk. You can also use Apple Diagnostics to help identify persistent errors.
4. Speed up Slow Internet Connection on iMac
Apps running fine, but internet crawling? First, run a speed test to see if it’s your network provider or the computer that’s causing the issues with a tool like Wi-Fi Explorer. Once you’re satisfied you are getting the speed you are paying for, make sure the router isn’t the issue — try moving it closer to your computer for a better connection. Use Wi-Fi Explorer again to see if your iMac picked up on any of the issues.
Next, check if you’ve been caught up by some Adware, a new type of malware that does not do much harm but displays flash ads when you surf the Internet. That could slow down your browsing experience, even crash your web browser. How to fix it? You can try a lightweight security app like Norton Security for Mac to scan and remove any threats it would find.
A slow internet connection can also be caused, again, by bad computer habits. What web browser do you use? Safari is optimized to run on Mac, and you will likely have more issues with Firefox, Chrome and other browsers. If you already use Safari, do some spring cleaning by emptying the cache (Safari > Empty Cache) and refreshing the history (History > Clear History). Or, you can go into the Safari menu and choose reset to restore the factory defaults.
One more way to speed up your internet connection is to reduce the number of programs that are connected to the internet. Time Machine, for example, may be set up to automatically backup your computer via Wi-Fi and can slow your connection. Apps like Mail and anything connected with iCloud will also use up your connection, so close out all the un-essentials when you need more internet speed.
5. Fix It When Your iMac is Slow after macOS Update
A macOS update should improve system crashes and speed — but that’s not always the case. Many users have reported that their computer has slowed down after updating to latest macOS (i.e. 10.14 Mojave). Initially, the system may run a bit slow as the new system needs time to update library data in certain built-in apps and the performance issues should resolve on its own after 24-48 hours.
The new user interface in macOS Mojave may also be partially to blame — while that flushing effect you see when closing apps is cool, it’s not so great for performance. You can reduce the motion and transparency effects via System Preferences > Accessibility > Display, and check the “Reduce Motion” and “Reduce Transparency” options.
6. Boost Your Old iMac with Hardware Upgrades
Technology ages in dog years — or even double dog years. If your iMac is slow and none of the above suggestions fixed the issue, you may need to upgrade your computer’s physical components, or at least compare the cost of doing so with the price of a new machine.
Two of the biggest hardware updates that will enhance your speed are upgrading the RAM and switching to an SSD from an old HDD or Fusion Drive. The computer’s RAM is where all the active applications are stored — if your RAM isn’t big enough, you won’t be able to multitask without a significant slowdown. RAM standards have increased over the years to better meet the demands of new software. Most iMacs have removable memory slots so that upgrading RAM is a simple DIY job on these models.
Solid State Drives or SSDs are about five times faster than the hard drives inside even a three-year-old iMac. Because there are no moving parts, they’re more efficient for speed and performance and run between $100 and $500. You can replace your hard drive, or run a dual hard drive and keep the original for more file storage.
Here’s a video you may find useful:
Final Words
iMacs are well-built machines — time goes on, it’s not too surprising that your Mac gets older and tends to run a bit slower. Sometimes, that’s from bad computer habits, while other cases are simply from outdated hardware. We hope you find the above fixes useful. If you have any additional questions, leave a comment below.
- January 02, 2020
- 18 min to read
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Most free photo editors available on the App Store are quite basic, offering just a limited number of filters and allowing you to easily and quickly liven up your photos before posting them on social media.
But if you’re an aspiring or professional photographer, you probably need a more powerful app with a broader set of tools to use your creativity to the fullest. Besides, you probably use your Mac for photo editing because working on a large screen makes it possible to adjust the slightest details.
1. Apple’s Photos (Built-in app)
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Apple’s Photos app is included for free on all recently released Macs. It does a good job at organizing your photos, but its collection of photo enhancement tools leaves much to be desired. Hopefully, our selection of the best free programs for photo editing on Mac will help you choose the right app to suit all your creative needs.
2. Luminar (7 days trial) Hotel casino oklahoma city.
Luminar is another full-featured photo editor that’s popular with both Mac and Windows users. It can work as a standalone app as well as a plugin for such popular programs as Apple Photos. https://smmzhy.over-blog.com/2021/02/adobe-freehand-for-mac.html.
Luminar uses Artificial Intelligence to enable sophisticated yet quick photo enhancements. Among these AI features are Sky Enhancer, which adds more depth and detail to the sky in your photos while leaving other areas untouched; Accent AI, which analyzes a photo and automatically applies the best combination of different effects to enhance your image; and Sun Rays, which allows you to place an artificial sun and adjust the lighting to your liking or make the sun rays already in your photo look even more incredible.
Luminar has over 60 filters you can apply to your photos to enhance them in a moment. Luminar also provides a set of powerful tools for cropping, transforming, cloning, erasing, and stamping, along with layers, brushes, and many more incredible features. Luminar supports the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro, making photo editing even more effortless and pleasing.
3. Photolemur 3 (Free Version with watermark)
Photolemur is a relative newcomer on the photo editing market but it has all the chances to win the favor of beginner photographers and hobbyists. Running on Artificial Intelligence, Photolemur is a completely automatic photo enhancer, meaning that it does all the editing for you in no time. It has the simplest interface, with only a few buttons and sliders to adjust the enhancement to your liking and view the before and after results.
All you need to do is choose a photo (or a few) that you want to improve, drag and drop or import them using the Import button, and let the program make enhancements. After it’s done, you can compare the edited version with the original image by using the before–after slider and, if you want, adjust the skin tone or even enlarge the eyes using additional sliders. Pretty easy, huh?
Photolemur also offers a number of impressive styles to touch up your photos and give them a sophisticated and professional look. With this app, you don’t need to stuff your head with photo editing nuances and terms. Just run Photolemur and watch the magic happen!
4. Aurora HDR (14 days trial)
As you probably can tell from the name, Aurora HDR is designed to help photographers enhance their HDR photos, making them even more detailed and beautiful. It’s an ideal tool for editing your photos, with an extensive collection of more than 20 tools including details, tone, mapping, color, glow, and vignette. Each tool has its unique selection of controls to adjust its effects.
Aurora HDR enables you to work with brushes, layers, and masks, and provides a number of automatic AI tools for recognizing and removing noise, enhancing colors, lighting, and details, improving clarity, and adding contrast to dull areas while leaving other areas untouched.
Aurora HDR does a great job dealing with difficult lighting situations and creating full-of-life images while being easy to use.
5. Pixelmator (Trial 30 Days)
Pixelmator is a photo enhancer beloved by many Mac users, as it offers a good combination of a modern and simple interface, the ability to work on multiple layers, and powerful features that take photo editing to a whole new level. With so many editing tools, brushes, and effects, you can enhance your photos to your liking. You can choose between two versions of Pixelmator – standard and pro – depending on your needs. The standard version is great for basic photo editing with its selection of essential tools and filters, while the pro version is packed with extra brushes, tools, and effects that let you push your creativity to new boundaries. You can decide which version is suitable for you according to what features you’re looking for in a photo editing app.
6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 (Trial link)
Photoshop Elements isn’t as affordable as other photo enhancers for beginner photographers. But luckily there’s a trial version available, so you can check it out before deciding whether this app is worthy of your money. Photoshop Elements acquired many powerful features from Photoshop, only Elements is simplified for amateur photographers and enthusiasts. It includes a good number of effects and filters, plus automated editing options for improving lighting, color balance, and exposure, and even opening closed eyes and reducing the effects of camera shake.
In addition to all of these awesome features, Photoshop also offers editing modes for beginners, intermediate users, and experts. Beginners will probably prefer Quick mode, as it focuses on essential tools to quickly enhance your photos by improving color, lighting, and other basic settings. Guided mode provides intermediate users with step-by-step guidance with more professional features like artistic effects, skin tone correction, and background replacement. Expert mode gives you full access to the app’s really powerful editing features and is ideal for creating stunning images.
7. Affinity Photo (Free Trial)
Affinity Photo’s interface may seem overwhelming at first, especially for novices, but when you come to grips with it you’ll find that the app is just what you’ve been looking for. Its numerous professional tools, effects, and filters encourage you to get creative with your photos. Among the coolest features Affinity Photo has to offer is a before and after view to compare the original photo with its edited version.
Affinity Photo works with 15 file types, including common ones like PDF, PSD, JPG, and GIF as well as some less popular ones. The app amazes with its abundance of basic and top-notch editing tools, allowing you to tweak your photos using all possible kinds of instruments. Affinity Photo allows you to edit HDR photos, apply artistic filters and effects, play with masks and layers, and create breathtaking compositions by combining several images in one. If you find its interface a bit much and are afraid of getting lost in all those advanced tools, you should probably look for something more suitable for your level. But Affinity Photo is worth mastering.
8. Google Photos
Google Photos is a popular cloud storage service for photos and videos. It can’t boast countless masterly tools like other photo enhancers that we review in this article, but it includes some fundamental features like filters, color adjustment sliders, and transformation tools.
Although Google Photos may not be that helpful when it comes to editing photos, it does a pretty good job at storing high-resolution images and videos with 15GB of free online storage, compared to iCloud’s mere 5GB (which you can upgrade to 50GB for a monthly fee). If you’re planning to go on a trip and take plenty of photos, then it might be smart to sign up for Google Photos to use that extra storage space when you come back.
9. PhotoScape X (Free)
A relatively new photo editing app, PhotoScape X has been gaining popularity with many Mac and PC users since its release in 2008. Its interface is simple but unconventional, with a number of tabs running along the top of the window. Each is responsible for a specific stage of editing. The Viewer tab allows you to browse and organize your photos. After you pick a photo, you can switch to the Editor tab, which includes a broad set of instruments, filters, and effects and a useful feature that enables you to compare the adjusted photo with the original.
The next tabs, including the Batch tab, mainly concentrate on editing and renaming multiple photos at once. The GIF tab allows you to easily create an animated GIF from a group of selected photos.
The downside of PhotoScape X is a lack of selection tools, so all changes are applied to the whole image rather than to a selected part.
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10. Gimp (Free)
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Gimp is a free open-source photo editing app that has been on the market for over 22 years and is available for Windows, Mac, and even Linux. Unlike many free apps, Gimp doesn’t have any ads or in-app purchases. Its grey interface might seem a little old-fashioned and it may be a bit sluggish when it comes to complex effects, though.
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Gimp offers a vast collection of advanced tools that hardly any free photo editor can boast. It has numerous enhancement options such as clone and heal brushes, layers and channels, accurate selection tools, a number of transformation instruments, and, of course, color adjustment controls. Gimp is one of the most powerful tools for enhancing photos and is beloved by so many users for its price (free) and versatility. But if you can’t come to grips with Gimp’s interface, it may be worth paying some cash for a more user-friendly program.