Getting very annoyed

[gslrider]

Ok, I had to update to 10.8.x from 10.6.8. Didn't want to, because Snow Leopard was running just fine. But my apps needed the at least 10.7, and we all know 10.7.x was total crap. So now that I'm on 10.8.5, it's like going from a Porsche 911 turbo, to a moderately souped up Honda Civic...with some nice tires. Better than Lion, but definitely not as good as Snow Leopard.

One of my biggest annoyances, is why can't the windows behave. I scroll down do near the bottom of a window to access those files, I move to another window, then back again. And just by clicking on the first window's pane, it automatically scrolls all the way to the top of the list. Forcing me to have to scroll back down. Or if I have a file selected in a window, and I scroll down to grab a file at the bottom, it automatically scrolls itself to the highlighted file. What gives? Now I can see this being sort of useful. But not for me, anyway of turning this crap feature off?

And yes, I've tried booting in safe mode. Moderately better, but not a whole lot. And by that, I mean I still get pretty annoyed with the lags and scrolling garbage. And it takes almost twice as long to reboot than 10.6.8.

I won't even start with the laginess since updating. Hence Porsche (10.6.8) vs Honda (10.8.5). And I'm not about to switch to Mavericks. From what I hear, it's even worse with older systems. Apple is truly following the iDevices lead. For each update of the OS, the older system gets buggy and laggy. Forcing you to...that's right, by a whole new system. WTF Apple.

 

[Fishrrman]

I suggest you download the free utility "Mountain Tweaks", and see if you can "make some adjustments"...

 

[gslrider]

I suggest you download the free utility "Mountain Tweaks", and see if you can "make some adjustments"...

Nice! I'll give this a go. Thanks.

 

[sjinsjca]

Has Mavericks finished its Spotlight indexing? That can make the system feel boggy, and it takes a while. If you see a dot in the center of the Spotlight icon, it's still chugging.

Also check to ensure that your disk has plenty of empty space.

A clean install might be warranted, too. Coming from Snow Leopard, you probably have accumulated a lot of cruft, and key system files may have not been able to install in the fastest area of your disk or in a contiguous fashion. Clean installing takes some time (backing up [ideally to two backup disks], wiping, installing Mavericks, installing your apps one by one, then dragging JUST your documents from your backup) but it can be worth it in terms of system behavior.

 

[gslrider]

Has Mavericks finished its Spotlight indexing? That can make the system feel boggy, and it takes a while. If you see a dot in the center of the Spotlight icon, it's still chugging.

Also check to ensure that your disk has plenty of empty space.

A clean install might be warranted, too. Coming from Snow Leopard, you probably have accumulated a lot of cruft, and key system files may have not been able to install in the fastest area of your disk or in a contiguous fashion. Clean installing takes some time (backing up [ideally to two backup disks], wiping, installing Mavericks, installing your apps one by one, then dragging JUST your documents from your backup) but it can be worth it in terms of system behavior.

That's the only thing I haven't done. A clean install. I use my system for my freelance design gigs, and pretty busy at the moment. Don't have the time to do a clean install. Those usually take me 2-3 days to do (backing up, and reinstalling everything from scratch), depending on how busy I am with my day job. When I get the time, I'll do a clean install. It's my only other option to see if it will fix the lag.

It's surprising that Apple doesn't have updates set up, to remove old redundant and useless files from older OS anymore. After all, we are installing a new OS, with new files. Don't need the old ones, so why not make it part of the install to delete them? In older OS updates, the install saved all old files in a separate folder, while it installed all new files in the new System Folder. So you can go over the old files and see if there are any there that you might still require. Most times you didn't, so you just deleted that folder. The simplicity of the Mac OS has suddenly become less simple/user friendly since 10.7. Been using the Mac for 20+ years, because it was so simple to use and maintain. Now, it frustrates me like Windows does. I'd rather have a working OS with fewer glitz and glam, than a shoddy OS with all the bells and whistles. Of which 80% I probably don't need or will use. Making my Mac run like my iPhone isn't a priority. In fact, I could care less. I just need my system to work flawlessly as it did in the past. Prior to 10.7, all my Macs lasted me an average of 5-6 years each, minimum. Each OS update was seamless, and worked well with older systems. Now, a 3-4 year old Mac Pro will start to run slower on newer OS.

Guess it's true what people say. Jobs was about innovation, Cook is about profits.

Spotlight completed. Took almost 3 days.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

And I'm not about to switch to Mavericks. From what I hear, it's even worse with older systems.

My 2008 iMac runs just fine on Mavericks and its faster than both Lion and Mountain Lion.

 

[Felasco]

Been using the Mac for 20+ years, because it was so simple to use and maintain. Now, it frustrates me like Windows does. I'd rather have a working OS with fewer glitz and glam, than a shoddy OS with all the bells and whistles.

Casting my one little vote in favor of this sentiment.

 

[ssls6]

My 2008 iMac runs just fine on Mavericks and its faster than both Lion and Mountain Lion.

Have you actually ran benchmarks? On my system, Mountain Lion produces better real world results (not by much but better).

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Have you actually ran benchmarks?

No, purely subjective. I suspect ML and Mavericks are very similar in terms of speed (and both better than Lion) but the smoother scrolling on Mavericks clinches it for me.