SLOW & Kicky MAC

[Pixie]

Hi. I'm new here, and don't actually have a Mac myself. But my Dad does. He has a powerbook or notebook or whatever it's called and a cable connection to the internet. His computer is usually much slower online than my PC with DSL. It often freezes up, and often just kicks you offline (Explorer) repeatedly. When this happens on my PC, it is usually because of spyware. And I've heard people argue that despite popular opinion, Mac's are vulnerable to it. I see from searching around here, that not too many of you believe that though. He does have a VERY messy desktop, full of saved pictures and webpages etc.

If it is worth it, what anti-spyware program should he buy? And if not, is there another obvious "quick-fix" to this problem? (He has no initiative to deal with this, & I don't have a lot of time or computer knowledge)?

 

[grapes911]

If it is worth it, what anti-spyware program should he buy? And if not, is there another obvious "quick-fix" to this problem? (He has no initiative to deal with this, & I don't have a lot of time or computer knowledge)?

None, because there is no spyware for Mac. Sorry.

You can try some of this guide for info:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Maintenance_Scripts

Another thing to try is backing up all data and reformating the computer. This is extreme because you should rarely, if ever have to reinstall OS X, but it may be the easist way for you to deal with the problem.

 

[randas]

How much ram dose he have? More ram might speed things up

 

[yellow]

It often freezes up, and often just kicks you offline (Explorer) repeatedly.

And finally, he shouldn't be using Explorer. It's very much a depricated browser on the Mac.

 

[thedude110]

It often freezes up, and often just kicks you offline (Explorer) repeatedly.

Do you know if your Dad is running OS X or OS 9? If he's running OS X.2 or later, a good first step would be to stop using Internet Explorer and start using Safari, the web browser which comes packaged with OS X (which should be on the left hand side of his dock).

If he's running OS 9 or OS X.1, well, that changes things a bit.

 

[grapes911]

If he's running OS 9 or OS X.1, well, that changes things a bit.

If he is running any version of OS X 10.0 or 10.1, I strongly recomend you update to a newer version. Even 10.2 is getting pretty old.

 

[mduser63]

The suggestions here are good. On his Mac (assuming he's on OS X) go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen and then About This Mac. Let us know what it says in there and we'll probably be able to help more.

Explorer is a horrible browser on both the Mac and PC. Tell him to stop using it. If his version of OS X is older than 10.3, he should probably upgrade. Just to be clear, if his Mac is kicking him off his network connection and generally being unstable, something is wrong. I along with most everyone on these forums use a Mac as my primary computer and don't have such problems.

 

[Pixie]

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't be over at his house for several days (at least), but when I am, I will look into which version of OS he has, and see about that. I don't know if he'd be willing to use a whole new web browser or not. Sounds a little daunting, even to me, and I'm much more adventurous than he is (sad, huh?).

 

[e²Studios]

These are all great suggestions. If i remember right Micro$oft just announced that they are no longer even supporting IE on OS X i think.

I swear i read "SLOW & 'Kinky' Mac" in the title when i first glanced at it...

Ed

 

[mduser63]

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't be over at his house for several days (at least), but when I am, I will look into which version of OS he has, and see about that. I don't know if he'd be willing to use a whole new web browser or not. Sounds a little daunting, even to me, and I'm much more adventurous than he is (sad, huh?).

Safari is not at all hard to use. As with any web browser, the interface is pretty similar to Explorer. However, Safari is much faster, more compatible with modern web pages, and it has some really nice features like integrated RSS and a Google search box. You could also have him try Firefox or Opera or Camino or any of the many other good OS X browsers that are available.