My two-year-old Apple has started running very slowly.

[TNDemo]

What kind of virus scan do you use for a Mac? Could it be something other than a virus?

[Deja Q]

1. If not malware, back up your data and get a utility that checks the hard drive's health

Including complete cluster/sector check.

I'm thinking it's a mechanical issue; an early sign of hard drive failure is slowness in the OS. How macs and linux format their drives makes defragmenting a lesser issue, so if that's true then it's solely a hardware problem. Macs don't use anything like the registry that I currently know about (thank God; the registry is evil and has been since its release on 24 August 1995).

I'm not a Mac user, but the philosophy, never mind the entire hardware these days, is quite similar to PCs.

[begin_within]

2. Well, you might try this....

back up your entire hard drive to something else, such as an external hard drive, or DVD-R data disks. Most importantly the programs you installed and any data you have created. Then use the "System Restore" disk that came with your Mac to do a complete restore. That will restore your Mac to the condition (as far as software) that it was in when you first received it. Then you can re-install programs you added, and any data you have created since you got the Mac. This may be a big task, but it might be the best way to restore your Mac to its original speed. This is only one possible solution, there may be others offered by people on the Mac help web sites. It's always a good idea to do regular backups of your programs and data anyway. I do a daily backup of my data onto an external hard drive and monthly backups onto CD-R or DVD-R discs.

[eyesroll]

3. How cluttered is your desktop?

I've found my computer slows down if I have too much crap on the desktop. (Blame .pdfs for that.)

Also, the amount of RAM my MacBook shipped with was anemic--I maxed out the RAM and it works much better.

[PBS Poll-435]

4. Your apple could have a worm

[Sultana]

10. LOL

[Haole Girl]

5. Have you done all the updates?

Or do you let it update automatically?

[struggle4progress]

6. When did you last restart? And have you tried doing a safe boot?

When you say "running very slowly" does that mean you get the spinning beachball?

What is Spotlight indexing?

[NewJeffCT]

7. When mine started doing that...

it was the whole damn logic board that was in the process of going. $900 to replace.

Unfortunately, since everybody told me Macs were great computers that last forever, I did not buy the extended warranty... besides, most extended warranties are ripoffs.

Needless to say, my first Mac was my last.

[bikebloke]

8. Try Disk Utility

Then click on First Aid. Then there's Verify Disk Permissions and Repair Disk Permissions. That helped when I had slow downs.

Also, if you're not running all day and night (mine's turned off when not in use to save electricity) then it may not be able to do some periodic clean-ups. Google "MacJanitor". It's freeware that can do those functions when you choose. That has also helped.

I have have 5 year old eMac. Besides those wee slow downs, which I resolved, I haven't had any problems.

[Pierre.Suave]

9. Did you buy applecare?

[crimsonblue]

11. uh....

macs don't get viruses... You probably just have too many background apps running. Did you try rebooting it?