5 Quick Fixes for a Slow MacBook (That Actually Work in 2025)

Your MacBook isn’t permanently broken—it’s just overwhelmed. Like a desk buried under papers, your Mac accumulates background processes, cached files, and memory bloat that gradually choke performance. This guide tackles the five fixes that solve 90% of Mac slowdowns, starting with the easiest and moving to the more powerful options—most take under 15 minutes.

Why Your MacBook Slows Down (And Why These Fixes Work)

Modern Macs are powerful, but they’re not magical. Over time, three things combine to create slowdowns: background applications consume RAM and CPU resources, cached files and temporary data accumulate in storage, and login items launch automatically even when you don’t need them. Your Mac doesn’t need a factory reset to recover—it needs spring cleaning.

The five fixes below address these causes directly. When combined, they typically restore a noticeably faster Mac. Current as of: macOS Monterey 12.0, Ventura 13.0, and Sonoma 14.0 (2025)

Important: Know Your Mac Before You Start

Before making changes, identify which Mac you own—the steps for Apple Silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3, M4) differ from Intel-based Macs in one crucial place (the NVRAM reset step). You’ll also want to know your storage capacity (1TB vs. 256GB changes what ’nearly full’ means). Finally, make sure you’ve backed up your Mac using Time Machine—not because these fixes are risky, but because any major system adjustment benefits from a safety net.

One critical warning: Do not manually delete files from /var/folders or other system directories without expert guidance. The steps in this guide avoid this risk—instead, simply restarting your Mac automatically triggers safe system maintenance that removes temporary files without risk of breaking functionality.

Fix 1: Force-Quit Memory Hogs (2-3 minutes)

What it does: Immediately frees RAM by stopping apps consuming excessive memory.

Step-by-step:

1. Press Cmd+Space, type ‘Activity Monitor’, and press Enter.

2. Click the ‘Memory’ column header to sort apps by memory usage (highest first).

3. Look for apps using significant memory that you aren’t actively using right now. This varies by app type—web browsers often use 400-800MB during normal use, while document editors might use 200-400MB. Focus on apps using memory disproportionate to what you’re doing (for example, Slack using 1.2GB when you’re not actively messaging).

4. Click each memory-heavy app you want to close, then click the ‘X’ button labeled ‘Force Quit’ at the top of the window.

5. Critical safety rule: Do not close anything labeled ‘kernel_task’ or ‘WindowServer’—these are protected system processes. Attempting to force-quit kernel_task shows a white screen requiring reboot; force-quitting WindowServer logs you out immediately.

6. If an app restarts itself immediately after you force-quit it, skip it—it’s essential to your Mac’s operation.

Expected result: Your Mac should feel noticeably more responsive within seconds. This fix works because you’ve freed RAM that the system can now allocate to your current tasks.

Fix 2: Clear Browser Cache and Temporary System Files (3-5 minutes)

What it does: Removes cached website data and browser files that accumulate over months, freeing gigabytes of storage space.

For Safari:

1. Click the ‘Safari’ menu at the top, then select ‘Settings’.

2. Click the ‘Privacy’ tab, then click ‘Manage Website Data’.

3. Click ‘Remove All’, then confirm by clicking ‘Remove Now’.

For Chrome:

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) at the top right, then select ‘Settings’.

2. In the left sidebar, click ‘Privacy and security’, then select ‘Clear browsing data’.

3. In the time range dropdown, select ‘All time’.

4. Check both ‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’.

5. Click ‘Clear data’.

Expected result: You’ll typically free 500MB to 3GB of space, depending on your browsing habits. Your Mac boots faster and apps launch quicker with less cache clutter.

Note on system temp files: Some guides recommend manually deleting files from /var/folders, but Apple’s official guidance discourages this because of the risk of breaking system functionality. A simpler, safer approach: restarting your Mac automatically triggers system maintenance that safely clears temporary files without manual intervention. You’ll get the same benefit without any risk.

Fix 3: Remove Unnecessary Login Items (2-3 minutes)

What it does: Stops unnecessary apps from launching automatically at startup, speeding up your Mac’s boot time and reducing background resource consumption.

Step-by-step (varies by macOS version):

For macOS Ventura or Sonoma:

1. Press Cmd+Space, type ‘System Settings’, and press Enter.

2. Click ‘General’ in the left sidebar.

3. Scroll down and click ‘Login Items’.

4. Under ‘Open at Login’, review each app. Remove anything you don’t actively need launching when your Mac starts—common culprits include Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Slack, Spotify, Discord, and Messenger.

5. Click the minus (–) button next to each app you want to remove.

For macOS Monterey:

1. Click the Apple menu (top left), then select ‘System Preferences’.

2. Click ‘General’.

3. Click ‘Login Items’.

4. Select unwanted apps and click the minus (–) button.

After making changes:

Restart your Mac by clicking Apple menu → ‘Restart’. Your Mac will boot noticeably faster—most users can safely remove 3–8 login items without affecting functionality.

Expected result: Your Mac boots 10–30 seconds faster, depending on how many apps you removed. You’ll also notice less CPU and memory usage during the first few minutes after startup.

Fix 4: Free Up Storage Space (The Most Powerful Fix) (5-10 minutes)

What it does: Removes old files and optimizes storage, which directly improves speed. Macs slow down significantly when storage reaches 85% full—writes become 20–50% slower, and over 95% full, performance drops dramatically (70–90% slower writes). Your Mac needs at least 10–15% free space to operate smoothly.

Step-by-step:

1. Click the Apple menu (top left) and select ‘About This Mac’.

2. Click the ‘Storage’ tab.

3. Click ‘Manage’ to see detailed breakdowns.

4. Review each category and delete files you no longer need:

   • Documents & Downloads: Sort by date and delete files older than 6 months unless you need them archived.
   • Photos: Review for duplicate shots, blurry photos, or old screenshots you don’t need. (Tip: Use built-in Photos app duplicate detection by going Photos → File → Find Duplicates.)
   • Applications: Delete programs you haven’t used in 6+ months.
   • Other: If this section is large (more than 5–10GB), it contains caches and temporary files. You can safely delete old items here.

5. Your goal: Keep at least 15% of total storage free. On a 1TB Mac, that’s roughly 150GB free; on a 256GB Mac, aim for 40GB free.

Expected result: If your Mac was 90% full, freeing 10–15% of space can reduce loading times by 20–40% and noticeably improve responsiveness, especially when opening large files or using professional software. This is often the single biggest performance improvement available.

Fix 5: NVRAM Reset (The Nuclear Option - Intel Macs Only) (2-3 minutes)

What it does: Clears temporary low-level system settings and forces RAM refresh, which can resolve obscure performance issues. However, this step is only for Intel-based Macs—Apple Silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5) don’t have traditional NVRAM and don’t need manual resets.

Important: Check your Mac’s processor first:

Click Apple menu → ‘About This Mac’. Under ‘Chip’ (or ‘Processor’), if you see ‘Apple M1’, ‘M2’, ‘M3’, ‘M4’, or similar, skip this step—your Mac handles NVRAM automatically. If you see ‘Intel Core i5’, ‘i7’, or similar, continue below.

For Intel-based Macs only:

1. Make sure all work is saved and closed.

2. Click Apple menu → ‘Restart’.

3. As soon as your Mac begins restarting (you’ll see the screen go black), immediately press and hold Cmd + Option + P + R simultaneously.

4. Keep holding these keys until one of the following happens:

   • You hear the startup sound twice, OR
   • The Apple logo appears and disappears twice This typically takes 15–20 seconds on Intel Macs.

5. Release the keys and let your Mac boot normally. Your settings remain unchanged—this only clears low-level firmware cache.

Why this doesn’t work on Apple Silicon: M1/M2/M3/M4/M5 Macs have NVRAM integrated into the processor itself, not as separate hardware. Manual resets are unnecessary because these settings reset automatically during power cycles.

Expected result: If your Mac had obscure issues (random freezes, inexplicable slowdowns), this might resolve them. If nothing was wrong, you won’t notice a difference—and that’s fine. This is the least likely fix to help, which is why it’s last on the list.

Note: If you absolutely need to reset firmware-level settings on an Apple Silicon Mac, Terminal experts can use sudo nvram -c followed by sudo shutdown -r now, but this is rarely necessary.

If Your Mac Slows Down Again (What to Do Next)

If slowdowns return within 2–3 weeks after trying these fixes, the problem likely runs deeper than background processes. Try these next steps:

Check for malware: Download Malwarebytes (free version available) and run a scan. Malware can consume CPU and bandwidth in ways Activity Monitor doesn’t clearly show.

Verify disk health: Press Cmd+Space, type ‘Disk Utility’, press Enter. Click your hard drive name (usually ‘Macintosh HD’), then click ‘First Aid’. Let it run—if it finds errors, your disk may be failing, which causes random slowdowns.

Consider hardware limitations: If your Mac is 5+ years old and runs memory-intensive work (video editing, 3D modeling, large dataset processing), your Mac might genuinely need more RAM. However: Apple Silicon Macs (M1/M2/M3 and newer) have RAM soldered directly to the processor and cannot be upgraded after purchase—RAM must be configured at time of purchase. Older Intel-based Macs could theoretically be upgraded, but most are now out of support and upgrades are complex.

If you’re regularly pushing your Mac to its limits, a newer machine may be the only true solution.

Most Mac slowdowns are fixable without expensive repairs or replacements—usually in under 15 minutes using the fixes above. Start with Force-Quitting memory hogs and clearing cache (the easiest two), then work down the list if you need more improvement. If you complete all five fixes and slowdowns persist, hardware failure or malware are likely culprits requiring professional diagnosis.