Please help me fix this mac

Question

im trying to help a friend that has a mac osx 10.4.11 and the computer is asking to be up load a stuffit engine 6.0 is this a apple program can someone please help i only know windows..the computer to me operates extremly slow what can i do or look for to help it out

Answer 1

stuffit engine 6.0
Stuffit is like a Windows unzip program.  Typically, you do not need it.  Double click on the files to decompress.
Try these general fixes.  Take a screen image and post here.  Run activity monitor to see if you can find out why the machine is slow.
You may want to run these "standard" fixes if the problem persists.
1) Check the amount of free space on your harddrive.  You should have a several gigs free.
2) You should run disk utility
      Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility
      a) verify the disk
      b) update your permissions.
3) Try a safe boot.
     Shutdown your machine.  Hold down the shift key.  Poweron.  Wait awhile; wait awhile while you harddrive
     is being checked.
     http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
4) Another way to correct filesystem problems is into single use mode.
     This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.
     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
    Basically, you hold down the command + s key then  powering on your machine. The command key
    has a little apple symbol on the lower left. It is between the alt/option key and the space bar. 
4) You may want to run applejack to clean up your machine.
      http://applejack.sourceforge.net/
6) Run hardware diagnostics.  It's good for a sanity check.
How to show us a screen image.  Avoid personal identification.
command + shift + 3   Will take entire screen.  You hear a click.
command + shift + 4 Lets you decide what to take.  Mouse pointer changes. Move mouse to upper left corner of desire image.  Hold down left mouse key where to start image.  Drag mouse to lower left of where you want to stop image.  Release mouse.
You will get a picture n.png file on the desktop.
On the forum input panel you will see the camera icon.
click on camera icon.
another window will appear.
Make sure you have selected the from your computer tab.
click on Browse button
An open file panel appears.  Select the file.
After selection a file, I have this screen showing.
You will have to click on Insert Image.  You may have to scroll down to see Insert Image button.
Some semi-randomn thoughts on addressing performance problems.
Activity Monitor
Look at what is happening with your Mac when you run Activity Monitor.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor
Click on the CPU tab on the lower half of the window. Make sure the little triangle is pointed down.  Make the triangle point down by clicking.
With the down pointed triangle, you will see the apps which are using the most of the processor.
You can gain some understanding of Activity Monitor by  looking at it every once in a while.  Look at the small graph.
Here is how I have my cpu display set up:
AppleJack
"AppleJack is a user friendly troubleshooting assistant for Mac OS X. With AppleJack you can troubleshoot a computer even if you can't load the GUI, or don't have a startup CD handy. AppleJack runs in Single User Mode and is menu-based for ease of use."
http://applejack.sourceforge.net/
Console
You can use the console application to examine Mac OS log files.  The logs will contain information on various system processes.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Console
File > open console log
this will display the startup messages
and
file > open system log
once the system is started, messages will go into the system log
Other folks
bdaqua advises running disk utility from install disk and performing a safe boot:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2256611&tstart=0
Allan Jones  advises running automatic maintenance scripts and checking for free disk space:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10845311#10845311
K Shaffer    advises checking for available RAM and checking for free disk space:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10879449#10879449