Will Yosemite Make My Computer Faster or Slower?

I have been holding off for quite a while when Yosemite came out. I tried the beta, but quickly reverted back to Mavericks because of that pesky expand button. That's not why I'm here though. I need to know if and when I download Yosemite again, will it make my 2011 MBP 13 inch faster or slower? I heard Yosemite is a RAM hog, but I have 16 GB of RAM, so I don't think that should be an issue. What do you all think? I can give more information on the system if you need.
Edit: I should also mention I plan on using the computer mainly for gaming. It responds well to most games already, but can have (very small) issues if running skyrim or other higher quality 3D games.

I heard Yosemite is a RAM hog,
That is a misconception propagated by people who do not understand that Apple memory management changed with OS 10.9 Mavericks. For more efficient use of RAM, Mavericks and Yosemite now claim a lot of the free RAM for faster access. This Apple article may help you understand it:
How to use Activity Monitor - Apple Support
The new metrics for evaluating RAM usage are Swaps and Memory Pressure as shown in the little chart at the bottom of the Activity Monitor window when you have the "Memory" tab selected.
Within the last six weeks, I upgraded two of our Macs to Yosemite and see no difference in performance from the prior OS versions installed: 10.9 on a 2012 non-Retina Macbook Pro and 10.8 on a 2011 iMac. Both have the entry-level processors for their respective models, the 2.5Ghz i5.
Neither computer has third-party anti-virus maintenance software, not do that have the questionable software that comes bundled with "name-brand" external hard drives.

Similar Messages

Will bootcamp make my computer run any slower than it runs now

i want to get windows games but i am afraid to download boot camp i want an expert to answer my questions

You do not download Boot Camp. You use Boot Camp Assistant, which is already on your computer.
You should read the Boot Camp Help Manuals http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ and visit the Boot Camp forum https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp.

I have a Macbook pro 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (2011). Will Lion, Mountain Lion or Marverick makes it run faster or slower?

I have a Macbook pro 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (2011). Will Lion, Mountain Lion or Marverick makes it run faster or slower?

Snow Leopard is still the most efficient OSX from Apple. I have a late 2011 MBP running Lion with no performance issues.
I suggest the following; Install 8 GB RAM if you do not have that already. (The best sources of Mac compatible RAM are OWC and Crucial). The newer OSX's are trifle more RAM hungry.
Partition your HDD and install one of the newer OSX's in the new partition and try it out. This allows you to 'retreat' to Snow Leoprad if you find the newer OSX is not to your liking.
Also note that the newer OSX's do not support PPC applications. That means that there is a possibility that some of your current applications will not work and may have to be updated or replaced.
Ciao.

Ever since I installed MAVERICK, nothing now works, Flash Player won't run, printer works but scanner will not and the computer runs so slow. Any help anywhere?

Ever since I installed MAVERICK, nothing now works, Flash Player won't run, printer works but scanner will not and the computer runs so slow. Any help anywhere?

wqn02h, first thing I would do is use Disk utility to repair permissions. Once this is done. Make sure you have the latest versions of the software you use. Also, check the manufacter of your printer/scanner for updated software. If they don't have updated software there are 3rd party alternatives that will work.
Paul

Is their any other Processor better then a 2.9ghz intel core i7 that i could look into. I'm looking to make the computer faster & already upgraded the memory from 8GB to 16GB not realy noticing a difference

Is their any other Processor better then a 2.9GHZ Intel Core i7 that i could look into. I'm looking to make the computer faster & already upgraded the Ram from 8GB to 16GB and i'm really not noticing any difference actually it seems to be the same as it was before. Any help with this?

You will only notice a performance improvement if you haven't got enough RAM to use the applications you need. If you had a lot of free RAM before, you won't notice any difference now.
If you already have your computer, you can only replace the processor if you replace the logic board. Your computer requires a specific logic board, so you shouldn't replace it and you have to stay with the same processor. Apart from RAM, the only part you can upgrade is the hard drive. What will make an improvement is a SSD drive, if you haven't got one

Yosemite make my computer overheat

Since I have upgraded to Yosemite, my laptop - which is only a year and a half old, has frequent back-ups, is free of crap and never was slow before - has been shockingly different from the moment I have installed Yosemite. I have waited quite a bit before installing Yosemite because of the bugs, when I did, for what I read, the bugs were fixed. But exactly since I have installed Yosemite, my computer is very slow when you turn it on, if you want to lower or increase the volume, it takes several seconds. Even loading sites that I often visit take forever to load now. My computer also now overheats for no reason while doing the same simple daily tasks.

Sometimes you want to do a couple full backups, take the Yosemite installer and either
Install on an external drive to test it out for awhile /
Erase your laptop drive and have just Leopard /
Make sure that you more than meet the minimum requirements /
Let us know what your laptop year/model and hardware is (ie, 4GB RAM and 500GB disk drive with 250GB free)
Adding more memory, and swapping out the hard disk drive for an SSD is one way to help.
http://www.macsales.com is a good place to start just research and see what is available
http://www.everymac.com also
It may be you have software that 'doesn't belong' and one way to check is to post the output from EtreCheck
http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

How can i make my computer faster?

I recently have gotten my macbook pro just last month in june, and now it seems that certain things are really really slow. Comparitively, safari seems to be taking forever opening up normal pages that didnt take long earlier. i was wondering if it might be a virus slowing it down, but i see that there arent any mac os viruses known of. So i was wondering what i could do to make it run faster again.

you don't have a virus in your macbook......
you already have the best anti virus protection installed - it's called OS X Lion.
open up activity monitor and under all processes, see what's using up most of your % CPU. Hightlight the ones using a lot of your % CPU and hit quit process.
also see what's loading in your login items - delete the ones you think you don't need.
open disk utility and verify your disk then verify your disk permissions - repair if needed then restart your macbook.
also, how much RAM have you got installed?
good luck

How can I make my computer faster like it used to be?

My computer is slow to load everything and slow to switch between programs.

First, back up all data immediately, as your boot drive might be failing.
There are a few other possible causes of generalized slow performance that you can rule out easily.
Reset the System Management Controller.
If you have many image or video files on the Desktop with preview icons, move them to another folder.
If applicable, uncheck all boxes in the iCloud preference pane.
Disconnect all non-essential wired peripherals and remove aftermarket expansion cards, if any.
Check your keychains in Keychain Access for excessively duplicated items.
Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk.
Otherwise, take the steps below when you notice the problem.
Step 1
Launch the Activity Monitor application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Activity Monitor in the icon grid.
Select the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor window.
Select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected.
Click the heading of the % CPU column in the process table to sort the entries by CPU usage. You may have to click it twice to get the highest value at the top. What is it, and what is the process? Also post the values for % User, % System, and % Idle at the bottom of the window.
Select the System Memory tab. What values are shown in the bottom part of the window for Page outs and Swap used?
Next, select the Disk Activity tab. Post the approximate values shown for Reads in/sec and Writes out/sec (not Reads in and Writes out.)
Step 2
If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator to carry out this step.
Launch the Console application in the same way you launched Activity Monitor. Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Select the 50 or so most recent entries in the log. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V). You're looking for entries at the end of the log, not at the beginning.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some personal information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting. That should be easy to do if your extract is not too long.

Will an SSD make MOTION run faster?

As it says, will it run faster?
I'm currently on a god awful 5400rpm HDD :/
Motion 5 is slightly slow when rendering my projects, it exports fast and all's good. However when i want to play around with my projects it's so juttery.
Espcially when i click PLAY, it won't PLAY, it'll stutter A LOT.
Thoughts?

Heya Matt,
Motion does most of its heavy lifiting with the graphics card. An SSD will technically make Motion run faster, but upgrading the gfx card will produce the best performance increase. Have you tried optimising your playback performance in the Render settings? Draft quality, quarter resolution, etc.
Hope that helps!
Jasper Thayer
Apple Certified Trainer
https://FinalCutProX.net

My MacBook (10.5.8) is very slow and has significant problems loading will Snow Leopard (10.6.3) help or make my computer slower?

My MacBook (10.5.8) is very slow and has significant problems loading will Snow Leopard (10.6.3) help or make my computer slower?
Also why does my Macbook make so much noise (The noise concerns me because it is so loud it sounds like the laptop will break down or something at any point)?

It depends on your Macbook model how to open the bottom case.
Anyway you need to open up the buttom case or keyboard panel to access the CPU fan like following.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hHA4DDEvZA
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Core+2+Duo+Lower+Case+Replacement/537
If you think you can't do that by yourself, you'd better bring it to Apple Store Genius Bar or Authorized Servce Shop to tell them about the problem.

Will adding RAM to my Mac Mini make it run faster ?

Hey all,
Since I upgraded to Mavericks, I've started having two issues with my Mac Mini (mid-2011 edition, with 4Gb of RAM and an Intel i5 processor at 2,5Ghz)
1. I use FileVault so I need to login as soon as my machine will boot. Unfortunately, after the upgrade, the layout of my keyboard switched to US. So every time I login, I need to type my password in as if I had a qwerty keyboard. Apple is well aware of the issue which is reported on many forums but still hasn't released a patch yet. That's a nice middle finger shown at their customers, but I guess this is customers service the Apple style.
2. Next, I have a more embarrassing issue. My Mac Mini has become so slow that it has become almost unusable for many common tasks such as managing my photos in iPhoto or just surfing the web with Google Chrome. I noticed that doing almost nothing on my computer, I always at 3,5Gb and up of memory usage. As I'm typing these lines, I only have iPhoto and 4 tabs in Google Chrome opened and the "Used memory" line in the activity monitor says I'm using 3,99Gb of RAM.
So here is my question :
- Could the lack of RAM be the main reason my Mac Mini is extremely slow and often freezing on commons tasks (iPhoto and surfing the web) ?
- If so, would upgrading to 8Gb of RAM make it noticeably faster ?
Thanks !

According to the image of memory usage you posted, the Virtual Memory is taking 5GB of HDD free space to run (whatever was on, in the image) and the physical RAM was nearly all taken, with 3.99GB in use. Most of the items in the far right side appear to be other usage, some in MB. Where is that being used?
{Not certain what to make of the other usages, because it is easy to forget what I saw when it isn't english. But I do understand several written languages and a few listened-to, even though I don't speak them. Even some dialects from Asia if I see the speaker. Except cyrillic Rus, greek, & a few others.}
Given the RAM is the least expensive way to add performance to a machine with hungry operating system and applications that also won't go unfed, this aspect and a good deal of unused or 'free space' in the hard disk drive both add up to better performance. Less RAM than optimal is a bottleneck, as would an overly full near capacity hard disk drive; when running on a slim margin.
Other browsers to consider are Mozilla-derived FireFox, Seamonkey, and iCab. Maybe Opera.
Good luck & happy computing!

I upgraded to Yosemite and computer running very slow. It is an older iMac 2009. Thinking of downgrading os or upgrading ram unless there is something else I can try?

I upgraded to Yosemite and computer running very slow. It is an older iMac 2009. if I cant get it running faster I will have to downgrade os or upgrade ram. Is there something else I can try? Here is scan of computer:
Problem description:
computer Very slow after upgrading to OS Yosemite
EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated November 15, 2014 at 3:50:50 PM MST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
iMac (20-inch, Early 2009) (Verified)
iMac - model: iMac9,1
1 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
2 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
NVIDIA GeForce 9400 - VRAM: 256 MB
iMac 1680 x 1050
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 4 days 4:38:8
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HDT721032SLA380 disk0 : (320.07 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 319.21 GB (201.09 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Apple Inc. Keyboard Hub
Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard
USB Reader USB Mass Storage Device 31.67 GB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
NO NAME (disk1s1) /Volumes/NO NAME : 31.67 GB (27.49 GB free)
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Spin Doctor.app
[not loaded] com.hzsystems.terminus.driver (4) Support
/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app
[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) Support
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.Huawei.driver.HuaweiDataCardDriver (4.0.6) Support
[not loaded] com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6) Support
[not loaded] com.sony.driver.prs (1.0.1d1) Support
Startup Items: ℹ️
HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr
Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.accountsd.plist
[failed] com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
[failed] com.apple.bird.plist
[failed] com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist
[failed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.cloudd.plist
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist
[failed] com.apple.EscrowSecurityAlert.plist
[failed] com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist
[failed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist
[failed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
[failed] com.apple.pbs.plist
[failed] com.apple.pluginkit.pkd.plist
[failed] com.apple.printtool.agent.plist
[failed] com.apple.scopedbookmarkagent.xpc.plist
[failed] com.apple.secd.plist
[failed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist
[failed] com.apple.spindump_agent.plist
[failed] com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.AssetCacheLocatorService.plist
[failed] com.apple.awdd.plist
[failed] com.apple.cache_delete.plist
[failed] com.apple.coresymbolicationd.plist
[failed] com.apple.ctkd.plist
[failed] com.apple.diagnosticd.plist
[failed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist
[failed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesd.plist
[failed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist
[failed] com.apple.MobileFileIntegrity.plist
[failed] com.apple.nehelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
[failed] com.apple.periodic-daily.plist
[failed] com.apple.periodic-weekly.plist
[failed] com.apple.sandboxd.plist
[failed] com.apple.softwareupdate_download_service.plist
[failed] com.apple.softwareupdated.plist
[failed] com.apple.spindump.plist
[failed] com.apple.sysmond.plist
[failed] com.apple.tccd.system.plist
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
[failed] org.cups.cupsd.plist
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist Support
[not loaded] com.sony.ReaderLibrary.RunReaderLibrary.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
HP Registration Assistant UNKNOWN (missing value)
Reader Library Launcher ApplicationHidden (/Library/Reader Library/Reader Library Launcher.app)
HP Scheduler Application (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Software Update/HP Scheduler.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6 Support
net.juniper.DSSafariExtensions: Version: (null) Support
AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
NP_2020Player_IKEA: Version: 5.0.94.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
User Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
BrowserPlus_2.9.8: Version: 2.9.8 Support
fbplugin_1_0_3: Version: (null) Support
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
BrowserPlus Support
Flash Player Support
Perian Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
     7% syncdefaultsd
     0% launchservicesd
     0% launchd
     0% systemstatsd
     0% SystemUIServer
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
126 MB HP_Officejet_4620_series
30 MB Finder
28 MB ScreenSaverEngine
24 MB mds
24 MB WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
25 MB Free RAM
344 MB Active RAM
333 MB Inactive RAM
337 MB Wired RAM
9.71 GB Page-ins
146 MB Page-outs

could the launch agents failing slow the computer or they just don't work. I mean I am willing to upgrade ram but not if there is good chance it won't change speed much. Also to downgrade is it necessary to format the hard drive?

Make my computer run faster

I hope I can get some help here; Recently I purchased Fios in a hope that my computer would run faster after Fios instalation, but no difference at all, then I asked the technician at verizon, they forwarded me to another verizon department to register for a service which will help about the computer run better, and that is $14 a month.
Is there any other easy way or trick that makes your computer run faster, or what actually causes the computer to slow down? My friend told me that if you don't delete the long emails will slow it as well, is it true?
Any experienced input will be appreciated

There are a number of things that may help, but none of them are likely to help a great deal unless your computer is infected with one or more viruses/malware.
1). If any of your HDD's partitions FAT (as opposed to NTFS) format, defragmenting the disk may be helpful. In general NTFS partitions don't need to be defragmented.
2). Get rid of the temporary files. It is not uncommon for PC's to end up with literally gigabytes of temporary files. They are left over from software updates, installs, and Internet Explorer SNAFU's. (Do this BEFORE you Defragment the disk).
Most temporary files either live in directories called temp, have names that start with ~ and/or end with .tmp
3). Clean up the registry. While Windows will usually still run with a truly amazing number of registry errors, it usually runs better with a lot fewer of them. Software you see such as 'speed up my pc' advertised on Television are in fact registry 'cleaners'. The registry in windows is kind of the like telephone operator before the days of dial telephones. There are a number of commercial products that do this, but in general you are going to have to buy one.
4). Unless you are running Vista or Windows 7, try Verizon's high speed internet optimizer to tweak some of the internet settings for better performance.
5). Uninstall any software that you aren't using.
6). Use a good anti-virus/anti-malware/spyware program, and scan your HDD's on a regular basis for viruses and other malware.
Cleaning up your emails is very low on my list of things that are likely to be helpful.

Since upgrading to Yosemite my computer is so slow. It takes forever for a page to load. Any suggestions?

Since upgrading my MacBook Pro to Yosemite my computer is so slow. It takes forever for a page to load. Any suggestions?

Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:
1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
    b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
4. Reinstall Yosemite: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
5. Reinstall Yosemite from Scratch:
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
How to Clean Install OS X Yosemite
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

I was wondring if there is any top free app for cleaning up the computer and make it run faster while booting, on startup and while surfing web. I am using a macbookpro with IOS10.8.5, under chrome,safari,firefox net environment. thanks on yourhelp

I was wondering if there is any top free app for cleaning up the computer from malware, phinishing apps, adware, and othere malicious softwares and make it run faster while booting, on startup and while surfing web. I am using a Macbook pro with IOS10.8.5, under chrome,safari,firefox net environment. thanks on your help

I was wondering if there is any top free app for cleaning up ...
There is no such thing, since the problems you are describing can have various causes. Seeking anything claiming to "clean" your Mac is asking for trouble, since all of those products are scams, whether they are "free" or not.
If you are having trouble with your Mac, describe what it is. Be as specific as possible. For general recommendations read below.
There will always be threats to your information security associated with using any Internet - connected communications tool:
You can mitigate those threats by following commonsense practices
Delegating that responsibility to software is an ineffective defense
Assuming that any product will protect you from those threats is a hazardous attitude that is likely to result in neglecting point #1 above.
OS X already includes everything it needs to protect itself from viruses and malware. Keep it that way with software updates from Apple.
A much better question is "how should I protect my Mac":
Never install any product that claims to "clean up", "speed up", "optimize", "boost" or "accelerate" your Mac; to "wash" it, "tune" it, or to make it "shiny". Those claims are absurd.Such products are very aggressively marketed. They are all scams.
Never install pirated or "cracked" software, software obtained from dubious websites, or other questionable sources.
Illegally obtained software is almost certain to contain malware.
"Questionable sources" include but are not limited to spontaneously appearing web pages or popups, download hosting sites such as C net dot com, Softonic dot com, Soft pedia dot com, Download dot com, Mac Update dot com, or any other site whose revenue is primarily derived from junk product advertisements.
If you need to install software that isn't available from the Mac App Store, obtain it only from legitimate sources authorized by the software's developer.
Don’t supply your password in response to a popup window requesting it, unless you know what it is and the reason your credentials are required.
Don’t open email attachments from email addresses that you do not recognize, or click links contained in an email:
Most of these are scams that direct you to fraudulent sites that attempt to convince you to disclose personal information.
Such "phishing" attempts are the 21st century equivalent of a social exploit that has existed since the dawn of civilization. Don’t fall for it.
Apple will never ask you to reveal personal information in an email. If you receive an unexpected email from Apple saying your account will be closed unless you take immediate action, just ignore it. If your iCloud, iTunes, or App Store account becomes disabled for valid reasons, you will know when you try to buy something or log in to this support site, and are unable to.
Don’t install browser extensions unless you understand their purpose:Go to the Safari menu > Preferences > Extensions. If you see any extensions that you do not recognize or understand, simply click the Uninstall button and they will be gone.
Don’t install Java unless you are certain that you need it:
Java, a non-Apple product, is a potential vector for malware. If you are required to use Java, be mindful of that possibility.
Java can be disabled in System Preferences.
Despite its name JavaScript is unrelated to Java. No malware can infect your Mac through JavaScript. It’s OK to leave it enabled.
The same precaution applies to Adobe Flash Player. Newly discovered Flash vulnerabilities appear almost weekly.
Beware spontaneous popups: Safari menu > Preferences > Security > check "Block popup windows".
Popup windows are useful and required for some websites, but unsolicited popups are commonly used to deceive people into installing unwanted software they would never intentionally install.
Popups themselves cannot infect your Mac, but many contain resource-hungry code that will slow down Internet browsing.
If you ever receive a popup window indicating that your Mac is infected with some ick or that you won some prize, it is 100% fraudulent. Ignore it.
The same goes for a spontaneously appearing dialog insisting that you upgrade your video player right this instant. Such popups are frequently associated with sites that promise to deliver "free" movies or other copyrighted content that is not normally "free".
The more insistent it is that you upgrade or install something, the more likely it is to be a scam. Close the window or tab and forget it.
Ignore hyperventilating popular media outlets that thrive by promoting fear and discord with entertainment products arrogantly presented as "news". Learn what real threats actually exist and how to arm yourself against them:
The most serious threat to your data security is phishing. Most of these attempts are pathetic and are easily recognized, but that hasn't stopped prominent public figures from recently succumbing to this age-old scam.
OS X viruses do not exist, but intentionally malicious or poorly written code, created by either nefarious or inept individuals, is nothing new.
Never install something without first knowing what it is, what it does, how it works, and how to get rid of it when you don’t want it any more.
If you elect to use "anti-virus" software, familiarize yourself with its limitations and potential to cause adverse effects, and apply the principle immediately preceding this one.
Most such utilities will only slow down and destabilize your Mac while they look for viruses that do not exist, conveying no benefit whatsoever - other than to make you "feel good" about security, when you should actually be exercising sound judgment, derived from accurate knowledge, based on verifiable facts.
Do install updates from Apple as they become available. No one knows more about Macs and how to protect them than the company that builds them.
Summary: Use common sense and caution when you use your Mac, just like you would in any social context. There is no product, utility, or magic talisman that can protect you from all the evils of mankind.

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