Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™ for Dummies®

Chapter 20. Almost Ten Ways to Speed Up Your Mac Experience

This chapter is for speed demons only. At some time in their Mac lives, most users have wished that their machines would work faster — even those with new Macs with multiple processors. I can't help you make your processors any faster, but here's where I cover some ways to make your Mac at least seem faster. Better still, most of these tips won't cost you one red cent.

Note

Because this is the infamous Part of Tens, the powers that be require the word "ten" in the chapter title. But try as I might, I couldn't come up with ten ways to speed up your Mac. The eight tips that follow were the best I could do. So, if you think of another one (or two) great ways to speed up your Mac, please send them to me at: [e-mail]. If your suggestion is really good I'll include it in the next printing and give you full credit for thinking of it!

Use Those Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts (see Table 20-1 for a way-groovy list of the most useful ones) can make navigating your Mac a much faster experience compared with constantly using the mouse, offering these benefits:

• If you use keyboard shortcuts, your hands stay focused on the keyboard, reducing the amount of time that you remove your hand from the keyboard to fiddle with the mouse.

• If you memorize keyboard shortcuts with your head, your fingers will memorize them, too.

• The more keyboard shortcuts you use, the faster you can do what you're doing.

Trust me when I say ...