Anybody Know Mac Computers Here
 

Gonna go work on an Apple computer for a friend just to see if I can clear out some of the junk. It keeps lockin up and I suspect it's just bogged down with crap and hopin I can just clean it out. So I know what programs work well for these real computers but what ones do I use for this thing to clean up spyware and the registry. I'll also take any tips on how to clean up the RAM and Hard drive also. I don't know nothin about no Mac, never even turned one on.

Macs have no registry so you don't need to clean it out.

Does you friend have an external hard drive or other means of backing up important stuff (documents, photos, tunes, etc...)? If so, probably the most complete way to deal with the problem is to do a system restore (Google it--it's been so long, I can't remember how to do a restore), restore the OS to factory-new, then reinstall the aforementioned documents, photos, tunes, etc...

Of course if the problem isn't a software issue, you can always try cleaning out the history (in the Safari menu bar: History -> Clear History), clearing out the cookies (also in the Safari menu bar: Safari -> Preferences -> Show Cookies -> Clear All Cookies), and emptying the cache (Safari -> Empty Cache).

If the Mac is pokey b/c it's old, RAM is stupid-cheap right about now and is more RAM is always a good idea. These folks are the best place I've found (my sister and Mom are both using OWC RAM sticks):

Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC

Thanks for the info. They do have all their stuff backed up just don't know if they have all the install disk for the programs or not. I'll have to check on this.

If they don't have an external HD, tell them that the ones MacSales (OWC) sells are the cat's ass--my Mom has one of the aluminum versions and my sister has a portable and they are both awesome and work great with Time Machine (built-in backup utility with OS 10.5). I'm still using the Seagate USB2 external I saved when I ditched the old Dell PeeCee but sooner or later I'll be buying a FireWire800 drive from OWC since that cuts backup times waaaaaaaaaay down. In addition to my external HD, every 6 months or so I burn my photo library, iTunes library, and any documents/new applications to DVD's that go live in my fireproof box. That way even if Casa de JV takes a lightning strike or some other electrical catastrophe and my hard drives (internal and the external) get zapped, I can still recover that material.