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* Links to index-site.com are obsolete.  Please update any such links to macmaps.com.

If you are running 10.2 and higher, use the newer version of the Mac OS X speed FAQ.

Before doing any of these procedures to speed your Mac, learn how to
backup your data. It is not a question of if, but when your data will be lost.
 


Last Update Nov 22, 2023


Note, this is a work in progress, and I will accept commentary on this if you find something works better.
Most of this FAQ is outdated now that Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2) has been released.
However, since many of you may still have older versions of Mac OS X, this FAQ is here for your benefit.
Most notes regarding Mac OS 9 here will mention 9.2.2. 9.2.1 is very similar to 9.2.2 and you should take the notes regarding 9.2.2 with the same regard if you are running 9.2.1.


Classic environment is a stand alone application within Mac OS X
that let's you run Mac OS 9 or older programs without restarting your Mac while in Mac OS X.
The Classic environment is controlled from the Apple menu's System Preferences under Classic
when in Mac OS X. Classic may not run all the hardware you had running before when booting directly
into Mac OS 9. In which case you will want to use the Startup Disk System Settings to switch back to
Mac OS 9 for that hardware. You can always return using the Apple menu, control panels, startup disk.
Later in this page there are links to find out whether your hardware is supported by Mac OS X natively


For those running Jaguar, or 10.1, use Mac OS 9.2.1 or 9.2.2 as your Classic environment.
Note, those using Unsupported Utility to run 10.1 or higher on your system, Mac OS 9.2.2 or 9.2.1 may not work, and you should use 9.1 for Classic

For those running 10.0.0 through 10.0.4, you can use a minimum of 9.1 for your Classic environment.


For those who need to update from 9.0 these are the the updates:
Readme about 9.1 and visit this link to grab 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2. Macintosh Repository download links. Additional readmes available for the updates are on these links: Readme about 9.2.1, Readme about 9.2.2  



ALERT! iTunes 2.0 installer may cause damage to people who have partitioned their hard drive per my instructions below. Please look at the bottom of this page for more details.


Standard disclaimers apply...if you ruin your computer, I can not be held accountable for any loss of data.
Perform a backup of your data and have a backup plan for your hardware
before trying any procedure on this page.
These procedures only show personal experience, and may not be applicable in your situation, use at your own risk.
Note: When this document refers to Carbon and Cocoa applications, we are referring only to those applications that don't require the Classic environment to be running when they are open


Important

If you find a problem and it directly impacts Mac OS X itself, please post commentary to
http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback
As only then will Apple know there is something wrong with X, only one third of all bugs get reported
This is your chance to be a hero to people wanting to fix X but not able to find the reason why it is
having problems.
Apple does not support third party upgrade cards that give a machine a
G3 or G4 processor which before had a 604e or slower processor, and the information on this page does not
apply to those machines.


Numerous people have complained about Mac OS X's speed on several
bulletin boards, and I wanted to share with the net what I found works best on my
Powerbook G3/233 with 512k backside and 192MB of RAM, internal 12 GB Mobilestar 5400 RPM (model #DARA-212000)
IDE/33 hard drive. The specs for this machine are nothing spectacular compared to
most of the machines Mac OS X can run on, so seeing the complaints of Mac OS X's speed
and reading forums like Macfixit, I have decided to compile this list below of fixes that should improve X's Speed.
I divided it into two sections. Those tips that don't necessarily require a full reinstallation, and those that require a partitioned install. The first section can also be followed if you find it is slow after using the second section. A third section has some untried procedures I have found on the web.

Tips Index

Tips not requiring a full install:

Mac OS X only boosts

Installing with partitioning (Important note for iTunes 2.0) Tips for the adventurous - these are untried methods for the most part.


Tips not requiring a partitioned reinstall

Update to the latest Windowshade

Windowshade is a program used to recoup the Mac OS 8 through 9.2.2
capability of clicking on the window controls to present just the menubar of the window. For those who bought it earlier, they've made an
Upgrade for Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2). Symantec has provided updates since Mac OS 8.1 was released, but none of them have yet addressed
The issue that sometimes the bad btrees it detects and attempts to repair, are nothing more than an artifact of Extended File System, also known as HFS+.
The net result has been that through repeated repairs it may actually ruin your hard disk directory!

OpenGL and Quicktime support in older "supported" machines

Apple's Mac OS X 10.1.5 now supports ATI Rage Pro machines. Check the Apple System Profiler program to determine your graphics card.

Previously reported are: Knowledge Base article 106154
says that they are "investigating" OpenGL and Quicktime support on machines having certain videocards that currently are not seen by Mac OS X. Until the support is added, they recommend lowering the color depth of the monitor to 32,000 colors. Unfortunately this renders a lot of games unusable,
and software as well. Not only that, since OpenGL is one of the primary components of Mac OS X this means any routines
that require it in the Finder will not take advantage of 3-d or 2-d graphics acceleration from these videocards:
The machines impacted are "Mac OS X 10.0 and later, Power Macintosh G3 (Desktop, Mini Tower, and All-In-One models),
iMac (233, 266, and 333 MHz models), PowerBook G3 Series, PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze Keyboard), iBook (original)" (quoted from
above article). If you want this to be added, write Apple Mac OS X feedback,
and sign the Petition to have support added.
Granted, I have an affected machine and have seen little of consequence, but then again, I do not work with 2-d or 3-d games
that require graphics cards. I've submitted feedback and signed the petition in anycase. The good news is they are now "investigating" support, instead of saying it is "not planned." It would appear demand is finally being heard!

Monitor memory usage:

Memory usage used to require understanding command line based top command. No longer! Ellipses Production has made Memory Usage Getter. This lets you see exactly how much memory each program is usingÊwithout having to enter the command line environment, and without having to understand the archaic unix block memory usage statements. There is a Process Viewer application in the Applications's Utilities folder, and there is a CPU Monitor program there as well. The CPU Monitor program lets you launch Top from its Processes menu to see the old blocks usage monitor.

Keeping VM and Hard Disk Free space apart

Mac OS X requires a certain amount of hard disk space to be free relative to its Virtual Memory (VM) allocation. Partitioning the hard drive makes no difference when it comes to speeding X by increasing your available disk space over the VM allotment.
1. Check how much free disk space you have. Open any Finder window, a hard disk, or a folder, and show status bar in the View menu.
2. Compare this Available disk space to your VM size when you run top from the Terminal application.
2a. To get the Terminal application running,
b. Double click X's hard drive,
c. Double click the applications folder,
d. Double click the Utilities folder, and Double Click
Terminal.
e. At the terminal window type the word:

top

The following should appear:
Processes: 37 total, 2 running, 35 sleeping... 94 threads 17:59:43
Load Avg: 0.48, 0.62, 0.67 CPU usage: 22.4% user, 23.5% sys, 54.1% idl
SharedLibs: num = 71, resident = 15.3M code, 1.05M data, 4.09M LinkEdit
MemRegions: num = 1842, resident = 56.8M + 5.60M private, 47.9M shared
PhysMem: 24.6M wired, 29.4M active, 122M inactive, 176M used, 15.7M free
VM: 628M + 38.8M 8335(1) pageins, 0(0) pageouts

3. It is this last line "VM: 628M" you should pay close attention to. If the value is 80% of your free disk space or higher
you may run into slowdowns. In my case I had slightly under 1000MB free, and 800M in VM and I started seeing slowdowns.
So this requires you either clear up the X hard drive a little more, or get a larger hard disk
to run X
To finish running top, hit the q key, and exit the terminal
by typing logout, and quit from the Terminal application from the File menu. If this fixes your slowdown issues, then by all means
you are finished reading this FAQ.
 


Broadband speed optimizer

The Broadband Optimizer was able to increase the download speed of some sites in Omniweb by more than double on Cable. Not all sites are improved though...remember Java and plugins still are very processor and RAM dependent.

Finder View settings

Macosrumors found another nice speedup in the Finder, if you hit command (apple key)-J, and disable Global List view settings you should get a faster finder. To disable Global List view settings, hit the Global tab, select from the window's internal View pulldown menu Global List, and then uncheck all the show column items. I found also the View as Columns in the Finder's View menu also much faster than list
or icon View.


Disabling the Extensions

(* Note disabling the ATI extensions on 9.2.2 is not recommended if you have an ATI Rage 128 *)
From the defunct OSXFAQ.com discussion board this discussion came up.

Before starting Classic (If Classic is already running, shut it down from the System Preferences in the blue Apple menu, selecting the 9 icon, and shutting down Classic) disable the ATI extensions and OpenGL ATI extension by dragging items from the Mac OS 9 System Folder's Extensions Folder over to its Extensions Disabled folder (only should make a difference for those with ATI videocards, a few of the newer G4s have nVidia). * Note: Netscpae 4.7.6 users, there has been one report where disabling these extensions has made things slower in terms of scrolling through bookmark menus. You disable these by taking the System Folder you are using to load Mac OS 9.2.2 Classic and moving the extensions with ATI in their name over to the System Folder Extensions Disabled Folder. You may find other extensions in 9.2.2 that are not necessary. Stuffit Deluxe does not need its Stuffit Engine running, and Macpoet shouldn't be running in Classic since Mac OS X has its own PPPOE implementation. Previously I had reported that OpenGL and Quartz are possibly related, but several developers have told me otherwise. I saw a 5% increase in speed when Classic was running by disabling those ATI extensions above. Still the truth is, if the Finder takes less memory in 9.2.2, Classic itself will need less memory, and extensions themselves increase memory requirements.

If continue to find Classic particularly slow, link to the bottom of the page where I list all my extensions and control panels that are active.


Disabling Find By Content Indexing

Open Sherlock. Turn of Finder Indexing from the Sherlock menu:Preferences menu. Finder Indexing is unnecessary in X
Solutions exist to search files using Unix's Grep command at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
or using BBEdit, a very nice text editor/web page editor that runs about 100 USD.
 

Turn off Dock Magnification and not hiding the Dock

Dock Magnification has proved a significant slow down because it is heavily Quartz dependent. I might add, clicking on the Dock Divider allows you to resize the Dock manually whenever you want to. It is also more difficult to add items to folders on the Dock if the folder icons magnify when you try to drag things over them.


Also if you are hiding the Dock, one of its primary purposes of showing when an application is being launched is defeated.
One of the slowdowns many people will notice in X is that some applications do launch relatively slowly.
Wouldn't you rather know that the application is launching than sitting there waiting for a splash screen?
The Dock tells you that an application is launching by bouncing its icon. Even when Classic applications
are launched, they bounce once in the Dock, and if Classic isn't running, the Classic Startup application
shows up in the Dock. When concerned about speed, it is important to have feedback. No feedback means you
could get impatient thinking the machine has froze, when in fact it may just be loading Classic.
You can shrink the Dock using the divider between the Applications and Document sections of the Dock.


Disable Window shadows

If you don't mind a bit of an aesthetic corruption, Shadowkiller will remove the edge shadows from windows and menus.
 

Turn off Java in Carbon/Cocoa (Omniweb is Cocoa) web browsers, iCab, Explorer 5.1b1, and Omniweb.

Sadly they don't yet address Apple's Java 2.0 correctly, and at times, will try to load an applet
and get a beachball instead. Note, most web browsers if they start loading Java will show in the window's bottom that an Applet is
loading.
I suggest everyone write Apple Feedback
about this one, because it was an advertised feature on the box. Java 2.0 should work ALL the time.


Web browser support

Each web browser supports a different array of
standards, and many when you encounter a website that does not use the standards it understands will either freeze, cause extremely
slow rendering, or force quit the application. If you encounter a website that doesn't support the standards of your web browser,
bookmark it for later use in a different browser and test it there. Of course if you actually crash this might be hard to do, so keep a pencil and paper handy to write down any rogue website addresses. Write the authors of the web browsers to see if
they can support the standard question.
Also see the section on this page on Java


Cleaning the logfiles

Leaving the Mac on day and night will let daily, weekly, and monthly cleanings of logfiles and other temporary data that the system creates for itself. If you can't leave it on day and night because of frequent electrical outages, there is a utility which does this for you on your own time, though you need to remember the password you created for yourself when you first installed X to use it. You can run the Periodic Logfile Cleanup Applescript, or manually run the daily routines from the program residing in your Applications, Utilities directory called Terminal. Upon opening terminal type:

sudo sh /etc/daily
when it is done, type
logout

and select quit from the file menu.

Internet solutions


Be sure to check the Modem tab under Network in your Mac OS X System Preferences to make sure the modem
you have in your system is selected. Some Apple internal modems may be Global Village script compatible,
and I have made additional scripts available at my Modem scripts page.
Be sure to try all similar scripts to see if you can get a better speed and you are dialing up by modem.
I have also added a Mac OS X setup page for the ISP that hosts it. If you are interested in an internet index of over 250 Macintosh related sites, Feel free to stop by my Mac OS X links page.

Killing unnecessary background processes

Not for the weak at heart!
If you aren't using Speech in the System Preferences, or you want to install SETI @ Home both these programs can
slow down X, and this is true of other background applications. Mac OS 10.0.4 at least fixed the Speech settings on my Powerbook G3/233 with 512k backside. If you would like a version of SETI that does not hog your system, and haven't already gotten it for X you can download it from ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/setiathome/setiathome-3.03.powerpc-apple-darwin1.2.tar . Then you can use SETI Dockling to monitor your progress in the Mac OS X Dock. Still to find out if there are programs you installed that you no longer need that are running, you can "kill" them using this procedure. Be very careful, if you don't know what an application does, don't try to kill it. A few programs can only be killed by rebooting into 9.2.2 (since you don't have permission to stop them). You should search for their names using Sherlock in 9.2.2.

You can kill a process from the Applications/Utilities/Processviewer, or if you don't mind the old Unix method to kill an application:
1. Double click the hard drive X is installed on, Applications folder, and Utilities folder.
2. Double click Terminal
3. Type at the % prompt: ps -ax | more
(that | sign is on the key with the \ slash)
You should get in your window something like this:

PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND 1 ?? SLs 0:00.06 /sbin/init
2 ?? SL 0:01.17 /sbin/mach_init
38 ?? Ss 0:01.28 kextd
50 ?? Ss 0:16.20 /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framew
56 ?? Ss 5:08.66 /System/Library/CoreServices/WindowServer
58 ?? Rs 0:02.19 update
62 ?? Ss 0:00.01 dynamic_pager -H 40000000 -L 160000000 -S 80000000 -F
89 ?? Ss 0:00.26 autodiskmount -v -a
110 ?? Ss 0:01.08 configd
118 ?? Ss 0:00.02 ipconfigd
155 ?? Ss 0:00.15 syslogd
159 ?? Ss 0:00.01 portmap
162 ?? Ss 0:00.02 nibindd
163 ?? S 0:00.16 netinfod local (master)
170 ?? Ss 0:00.62 lookupd
179 ?? Ss 0:01.05 ntpd -f /var/run/ntp.drift -p /var/run/ntpd.pid
184 ?? Ss 0:00.07 DesktopDB
189 ?? Ss 0:00.00 inetd
198 ?? S 0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
199 ?? S 0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
200 ?? S 0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
201 ?? S 0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
more
Note the PID number in the column to the left of an application you want to kill.
If you don't see the program you want to kill hit the spacebar to see the next page of processes (If "more" does not appear,
and you are greeted by the % and the cursor you see all the processes that are open)
At the percent prompt % type:
kill -15 PID where PID is the number of the process you want to kill.
(i.e. if I wanted to kill the /System/Library/CoreServices/WindowServer process I'd type:
kill -15 50 (use kill -9 only if kill -15 doesn't work)
Not that I'd want to do that!
Still you might find the Speech process there and you aren't using speech recognition, and
you want to kill that. Sometimes though you will get a process you can't kill because it is a "root" process, and you don't
have permission to kill it. That's a GOOD thing, except when it is a process like the SETI process which installs itself as
root in its present slower version.
When you are done with the Terminal, you can type at the % prompt: logout
Then you can quit the application from the Terminal menu on the top menubar.



Turning off Classic

Turn off Classic OK, this isn't for everyone, but for those who are ready and have all Carbon and Cocoa drivers and applications.
System Preferences, Select the orange 9 icon, and click the button to shut it down.
As fast as the above may have made, you will wish it wasn't so fast now! Classic may
sometimes be faster than 9.2.2...but once you have Mac OS X standing on its own with no Classic
What a world of difference it makes. Your mileage may vary. There are several very good listings of Mac OS X natively compatible applications on this separate page of Macmaps.com.


If none of these tips appear to work, I recommend
the following installation procedures and then returning to the top of the tips not requiring a full install section:


 

Download RBrowser

RBrowser is an FTP program, but if you cancel out of FTP it acts as a great stand alone multicolumn FInder
Scrolling on it is actually faster on a G4 iMac than the regular Finder which is rather remarkable,
it has an Info toolbar icon which has been suggested as a possible new feature for Mac OS X 10.2,
And the info window has a Tools tab which lets you take the info of a document and open it with an application from the tools tab
Some may even replace their Finder with RBrowser. Others may find it slower on their machines than the Finder
Your mileage may vary.

Updating to the latest Carbonlib

According to Apple, "The CarbonLib update delivers improved performance and reliability for Carbon-based applications on Mac OS 8.6 and all Mac OS 9 releases, including Classic."

Install with partitions


Please read iTunes 2.0 alert first

For those who haven't installed X and are worried about the speed, I highly recommend you set aside at least 3 GB of your hard disk to install X, so you have at least 1.5 GB free when the installation is complete. Depending on how much more software you expect installing, increase that free space amount by a proportional amount.
1. Backup all your data. - We are about to erase your hard disk, but only so that it runs more smoothly.
2. Make sure you have enough RAM. - When your computer starts up, select the rainbow colored Apple icon menu in the upper left corner
and pick "About this Computer" or "About this Macintosh", and in the window that appears you will see built-in memory. RAM is cheap nowadays,
and if you don't have at least 128MB of RAM, and preferably at least 192MB of RAM you won't see much benefit from Mac OS X.
There are four stores you can shop for RAM that I know are reliable: Macsolutions, The Chip Merchant, Crucial, and Techworks,
all of which can have their prices compared on RAM Seeker.
If you have recently added the 4.1.7, or 4.1.8 firmware, make sure with the RAM vendor they have RAM that works with that Apple firmware update.
There is a test called Dimm First Aid to see if you already have RAM that doesn't support Mac OS X.
3. Boot from the 9.2.2 CD included with X. Reformat your hard drive, using Drive setup
on the 9.2.2 CD, to two partitions, the first should be between 3 GB and 8 GB but not larger than 8.
To run X at its best speed, at least 1 GB of hard disk space needs to free on the same partition you install the 1.5 GB
OS. You can put X applications and documents on any hard disk, and the same is true with Classic.
According to Apple, Macs requiring the 8 GB partition are the PowerBook G3 Series, Power Macintosh G3 Desktop, Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower, Power Macintosh G3 All-in-One,the Macintosh Server G3, and the
iMacs Rev A through D (the last being the 333 Mhz one).
NOTE: DO NOT USE UFS FORMATTING, only use HFS+. Unless you already have an entire Carbon or Cocoa application and driver library for all your needs (not likely for awhile), in that case you don't need to follow any more instructions HFS+ is a must if you are going to use Classic.

4. Clean install 9.2.2 onto the second partition and restart. We are clean installing 9.2.2 as this gives the optimal extension set to start working from when using Mac OS X's Classic.

5. Open Extensions Manager we need to disable some items which slow down Mac OS X.
Go to the File menu, duplicate the base 9.2.2 set this unlocks the base extension set, and allows us to remove or add items to it.
6. Disable Appletalk from the Appletalk control panel. - If you don't have an Appletalk
LAN, this will improve things even more...go to the rainbow colored Apple menu, select control panels, select Appletalk.
If it asks you do you want to turn it on when you leave, answer no. otherwise open the Options button and check the Off button
7. Put in the Mac OS X CD in and run the installer It restarts the machine to the installer program.
8. Install X onto the first partition. Restart when done. Mac OS X runs better if items work in separate partitions.


9. Download Mouse Zoom:
Mousezoom's Versiontracker page: A friend with an iMac 700 Mhz tried connect his Microsoft Intellimouse to the Mac
which had 10.1 preloaded. Turns out it tracked very slowly. After using this software it fixed his problem with
tracking on both his regular Apple mouse and the Microsoft Intellimouse.

10. Install the 10 Updaters. (users who came directly to this point with the Tips Index may return after downloading the update:
Run the updaters for software:

10.1.5 update to 10.1.3 or 10.1.4

10.1.5 update to 10.1, 10.1.1, 10.1.2 (be sure to install any prerequisite updates listed on the page if not already installed and you have 10.1.0
Additional Updates for Mac OS 9 and X can be found at article 106713
Some people find it easier to download from those sites than using the Apple Software Update.
11. Copy back your old applications and documents from your backup.
Do not copy over the extensions yet from your backup until you test each application to see if it needs
extra extensions. Play around a bit with X, and if you feel it isn't fast enough for you still, there are tips above.

For the more adventurous

(not all these tips have been tested) In the Applications/Utilities/Terminal
(the path to the program that opens the window to type this in). sudo commands enable
root access temporarily, and it is recommended you only use it when not connected to the internet.
window:

Renice

Renicer is a new GUI utility for the Renice command, does not appear to work in 10.1.3, though did work in 10.1.2.
Macintouch.com reader reports that this command also helps make VirtualPC 5.0.1 run faster, though other reports say on VirtualPC 5.0.2 renice has no effect.
In Terminal type:
sudo renice -19 -p `ps -ax | grep WindowServer | cut -c1-5 | sort | head -1`

those are left single quotes as found under the ~ key before the ps and after the -1
you can do promote any application, after finding its name using ps -ax | more, in this case above the application name is called WindowServer
and promote it from 1 to 19, 19 being the top of the list for processing information.
Renices should be done each time you open a program.
These two commands should really only be used on hard drives that have already been tested for fragmentation and passed.

Prebinding tip


WARNING!! WARNING!!
Under the wrong conditions, prebinding, which is a standard step in Mac OS X security and system updates, can wipe your system. According to Unsanity, there is a bug which allows it to delete items that are in use during an update. Another reason why I strongly recommend you backup your data prior to performing any system update. In fact, if you don't backup, it is not a question of if, but when your data will be lost, so please read my FAQ on backing up before running into this bug.

The normal command from the command line for Prebinding is:

sudo update_prebinding -root / (Note, this is done when you update to Mac OS X 10.0.3, and 10.0.4 automatically!)

re-optimizes after an update
sudo redo_prebinding -root / (Not available in Mac OS X 10.0.4)


For more info on what Prebinding does, check the Man page on Prebinding, and Prebinding Explained by the author of XOptimize.

Repairing hard disk


IMPORTANT: be sure to have a backup of all your data before attempting any repair
In Terminal type
sudo shutdown now
password
fsck -y

when its finished either

halt (for shutdown)


or

reboot (for reboot)"


Another method which should work:
"Restart in Mac OS X, hold down the command (apple) and "s" keys until you see white text an a black background scrolling by. When everything stops moving type "fsck -y" and repeat until it doesn't say "Filesystem was modified" anymore. Then type "reboot" to, well, restart back into Mac OS X, now *with* GUI." (special thanks to one of the signers of the guestbook for this procedure).
A third method of repair can be done by restarting with the Mac OS X CD. To do this, use System Preferences to select your 9.2.2 startup disk,
and restart. Put in the Mac OS X and run the installer. Once the Mac OS X CD has booted, go to the File menu and select Disk Utility.
Run the repair option.

Creating a swap file


ALERT, partitioned hard drives may lose data with iTunes 2.0 installation, but not iTunes 2.0.1
A new utility called Swap Cop (no longer available from developer) which eases
the making of a separate swapfile came out. A word of warning, someone on Versiontracker reports file permissions might get really messed up by this program.
Still it is a utility to watch.

One article on Macosxhints says swap partitions may not always be the best solution, and I recommend reading this first.
 

Creating RAM Disk

Creating a RAM Disk will optimize the speed of applications which fit inside the RAM Disk. A very interesting discussion about doing this is going on in Mac OS X Hints. Note, physical memory is much quicker than hard disks, and hence anything that will run directly on RAM Disk will benefit from the speed of RAM. Physical memory access times are around 80 nanoseconds (8 x 10^-8), whereas hard disk access times are around 8 milliseconds (8 x 10^-6). As you can see here, there is a factor of about 100 where physical memory can help out. Though since a lot of applications base their operations on fonts and peripheral access, they won't always get the full benefit of extra RAM. Detaching non-essential hardware can also speed your computer up, though on SCSI and ADB machines, you don't want to replug in peripherals without first shutting down the computer. USB and Firewire though are hot pluggable.

Download and run Tinkertool


Download Tinkertool, select Desktop tab, uncheck show rectangle effect when opening files.
Some may remember, this kind of effect is very similar to Mac OS 7 through 9s Zoom rectangles.
For some, having the surprise of the window appearing without warning may make X feel faster
just because it is without warning at all! Perception is reality.



Active Extensions and Control Panels

This is the active set of control panels and extensions under Mac OS 9.2.2 I found works to get the best speed.
Others may work as well, but these appear to work very well together in Classic mode in Mac OS X.
And yes, you don't need the Modem control panel or remote access control panel to get X to
recognize you have a modem or to get Classic apps to see your modem. That was a real surprise!
You may compare these to extensions and control panels you currently have enabled. If you find an extension
or control panel in your set that is enabled that doesn't appear in this list, see if you can do without it,
it may be X has a driver that supports the extension in question. Every extension X has to duplicate in
hardware access may slow down your system if it is also running in Classic.
(X doesn't have extensions or control panels per se, but the equivalent in X would be drivers.)


Number of files found = 73

File Name Version File size Last modification date
Lexmark Z52 Control Panel 1.1f6 1.52 MB 8/13/2000 at 10:16:41 AM
MacLinkPlus Setup 17.0 52K 8/9/2000 at 1:05:46 PM
MacLinkPlus Setup CW 9.7 48K 1/12/2001 at 9:09:46 AM
PowerBook Display 7.5d8 8K 7/7/2000 at 9:15:28 AM
Appearance 1.1.4 624K 8/26/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Menu Options 1.1.8 76K 4/26/2001 at 6:26:22 PM
AppleTalk 1.1 212K 10/1/1996 at 12:00:00 PM
ColorSync 3.0.3 112K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Date & Time 8.3 144K 9/15/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Energy Saver 3.0.2 144K 10/30/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Extensions Manager 4.0.4 172K 4/2/2001 at 7:19:19 PM
File Exchange 3.0.4 596K 9/23/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
File Sharing 9.0.2 520K 9/27/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
File Synchronization 1.2 460K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
General Controls 8.0.1 48K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
Infrared 2.4 124K 9/22/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Internet 1.0.2 268K 9/12/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Keyboard 8.5.2 92K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Keychain Access 2.2 692K 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Location Manager 2.0.1 372K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Memory 8.1.3 84K 9/27/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Monitors 8.6.1 112K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Mouse 8.1.1 60K 8/10/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Multiple Users 1.2.2 856K 1/3/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Numbers 7.1 16K 8/17/1992 at 12:00:00 PM
Password Security 2.0 228K 3/18/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
PowerBook SCSI Disk Mode 1.0 16K 3/18/1998 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ Settings 4.1.1 132K 3/30/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Software Update 1.2 204K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Sound 8.5.2 352K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Startup Disk 9.2 188K 3/27/2001 at 10:28:59 PM
TCP/IP 2.5 288K 8/3/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Text 8.0 16K 7/20/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Trackpad 9.0.4 120K 6/1/2000 at 12:00:00 PM

Extensions

File Name Version File size Last modification date
ETSerial 1.0f11 260K 11/20/2000 at 6:03:20 PM
jflashgen n/a 2.47 MB 11/20/2000 at 6:03:21 PM
Lexmark Z52 Color 1.1f6 244K 8/13/2000 at 10:18:33 AM
Lexmark Z52 Formatter 1.1f6 36K 8/13/2000 at 10:18:04 AM
Lexmark Z52 Help 1.1f6 420K 8/13/2000 at 10:18:26 AM
MacLinkPlus for Easy Open 17.0 272K 11/3/1999 at 11:16:12 AM
Microsoft Clipboard Library 1.0f19 156K 8/3/2000 at 5:53:55 PM
Microsoft Component Library 2.3 60K 7/20/2000 at 6:34:23 PM
Microsoft Internet Library 5.0.3f1 2 MB 7/17/2000 at 6:01:35 PM
Microsoft OLE Automation 2.3 672K 7/26/2000 at 7:36:13 PM
Microsoft OLE Library 2.3 736K 7/20/2000 at 6:34:23 PM
Microsoft Structured Storage 2.3 440K 7/20/2000 at 6:34:23 PM
Voxware Sound Component v1.5 1.5.2f2 840K 3/7/2001 at 3:37:29 PM
EM Extension 4.0.5 8K 8/26/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Audio Extension 1.2.2 616K 10/16/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple CD/DVD Driver 1.4 116K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Color SW Pro CMM 1.0.1 40K 4/26/1995 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Enet 2.4.2 520K 10/31/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Guide 2.5.2 828K 3/25/2001 at 7:15:22 PM
Apple Modem Tool 1.5.7 172K 6/10/1998 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Monitor Plugins 2.0.4 932K 10/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple Photo Access 5.3.3 160K 10/2/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple QD3D HW Driver 1.6 16K 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Apple QD3D HW Plug-In 1.6 44K 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
AppleScript 1.6 788K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
AppleShare 3.8.9 592K 3/27/2001 at 10:28:59 PM
Application Switcher 1.0 88K 8/3/1998 at 12:00:00 PM
Audio CD Access 5.2 16K 8/20/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
CarbonLib 1.2 3.48 MB 3/27/2001 at 10:28:51 PM
Classic RAVE 1.7 64K 4/2/2001 at 7:25:04 PM
Color Picker 2.1.1 492K 9/23/1997 at 12:00:00 PM
Color SW 1500 2.2.1 812K 9/11/1996 at 12:00:00 PM
Color SW 2500 2.3 816K 10/17/1996 at 12:00:00 PM
Color SW Pro 1.5.2 404K 11/29/1994 at 12:00:00 PM
ColorSync Extension 3.0.3 832K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Contextual Menu Extension 1.0.2 76K 7/23/1997 at 12:00:00 PM
CSW 6000 Series 3.1.1 1.48 MB 6/24/1997 at 12:00:00 PM
Default Calibrator 3.0.3 232K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Desktop Printer Spooler 2.2.1 72K 8/21/1998 at 12:00:00 PM
Desktop PrintMonitor 2.2.1 80K 4/26/2001 at 5:28:02 PM
DNSPlugin 1.1.3 120K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
DrawSprocketLib 1.7.5 120K 7/20/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
DVD Decoder Library 1.3 416K 9/14/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
DVD PC Card Enabler 1.3 36K 9/14/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
DVD Region Manager 1.0 24K 4/26/2001 at 5:25:11 PM
FBC Indexing Scheduler 3.0.2 36K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
File Sharing Extension 7.6.8 200K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
File Sharing Library 9.0.2 68K 9/27/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Find By Content 3.0.2 516K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
FireWire Enabler 2.7 116K 10/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
FireWire Support 2.7 256K 10/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Folder Actions 1.5.5 32K 10/31/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
FontSync Extension 1.0 132K 9/2/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Foreign File Access 5.3.3 40K 10/2/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Heidelberg CMM 3.0.1 184K 3/7/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
HID Library 1.4.1 24K 2/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
HTMLRenderingLib 1.0.4 472K 10/6/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
ImageWriter 7.0.1 48K 3/4/1992 at 12:00:00 PM
InputSprocket Extension 1.7.3 504K 12/7/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Internal V.90 Modem 1.0 12K 8/20/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Internet Config Extension 2.0.7 112K 9/20/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
IrDA Tool 2.4 40K 9/22/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
IrDALib 2.4 296K 9/22/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
IrLanScannerPPC 2.3 8K 1/13/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
ISO 9660 File Access 5.3.3 20K 10/2/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
LaserWriter 300/LS 1.2 312K 6/30/1993 at 12:00:00 PM
LaserWriter 8 8.7.1 640K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
LDAP Client Library 1.0 268K 8/2/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
LDAPPlugin 1.1.3 80K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Lexmark Z52 1.1f6 2.82 MB 4/26/2001 at 6:25:29 PM
Location Manager Extension 2.0 76K 10/27/1997 at 12:00:00 PM
MacinTalk 3 1.4 352K 4/17/1995 at 12:00:00 PM
MacinTalk Pro 1.4 792K 5/18/1995 at 11:00:00 AM Multi-User Startup 1.3.1 160K 10/2/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
NBP Plugin 1.1.3 36K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
NetSprocketLib 1.7.1 160K 8/18/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Network Setup Extension 1.2 524K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
NSL UI Library 1.1.3 644K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Open Transport 2.7.5 1.20 MB 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
Open Transport ASLM Modules 2.7.5 584K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
OpenGLEngine 1.2 700K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
OpenGLLibrary 1.2 220K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
OpenGLMemory 1.2 16K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
OpenGLRenderer 1.2 2.70 MB 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
OpenGLUtility 1.2 216K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
OpenTpt Remote Access 4.0.1 952K 4/2/2001 at 7:25:07 PM
PowerBook G3 Series Modem 1.0.2 40K 12/14/1998 at 12:00:00 PM
Printer Share 1.1.3 80K 4/26/2001 at 5:24:55 PM
PrintingLib 8.7.1 884K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:01 PM
PrintMonitor 7.1.2f1 64K 4/8/2001 at 9:31:55 AM
QD3DCustomElements 1.6 20K 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickDraw™ 3D 1.6 1.21 MB 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickDraw™ 3D IR 1.6 212K 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickDraw™ 3D RAVE 1.7 276K 3/27/2001 at 10:29:03 PM
QuickDraw™ 3D Viewer 1.6 124K 4/16/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime DV Update 4.1.3 112K 10/20/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime FireWire DV Enabler 2.2 16K 3/21/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime FireWire DV Support 2.2 180K 3/21/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ 4.1.2 1 MB 4/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ MPEG Extension 1.1.2 272K 5/26/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ Musical Instruments 4.1.1 2 MB 3/30/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ PowerPlug 4.1.2 1.75 MB 4/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
QuickTime™ VR 2.3 340K 12/13/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Security Cert Module 2.2 312K 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Security Library 2.2 1 MB 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Security Manager 2.2 296K 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Security Policy Module 2.2 196K 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Security Storage Module 2.2 572K 9/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Serial (Built-in) 1.3.3 72K 10/22/1997 at 12:00:00 PM
Serial Tool 1.0.2a1 36K 12/21/1992 at 4:00:00 PM
SerialShimLib 1.4.6 24K 10/17/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Shared Library Manager 2.0.2 168K 8/4/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
Shared Library Manager PPC 2.0.2 208K 8/4/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
SLPPlugin 1.1.3 216K 10/11/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Software Update Engine 1.2 764K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Software Update Scheduler 1.2 64K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
SOMobjects™ for Mac OS 2.0.8 136K 9/14/1996 at 12:00:00 PM
Sound Manager 3.6.5 264K 3/30/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
SoundSprocket Filter 1.7.1 76K 9/8/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
SoundSprocketLib 1.7.1 24K 9/8/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
System Monitor Plugins 8.6.1 284K 9/25/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Text Encoding Converter 1.6 872K 10/5/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
Text Tool 1.0.1 28K 4/5/1991 at 12:00:00 PM
Time Synchronizer 8.3 56K 9/15/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
TTY Tool 1.0.1 64K 4/2/1991 at 12:00:00 PM
Type 1 Scaler 1.0.1 548K 12/21/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
UDF Volume Access 1.5.3 368K 7/27/1999 at 12:00:00 PM
URL Access 2.2.1 496K 11/1/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
USB Device Extension 1.4.1 428K 2/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
USB Mass Storage Support 2.0.4 152K 2/15/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
USB Printer Sharing Extension 1.0.1 292K 10/9/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
USB Software Locator 1.4.1 20K 2/18/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
USB Support 1.4.1 152K 2/24/2000 at 12:00:00 PM
VT102 Tool 1.0.2 160K 4/2/1991 at 12:00:00 PM
XMODEM Tool 1.1 68K 12/22/1992 at 12:00:00 PM

Important Note for iTunes 2.0

For those who partition their hard drive and name their hard drive names with spaces, and install iTunes 2.0
instead of iTunes 2.0.2 you run the risk of losing ALL the data on your hard disk. While Apple recommends using
Norton Utilities, I highly discourage it. Apple at least recommends Techtools as well for data recovery, and that is
fine.
Apple is aware of the bug, and that's why they released iTunes 2.0.2.
Return to Full installation instructions for Mac OS X


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