10 steps to a happier Mac

It's a common cry, what can I do to keep my Mac happy. To make the most of it and give it the longest possible useful life. Well here in ten steps are some simple things that should keep your Mac useful for longer than you would have thought.

1. 1. Ramp up the RAM. Use MacTracker to find out how much RAM your Mac can take, and if you can, max it out. Obviously in a MacPro this can be a painfull experience so lets not get carried away, but realistically Mini, iMac or laptop should be running at max RAM or 4 gigs if possible.
2. 2. Update your OS. Lots of older G4 iMacs are still running the original system (10.2) and 10.3 is remarkably common. Any G4 or even G3 should be on 10.4.11 now, at the very least this allows you to run the current version of Safari which keeps the web running on your Mac.
3. 3. Clear out the clutter. Older Macs with smaller drives can be getting pretty full. Remember OS X likes 10-15% of drive space free. Even a 120GB drive can get chokker with music and pictures.
4. 4. Fit a bigger, faster drive. If you can't find space, then make space. On desktops drives of 250GB are now very well priced. Older Macs with IDE drives may struggle to get the bigger sizes but look at 250-500GB or 160-250GB on laptops.
5. 5. See the bigger picture. Desktop owners, still stuck with that old screen. LC prices have plummitted recently so that15in screen you got years ago could easily be changed for a 20 or een 24in one. Makes your Mac feel like new. Still got a CRT, then bin it now. It uses energy and makes your mac feel old if nothing else.
6. 6. Still using iPhoto 2? Apples iLife suite has come a looong way in the past few years. OK so your older Mac will never fly but it will run the current version of iLife (or most parts anyway). It's only £70 and it wil make you very happy.
7. 7. Keyboard looking tired and shabby. It's surprisingly simple to spruce it up. Individual keys are available for most keyboards. Laptops particularly can suffer from lost keys. Fix it up and your whole machine looks and feels better. Then get some foam cleaner. Elbow grease and bingo.
8. 8. Better optical drive. Lots of G4 and G5 Macs were victims of Apples strategy of offering lower spec Macs with CD drives only. Luckily you can always fix this and an all singing all dancing DVD writing drive doesn't cost the earth. If you don't fancy cracking open your Mac, get an external drive. The ability to watch dvd's on an older Mac or write them will make your Mac feel much more useful.
9. 9. Lights, camera… All currenti iMacs and laptops have built in cameras, but your older Mac needn't miss out. Most windows web cams will work with a Mac, or for the style conscious, pick up an Apple iSight camera from ebay.
10. 10. Slim down your system. Older Macs do struggle with the newer tricks that Apple has added to the OS. If you feel your Mac is struggling help it along. Disable things you don't really need or use such as the dashboard. If you use ethernet to connect to your router, turn wireless off. Loose Bluetooth, file sharing, or other unwanted services. You can even switch off transparency effects in the finder. Third party apps such as Tinkertool or Cocktail can help you do this.