Macbook Pro update Qs

ksphoto

Hey, i was wondering if someone could help me with a querie i have, i may be the only person in the world who doesn't know this but I have a Macbook Pro (several years old at this point) and its recently taken to running very slowly. The actual applications as well as the internet.

I've been told this could be something to do with it needing an update, is this the Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion thing i keep seeing and hearing about?
My macbook is the 10.5.8 version...

Should i be purchasing one of these (which?) and using it to update my mac?

Sad Professor

10.5 is Leopard. Updating to a newer OS won't necessarily solve your problem.

The machine running slow may be due to a number of factors. Can you tell us exactly what machine it is? If you aren't sure, go to Apple menu > About this Mac and tell us what the processor and memory is.

Have you anything installed that might be slowing the system down? Something that might be running in the background? If you open Activity Monitor you should be able to see if there's anything using up a lot of CPU.

You should also open Disk Utility and verify the hard disk and repair disk permissions. If the machine is particularly slow to boot up and launch applications then that might suggest hard drive failure.

ksphoto

Hey, thanks for your reply!

In the About Mac section it says Processor: 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Memory: 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3, Startup Disk: Macintosh HD. Does that help any?

I know that running applications in the background can slow it down, but for the life of my i cant think what it could be, i have Adobe applications open some of the time but it runs equally slowly when i have them all shut down.
Where can i access this Activity Monitor and what should i be looking for?

Thanks again!

Sad Professor

Specs are fine. No reason the machine should be slow.

You'll find Activity Monitor in Applications > Utilities. Just click the CPU column so that processes with the highest CPU usage are at the top. If you have a rogue process it'll be consistently be eating up a lot of CPU.

ksphoto

Hiya, thanks again for getting back to me, i followed your instructions and took a screen shot of what it came up with, does it mean anything to you? (I lack tech savvy-ness I'm afraid).

If there is no clear reason for the slowness do you know other reasons that might cause it? Or know anyone/company/fixer person who i could contact and see if they were able to help at all?

Sad Professor

That list is lowest to highest. Click on the CPU column again so that the highest CPU users come first.

ksphoto

Ah, sorry, is this the right way?

Sad Professor

Looks okay.

Did the hard drive check out okay in Disk Utility?

ksphoto

I'm not sure tbh...tried to verify it awhile ago and so far its still verifying.... What should i be looking for when/if it finishes?
If i were to bring this slow mac problem to someone to get them to have a look, would you be able to recommend anyone?

Sad Professor

It can take a while to verify. It's best to leave it alone while it's doing it. If there's a problem with the hard drive the verification will fail.

Is the machine slow to boot up?

ksphoto

Hiya, sorry for the delay there, yep it verified in the end. No problem there. It doesn't seem particularly slow to boot up. Though i am guilty of often not shutting it off and just closing the lid. Could this have something to do with it? Its very slow when am on the internet also, where if i so much as move the mouse the little rainbow wheel will start spinning. Only for a second or two but still. It happens far more then it should.

Any thought on what could be the problem?

opinion guy

Did you install any new software around the time this started happeneing ?

ksphoto

Nope, i haven't really installed anything on it in ages, which led me to think it might need updating?

I think the only things iv installed or like, divx player, flash player etc. Other then that no big installations have taken place.