After a while, MacBooks slow down and lose hard drive space. There are a few ways to clean and speed up your MacBook, but before engaging in any maintenance or repairs, always remember to back up your data in case any is lost in the process. 

1.      Check Log In Items

-You may notice that your MacBook boots up slower than before. The problem may simply be that it has too many applications to open during startup that it cannot load in a timely fashion. There are a lot of applications that open by default at startup, and you can fix this by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups > and then click on the Login items tab. A list of applications will appear, and you can check and uncheck applications that you want your MacBook to open during startup. 

2.      Identify and get rid of offending applications-Open the Activity Monitor. There are numbers that are constantly fluctuating, but they will show you how much CPU and memory resources the app is using. For example, you may notice that an app is taking up too many resources. You can choose to stop using the application, or just delete it completely. 

3.      Update your OS

-With the new Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, as your Mac reaches near maximum memory capacity, Mavericks compresses data from inactive apps to make more memory available. There are also new features called Timer Coalescing, and App Nap. The former groups low-level operations together to create some idle time for your CPU to rest. App Nap can see when apps are hidden behind other windows, and will slow them down to reduce the drain on your battery. 

4.      Add RAM

-The cheapest way to boost your MacBook's performance is to add more memory. Do not buy memory from Apple because it is very overpriced, charging $400 for 8GB of memory. You can find the same online for $50.