Most Mac’s system settings are found in System Preferences. You can manage these settings to enhance productivity and efficiently use your Mac. However, you don’t need all the settings on your computer, and it would be best to turn them off.
Also, some settings on Mac, when turned on, can impact system performance and result in system slowdown. So keep reading to discover the settings you can disable to speed up system performance and boost your productivity.
Table of Contents
Turn off Sleep Mode
Extending Mac’s battery life is the foremost concern of most users. There are even apps and tools developed particularly for this purpose. Although the latest Macs provide up to twenty-one hours of battery life, the battery capacity gradually reduces as you use your system.
That’s why most users turn on the sleep mode on Macs so that the screen automatically becomes dimmed and completely black. However, if you want your system to stay awake at all times, here’s how to keep MacBook from sleeping.
- Go to System Preferences > Battery
- Drag the Turn Display Off After slider to Never
Put off Redundant System Services
The System Services are found in the Location Services menu and run in the background, resulting in battery drain.
Click the Apple logo > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > click the Lock icon > enter your Mac’s password or Touch ID to allow the changes > click on the Details tab next to System Services > uncheck the services except for Time Zone & System Customizations and Find My Mac.
The unnecessary services are now disabled, and you can enjoy extended Mac battery life.
Switch off Unnecessary Notifications
Incessant notifications can drive you crazy. Will you work or respond to notifications?
Tinkering with Mac settings can help remove distractions and focus on your work.
Manage notifications and turn off the notifications you don’t need by opening System Preferences > Notifications tab > choose the application you don’t want to show you notifications and switch the toggle button off.
If your Mac is running Ventura, follow the above mentioned steps to turn off notifications. You can also create customized Focus modes to remove distractions.
Stop Seeing Personalized ads
With privacy and security a significant concern, most people don’t enjoy ad tracking. But, as you might be aware, ad tracking results in advertisers monitoring users’ browsing history, location, and apps in the background so they can provide targeted ads.
Besides being a significant privacy concern, ad tracking drains the battery and may affect the performance of your system. So you can limit ad tracking for your peace of mind.
Click the Apple logo > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Apple Advertising > Analytics > uncheck the Personalized Ads box.
Stop Unnecessary apps from launching at Startup
Login items or startup programs automatically launch when you switch on your Mac. However, you might not need all the login items.
When there are unnecessary login items, it can impact the boot time and might even affect your device’s performance.
You can remove startup programs by navigating to the System Preferences app > Users & Groups > Login Items tab > click the minus button and remove the programs. If you need any of the removed programs and want to add them to the login items list, you can follow the same steps but click the plus sign this time.
Turn off Location Access
Did you know that most apps track your location? If you don’t want the app developers or advertisers to know your whereabouts, you can change some apps’ permissions.
Go to the System Preferences app > Security & Privacy section > Location Services > click the lock icon and enter your password to make changes > uncheck the apps you don’t want to track your location > click the lock icon again.
If you are running macOS Ventura and want to switch off location services for specific apps, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > use the toggle buttons to prohibit or allow applications to see your location.
Turn off Mac Analytics
Apple utilized Mac Analytics to offer an improved user experience and make necessary changes to its software. The company collects specific data about how you are using your computer so that it can work on creating better features and functionalities in the future.
Although it may sound good to you, and you might want to help Apple, this can significantly drain your battery. Hence, it is better to disable Mac Analytics.
Turn off macOS Analytics by clicking on the Apple logo > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Analytics > unchecking Share Mac Analytics and Share with App Developers > uncheck Share iCloud Analytics.
With these unchecked and disabled, your Mac will run a little longer.
The Bottom Line
You’re expected to keep only some of the Mac settings turned on. Instead, customize them according to your needs. For example, you can turn off some of the settings mentioned above to get you started.