- Shutdown unwanted apps
- Use Activity Monitor
- Get rid of preference panes
- Cut down on Login items
- Free up hard drive space
- Software update
- Verify Disk and Repair Permissions
- Turn off visual effects
- Reboot
Shutdown unwanted apps
If you have too many programs running at once, memory and CPU space are being devoted to the these apps instead of the apps you want to use.
Look at the apps on your Dock with an active indicator light showing beneath it. Ctrl-click on unneeded open programs in your Dock and choose Quit, or press Command-Tab to bring up the App Switcher and press Command-Q to quit unused programs.
Reminder: Clicking the little red "x" doesn't close most programs, it just closes that window instance of that program.
Ensure you can see open apps. Your Dock is set show indicator lights by default, but in case it is not set, go to System Preference and click Dock. Then ensure that there is a check next to "Show Indicator Lights for Open Applications".
Use Activity Monitor
If you want to see which apps are using up your system resources, open the Activity Monitor from the Utilities folder (located in Applications folder). Activity Monitor shows all of the processes on your Mac (some of which you can't, or shouldn't, close), so click on View and Windowed Processes. Now click on the CPU button and the %CPU column to list all programs by the amount of CPU they are using.
Get rid of Preference Panes
Open System Preferences and check the row at the bottom. This is where custom items are added to your System Preferences, and if you're not using them then they are taking up space. Ctrl-click on an item and choose "Remove from Preference Pane".
The only ones needed for normal use and were installed by the school are Flash Player, Flip4Mac and Java. You may delete PresSTORE or any others that you installed yourself.
Cut down on Login items
Open System Preferences and click Users & Groups. Now click on the Login items tab to view which programs and services are launched when you first power up (or log in) to your Mac. Highlight an item in the list that you don't want and click on the Delete from Login Items ("-") button at the bottom of the list.
Free up hard drive space
We aim to have at least 10% of our hard drive space free to ensure smooth operation. For most school laptops, this is 25GB of free space.
Empty the trash - Ctrl-click on the Trash in the dock and choose Empty Trash
Empty iPhoto trash - In iPhoto, from the sidebar Ctrl-click on iPhoto's Trash and choose Empty Trash
Empty Mail trash - In Mail, from the sidebar Ctrl-click on the Trash icon and select Erase Deleted items.
Clear Chrome cache - Click the Chrome menu 
on the browser toolbar, select Tools, then Clear browsing data. In the dialog that appears, select the checkboxes for the types of information that you want to remove. Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete. Select beginning of time to delete everything. Click Clear browsing data.
Clear Firefox cache - Click the menu button 
and choose Preferences. Select the Advanced panel, click the Network tab, In the Cached Web Content section, click Clear Now.
and choose Preferences. Select the Advanced panel, click the Network tab, In the Cached Web Content section, click Clear Now.
Clear Safari cache - Launch Safari and hit Command-Option-E to delete your cache. Go to History then Clear History.
Clear your Desktop - Finder treats any folder or file on the Desktop as a window. That window designation is benign if you don't have many items on the Desktop, but clutter it with files and folders, and the Finder will slow significantly.
Software Update
Click on the Apple icon in the Menu bar and choose Software Update. Install all available updates.
Important: If a free OS X upgrade to Mavericks or Yosemite is available, do not install it without consulting your tech team.
Verify Disk and Repair Permissions
Open Disk Utility from your Utilities folder (found in Applications folder). Choose "Macintosh HD" from the sidebar, then click Verify Disk. Once this process completes, click Repair Disk Permissions.
These processes will check that there is nothing wrong with your hard drive and that your Mac has the correct permissions, which will help keep things ticking along.
Turn off visual effects
Keeping your Dock static can help prevent slowdown. Open System Preferences, then click Dock and untick the following check boxes:
- Magnification
- Animate opening applications
- Automatically hide and show the dock
- Turn off accessibility
Now click on the Minimize windows using and change Genie Effect to Scale Effect.
Reboot
It is a classic, but rebooting takes care of a lot of slowness issues. Once you have accomplished the above steps to reduce sluggishness on your Mac, go ahead and reboot once more for old time's sake (and to set any changes you made).
If your computer is still slow after all of this, please bring it by the tech department and we will troubleshoot from there.
Sources
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac/mac-too-slow-tips-speed-apple-mac-computer-3490637/
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-clean-your-mac-17-ways-revamp-refresh-any-mac-3466729/
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95582?hl=en
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
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