Mac Slow Download Rates Causes And Fixes

Posted By admin On 31.12.20
  • Issue: How to fix slow LAN speed on Windows 10? I used to always use WiFi at home as I did not have a possiblily to use cable. However, due to recent move to a different house, I managed to sort out the positioning of computer and get the LAN cable to be connected to it.
  • I tested this at home a couple weeks back when someone else posts about the speeds being throttled and was hitting download speeds well in excess of 30MBS. If you are still seeing slow downloads then this you can try the following steps: Disable all background programs on your system (including Steam). You can also do this with a clean boot.
Fix any Wi-Fi problem

While we discuss the importance of uploading rate and we ask ourselves questions like – why my upload speed is so slow, you should look into the reasons for the slowness. Knowing the exact reason of slowness, you can fix your Internet uploading rate at ease. Resource-Heavy Applications Running in Background. Any MacBook® slows down over time thanks. Your hard drive is getting full. Nothing slows down a Mac more than having too much on your hard. It can be annoying if your Mac keeps freezing, but it’s possible to fix the issue. There are six things you should try first, and we’ve got all the details in this hands-on guide to fixing.

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There are few things more frustrating than an internet connection that’s very slow. Thankfully, there’s a great deal you can do to troubleshoot the problem and speed up your connection. Here’s how to do it.

Why is my download speed so slow?

Internet speed is measured by how much data per second can be downloaded and uploaded. It totally depends on your Internet use, but the processes like uploading large files and video conferencing require decent speed.

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So what is a fast download speed? Normally, anything that’s above 100 Mbps is considered good Internet. This means, your Mac will handle multiple simultaneous online activities without major interruptions. Still, there’s no limit to perfection. If you want to reach the optimal speed to make downloads faster, there are a couple of things you can try.

First, you need to find out whether the slow download speed is due to your broadband connection or your wireless network. Since your wireless network is the bit over which you have control, you should check that first. In any case, optimizing and fine tuning your home or office wifi will improve performance.

How to increase Internet speed

Firstly, look at where your router is situated. Ideally, it should be in the centre of your house, so that every room gets a good signal. It should be away from walls, the floor and the ceiling as much as possible. And keep it away from metal furniture, which will reflect radio waves rather than allow them to pass through. Modern routers support both 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks. The latter allows for faster speeds, but the former suffers from less interference from other devices like microwave ovens and cordless telephones. So connect to the 5GHz network on devices that support it. If you have devices that only support 2.4GHz, place your router away from appliances like a microwave or cordless phone.

Here are a few simple steps you can take to improve your Internet speed:

Slow
  1. Analyze your Internet speed. For a quick check of current speed, find and access Network Utility via Spotlight. Select your WiFi connection under the Info tab, and check Link Speed. The tools like NetSpot ot WiFi Explorer will help you automate WiFi monitoring as well as track factors that impact Internet speed.

  2. Replace old cables. Ensure all your cables are in good condition. Clean dusty cables, replace those that are too loose or damaged, and double check whether the cables you use fit your network environment.

  3. Optimize your router/ISP’s settings. Check the current setup of your router and tweak DNS settings if necessary. Unfortunately, ISPs don’t always come with the DNS configs that perfectly match your environment.

  4. Scan your Mac for viruses. Sometimes, malicious programs and files on your computer can be the reason of poor Internet speed. Open CleanMyMac X > Malware Removal and the app will automatically make your Mac clean.

  5. Regularly update software and firmware. Access Software Update via the Apple menu and see whether you might have missed a macOS update. Outdated OS as well as installing the beta versions of the new macOS may hinder the quality of your Internet. If the operating system is fine, check for the new versions of your router’s firmware.

  6. Eliminate on-system interference. Make sure there are no “heavy” programs like virus scanners on your Mac — they may interfere with network performance.

  7. Check your filters. Low-quality filters are another source of damage for your WiFi infrastructure, so you might need to replace them.

  8. Fix external interference. The position of your router determines the Internet speed you get, especially if other devices located in your building rely on the same WiFi channel. We recommend to use NetSpot, an app for interference monitoring that shows you where to position a router.

  9. Use a cable. We know, it feels like a tip from the 90s, but WiFi is actually always a bit slower than the Internet you get when you plug in directly to the modem.

  10. Get a new modem. Very often, that’s the only fix that can help. Check with your ISP or test other providers to see whether you can get some extra speed.

  11. And yes, don’t do any of the above until you try a restart. Power cycling — which is turning off and on your modem — is what you should begin with. Sometimes, there’s no particular reason your Internet is slow. It’s just your modem needing a fresh start.

How to get better Internet speed

When you’re satisfied with your router and it’s in the best possible location, time to analyze your wireless network. The following solutions will not only help you run a speed test, but also understand how to improve Internet speed.

NetSpot will produce a full analysis of all the wifi networks within range of your home or office and highlight any problems. It produces a heat map of your home or office and highlights ‘dead spots’ where wifi signal strength is low or non-existent. It can also advise on the best placement for your wifi router, and really useful suggestions to troubleshoot your networks.

WiFi Explorer allows you to identify conflicts with other networks, identifies signal overlaps, and provides a graph of signal to noise ratio. By maximizing the signal v noise, you can improve signal performance and speed up downloads.

One possible cause of poor wifi performance is interference from other wifi networks in your street. WiFi Explorer and NetSpot analyze how fast Internet is by analyzing those networks and let you know if they are causing a problem.

If there are lots of routers in your neighbourhood using the 40MHz spectrum, known as wide band, it can cause congestion – wide band occupies seven channels, compared with five used by 20MHz networks.In this case, switching to the 20MHz band may actually increase Internet speed by reducing interference. To do that you’ll need to access your router’s admin page in a web browser. You’ll need to consult its manual, or look for a sticker on the bottom of the router, for an IP address, username and password.

How to increase download speed on a slow internet connection

  1. Turn off bandwidth-hogging apps and plugins.
    If you haven’t been able to improve the speed of your home broadband or wifi network, or if you’re on mobile network, you can still download faster. TripMode allows you to control which applications can download data. That means you can reserve bandwidth for apps you want to use to download and therefore download faster.
  2. Split the downloads in threads to maximize download speed.
    To splitting the downloads in threads try to use Folx, one of the most popular download managers for macOS. It has features for downloading movies, archives, or big files that allows you to split downloads into separate streams enabling faster downloads.
  3. Schedule downloads.
    One way to speed up downloads is to schedule them for a time when your ISPs network is less busy. Peak times are usually early evening through to around midnight, so use Folx to schedule downloads for the early hours of the morning. Some ISPs also throttle bandwidth for some users during peak hours, so downloading when it’s less busy is a very good idea.

How to download torrents faster

Despite the negative publicity BitTorrent has had in recent years, there’s nothing illegal in using it or in downloading torrents. As long as the content you download isn’t protected by copyright or, if it is, you have permission from the rights owner to take it, you’ll be fine. What’s more, it’s totally safe to use selected third-party tools to increase upload speed on torrent.

Additionally to Folx download manager it is also a torrent client. It has several features to make torrent download faster.

  1. Check seeds and peers.
    Folx has its own built-in torrent search engine, so you don’t need to use a web browser. When you search for torrents in Folx, it will display the number of available seeds for each result. The more seeds, the faster the download is likely to be, so choose a torrent with lots of seeds.
  2. Limit upload speeds and speed up torrent downloads.
    Torrent clients upload files as well as download them and so the bandwidth available for a torrent client like Folx is used for both. If you limit upload speeds, you can make download speeds faster. You can also limit download speeds for browsers on your Mac, making more bandwidth available for torrents. To limit upload and download speeds, open Preferences in Folx and click on the Smart Speed tab. Of course, if you want to improve upload speed, you can limit download speeds instead.
  3. Check port number.
    Many torrent clients use port numbers 6881-6889. ISPs know this and some of them throttle bandwidth to those ports, which can make download speeds slow. In Folx Preferences, in the Torrents tab, check the port number and make sure its outside that range. If the port is showing as ‘in use’ click ‘Randomize port’ to choose another.
  4. Prioritize downloads.
    If there’s one download you want more than the others that are downloading at the same time, right click on the other downloads and use the ‘Limit Speed’ option to cap their download bandwidth and increase torrent download speed for your file.

How to speed up Chrome downloads

There are a number of things you can do to boost up Google Chrome’s speed:

  1. Limit Extensions. Browser extensions can be very useful but they eat up memory and can be reason of getting slow download speed on browser.
  2. Don’t have lots of tabs open. Web pages in tabs use resources like memory and, if they auto-load, bandwidth too. Keeping tabs to a minimum will speed up your browser.
  3. Use a download manager extension. Folx has a smart browser extension that allows it to handle everything you download in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or any other browser. Using that can speed things up because Folx has features, like splitting files into streams, that are designed to make things faster.
  4. Avoid noname extensions that promise faster downloading
    There are lots of Chrome extensions that promise to make the browser download faster. However, many of them don't work and causes Chrome run more slowly, don’t download the complete file, or, worse, are infected with malware. So, they are best avoided.

Downie does a similar job, even allowing you to down; pad 4K-resolution videos from streaming video and social media sites. Just copy and paste the URL for the video page into Downie or use its browser extension. Once you’ve downloaded the video, you can use Permute to convert it to any format you want.

Watch and download video at the same time

If you’re downloading videos from streaming sites, Elmedia Player can help. It has a built-in browser and download manager. Paste the URL for the video into the address bar in the downloader, then when it displays a list of all the files it’s found on the page, click Download next to the one that corresponds with the video file. /warcraft-3-mac-download-full-version-free.html.

To view videos you’ve downloaded, click on the Downloads tab and press Play next to the one you want to watch.

If all else fails, check with your broadband provider

  • Check whether your broadband provider has a fault
  • Check whether wired instead of wireless can improve speed

Check that your broadband provider hasn’t reported a fault in your area by calling its helpline number.

Once you’ve ruled that out you need to find out whether the problem is your wireless network or is caused by your router failing to connect to the broadband network. If you have a Mac that has an Ethernet port or you have a USB to Ethernet adapter, connect it directly to an Ethernet port on your router to try speed up your Internet. If your download speed is much faster when connected by Ethernet, your wireless network may be the culprit.

Fortunately, there are lots of things you can do to troubleshoot and improve the speed of your wifi network.

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Gone are the days when you could make yourself a sandwich while a web page was loading. The Internet is lightning fast now, so when things get slow as you browse the web it feels.. unnatural. But oftentimes it’s not the Internet speed or the Wi-Fi connection that’s testing your patience — it’s the browser.

Safari is not the fastest of browsers to begin with, and it can get downright sluggish as time goes by. There are several possible reasons for Safari running slow or freezing, and in this post we’ll see what they are and what can be done about them. The fixes below are done manually, but to streamline the process get a utility like CleanMyMac X. It’s perfect for fixing a slow Safari on Mac, and it’s free to download.

Safari running slow on Mac - How to speed it up

So, why is Safari so slow? It could be..

1. Too much history data and cache.

Safari stores information about every website you visit, and if you’re an average Internet user in 2019 it’s an awful lot of data. Plus, elements of those websites like images and html files are saved to cache so that pages load faster next time, which puts an additional burden on the browser. Imagine driving a car that’s packed with everything you ever owned: it’s bound to go slower than normal. So, try getting rid of the dead weight and see if Safari is still slow afterwards.

How to fix: Clear history and cache.

Normally, clearing history makes Safari empty cache as well, so try this method first:

  1. Open Safari.
  2. Hit History in the menu bar.
  3. Choose Clear History.
  4. Select the time span and hit the Clear History button.

This should do the trick, but if for some reasons you don’t want to lose your browsing history and just want to get rid of the cache, that can be done as well. Here’s how to clear Safari cache with more precision:

  1. Open Safari.
  2. Hit Safari in the menu bar.
  3. Choose Preferences.
  4. Select the Advanced tab.
  5. Checkmark Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  6. Click on Develop in the menu bar.
  7. Select Empty caches

If you’d like to automate all of this, try CleanMyMac’s Smart Scan. Not only will it clean up Safari history and cache, but it will also clear app caches and other junk to lighten the load on your whole Mac. This is how you clean up cache with it:

  1. Launch CleanMyMac X and hit Smart Scan.
  2. Go through the modules to review the files you’ll remove (cache will be in System Junk).
  3. Hit Clean.

That’s it, all the clutter including Safari cache is gone. And while we’re at it, let’s erase the browsing history, too.

  1. Go to the Privacy module in CleanMyMac.
  2. Select Safari from the list.
  3. Check the items you want to delete.
  4. Hit Remove.

Done. Try opening a few web pages to see whether Safari is still running slow. If the spinning beach ball in Safari didn’t go anywhere, check for other possible issues below.

2. Corrupted Preferences.

As you tweak the browser to your taste, like assign the homepage and search engine or pick where the downloads are saved, all the info about your preferred browser behavior is stored in a preferences file. When that file becomes corrupted, the browser can start acting funny. If Safari’s not loading certain websites, lags, or freezes, chances are the problem is broken Preferences.

How to fix: Delete the preferences file.

When you get rid of the corrupted file, the browser will simply generate a new one. Follow these steps to find and delete Safari’s preferences file:

  1. Close Safari.
  2. Open Finder and use the Command+Shift+G shortcut.
  3. Enter ~/Library/Preferences/ into the popup and hit Enter.
  4. Find the file named 'com.apple.Safari.plist' and delete it.

The only downside is that you’ll erase your browser settings and will have to recreate them. But if you use CleanMyMac X, you can make sure Safari preferences are broken before erasing them. That way, you won’t lose all your settings for nothing.

So, to check Safari’s preferences file and delete it if necessary, do the following:

  1. Open CleanMyMac.
  2. Go to System Junk and hit Scan.
  3. Hit Review Details when the scan is over.
  4. Select the Broken Preferences tab.

If the file is corrupted, it will be in this tab. Just hit Clean and delete it along with all the other junk. But if it’s not there, your Safari is probably slow for a different reason.

3. Buggy extensions.

Extensions let you do a ton of convenient extras in a browser, like store passwords or translate words with a click. But being third-party add-ons, they can impact Safari’s performance in unexpected ways, especially if they aren’t regularly updated.

How to fix: Remove the extension.

To find out which of your extensions is causing trouble, run a quick diagnostic:

  1. Click Safari in the menu bar.
  2. Select Preferences.
  3. Select the Extensions tab.
  4. Uncheck extensions one by one and see if the problem goes away.

When you’ve identified the culprit, hit the Uninstall button next to that extension in the Preferences.

As an alternative, go to CleanMyMac’s Extensions module and then Safari Extensions to remove any of them. Safari still running slow even though you’ve disabled every add-on? Let’s try the next thing on the checklist.

4. Autofill data.

Autofill comes in handy when you don’t want to memorize passwords and phone numbers, which is most of the time. However, when there’s a lot of autofill data stored, Safari might freeze for a few seconds before filling in every field. If it seems like the feature is annoying you more than it’s helping, you can just turn it off. Alternatively, you can disable only some of the options or remove the autofill data you won’t need.

How to fix: Delete autocomplete history.

To manage Autofill, do the following:

  1. Go to Safari and then Preferences from the menu bar.
  2. Select the Autofill tab.

Here you can disable any or all uses for Autofill (for example, never use it for credit card info). By clicking Edit, you’ll be able to look through the data that’s stored for autocompleting and delete the entries you don’t want there.

If you’d rather clean up all Autofill data in one go, it’s more convenient to do that with CleanMyMac X. You’ll need the Privacy module you’re already familiar with from when we cleared browsing history in Safari.

  1. Go to Privacy in CleanMyMac.
  2. Select Safari.
  3. Check Autofill Values.
  4. Click Remove.

If you still don’t have CleanMyMac, you can try it for free. The app will be helping you out long after you fix this Safari loading slow problem, because it’s packed with maintenance features that can boost the performance of your whole Mac, not just your browser.

Mac Slow Download Rates Causes And Fixes Back

5. Outdated plugins like Flash and Java.

Many websites require Flash and Java for Safari to play video or animated content. These plugins can drag the browser’s performance down if they are outdated, so the reason why Safari is running slow and gets stuck loading pages could be just that.

How to fix: Update Flash and Java.

It’s worth mentioning that big websites are dropping Flash and Java for a number of reasons (they are super buggy, for one), but if you absolutely have to open a website that uses one of those, check if your Flash plugin or Java need updating.

The best way to install the most recent Flash player is to download it from Adobe’s website. The page automatically identifies if the Flash player is up to date and will give you the download link if it’s not.

Mac Slow Download Rates Causes And Fixes Gas

To check if you have the latest version of Java and update it if necessary, go straight to Oracle’s website. You’ll verify your Java version and get instructions on what to do next on that page.

That’s it, your browser should be back up to speed by now, so you can wave goodbye to Safari being slow. Just be sure to do regular cleanups and maintenance with CleanMyMac X, so that Safari keeps running like the wind.

Mac Slow Download Rates Causes And Fixes 10

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