Every MacBook user wants their device to run as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, even the most powerful computers can slow down due to apps that excessively consume system resources. Fortunately, there is a way to address this problem and optimize your device’s performance, the world-leading technology and lifestyle advice site Lifehacker reports.

How to use App Tamer to conserve system resources

After installing App Tamer, it operates entirely through the menu bar. You can click on the icon in the menu bar at any time to view a list of all current applications and see how much power they take.

For convenience, you can use the search bar to find applications that overload the system or scroll through the list of all running apps to identify which ones need attention (e.g., Chrome).

When you find an app consuming too many system resources, click on it and select Slow this app down if it uses a lot of resources. Below this option, there is a slider that allows you to set a percentage limit – the maximum percentage of CPU resources this app can use.

You can set the value to 5 percent or even less for simple programs, such as menu bar utilities.

For most users, browsers are likely to top the list of resource consumers. In this case, App Tamer offers a few additional options. After setting a CPU usage limit, you will see two extra settings:

• Do not slow down or stop if the sound is playing;

• Stop or slow down only when the app is hidden.

The first option is useful to ensure your browser doesn’t slow to a crawl when you’re watching Netflix. The second allows you to limit an app’s CPU usage only when it is not actively used.

Thanks to such detailed settings, you can avoid situations where App Tamer slows down apps unnecessarily.

It is important to note that App Tamer does not consider an app “hidden” simply because you minimized it or switched to another window. For App Tamer, an app becomes hidden only after you manually hide it.

To bypass this limitation, App Tamer allows you to automatically hide applications that have been inactive for a certain amount of time. This setting is available in the While Idle menu in the same window where you limit CPU resources.

Another useful feature of App Tamer is the automatic closing of apps that remain inactive for a long time. This functionality works similarly to MagicQuit.

How to use App Tamer to save system resources (Photo: Lifehacker)

Settings to make most of App Tamer

One of App Tamer’s best-advanced settings allows you to select which CPU cores an app can use. Mac CPUs have performance and efficiency cores, and with this feature, you can direct resource-intensive applications to performance cores while running relatively lightweight ones exclusively on efficiency cores to extend battery life.

App Tamer settings also include several interesting options. On the Control page, you can set various conditions for App Tamer’s features.

For instance, you can disable any type of throttling when your MacBook is charging, and the battery level is above a certain threshold. Furthermore, you can set a delay before resource limitations take effect.

The ideal setup would be configuring App Tamer to launch at Mac boot-up. This will allow the app to operate uninterruptedly and perform its tasks automatically.

Configure App Tamer for maximum usage. (Photo: Lifehacker)