Electronics

[Mom2Dogs]

Resetting might not be the correct word....I mean taking back to factory settings to increase speed, etc.

MacBook Air 10.11.6 it cannot be updated, I have tried.

 It is about 8 years old.

This is my stand by laptop, I have a new one that I use daily but my DH could use this older one if I can 'reset' it.

When resetting back to factory settings will I lose all my bookmarked items?  I have already transferred my photos to the new MacBook the only other things that I would like to keep are some of the bookmarked sites...cooking sites, and other things of interest to me.

Any advise is appreciated...and is this a difficult thing to do....truly I am a novice at the interworkings of the machine.  Thank you

[Lilysmom]

@Mom2Dogs, I will give a call out to @glb613.  She is our resident expert on this subject.  Good luck!  LM

[Mom2Dogs]

@Lilysmom thanks....I can't hurt it....it's slower than molasses and the track pad no longer works....I see this as a challenge....If I can at least make it run faster, that would be great.

[Lilysmom]

@Mom2Dogs, glb613 does this all the time.  She’s just what you need!  LM

[Icegoddess]

When you reset it, you will lose everything.  It would be like you just bought it from the store.  You should be able to export your bookmarks to a file and then move that over to your other computer.

[Mom2Dogs]

@Icegoddess.....hmmm, I use this particular laptop for printing to my home computer...guess I will lose that as well.  I think I have the book and software for the printer so that I can reinstall once I reset the laptop.

[Sooner]

@Mom2Dogs  Before you do anything drastic, see if it has any residual value to apple or some other place as a trade in.  You never know!  

[Mom2Dogs]

@Sooner...when I purchased the new one....the price offered was $75.00..so I decided to keep it....it works, just painfully slow and I have to use a mouse because the trackpad no longer works.

[Mz iMac]

@Mom2Dogs

You do not need to go back to factory settings to speed up a Mac.  That should be a "last resort" option.  Also, I am assumming you are NOT using Time Machine or some other backup disk?

First things first.....

1 - How much storage do you have AND how much is left?  If you are running out of storage space, you can do manual housekeeping yourself.  If you do not know how, let me know & I will provide quite a few suggestions of what to trash.

Hint:  Get rid of everything inside your DOWNLOAD folder you do not need or want.

2 - How much RAM do you have?  If not already done, max it out.  Download Mactracker - copy/paste--> mactracker.ca/.  This app will have your model MBP listed & will tell you the max amt your model can take.

3 - For the record, you need to know which model as well as the year of your MBA.  You stated 8 yrs old.  There are 4 model MBA for the year 2011.  Apple>About This Mac will tell you which model you have as well as Apple's website:  Copy/Paste-->support.apple.com/en-us/HT201862

4 - Run Disk Utilitiy First Aid.  Run it a few times.

Not sure about how old your MBA is, the "older" Macs, you could "repair permissions" which in my personal opinion is way better that DUFA.

[glb613]

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@Mom2Dogs wrote:

Resetting might not be the correct word....I mean taking back to factory settings to increase speed, etc.

MacBook Air 10.11.6 it cannot be updated, I have tried.

 It is about 8 years old.

This is my stand by laptop, I have a new one that I use daily but my DH could use this older one if I can 'reset' it.

When resetting back to factory settings will I lose all my bookmarked items?  I have already transferred my photos to the new MacBook the only other things that I would like to keep are some of the bookmarked sites...cooking sites, and other things of interest to me.

Any advise is appreciated...and is this a difficult thing to do....truly I am a novice at the interworkings of the machine.  Thank you

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You can save your bookmarks and import them to your browser after the reset is complete.  Depending on the browser (which is a term for the program you use to access the internet) vaires slightly depending on the program. 

Despite what others have posted, I reset my MacBook Pro because the hard drive was almost full with "other" files I couldn't remove.  It was really easy, I was able to update the operating syste.  When I set up my e-mail accounts, all of the mail I had before I reset it was there after I signed in. 

Some will advise to only do this as a last resort.  A computer which is running sub par that doesn't respond to normal maintenance and is becoming a pain to use is a last resort situation for me.