What to Do Right Now When You Have an Overheating Mac

Tip 1: Clean Up Now

We’ve harped on this for months now, but seriously, have you cleaned up your Mac? If you have many files, images, and videos and you run this thing constantly, you need to do a clean sweep. We recommend starting with Gemini 2 to remove duplicate files and structures. Then, move on to Clean My Mac 3 and take the steps it recommends.

Tip 2: Upgrade to the Latest macOS

Meet Sierra. Do it. You need to run the latest and greatest on your machine to keep it from overworking and to make sure it has all the updates and fixes that help your programs do their job correctly. Upgrading your operating system sounds technical and scary, but it’s incredibly easy and Apple’s software will walk you through step-by-step.

Tip 3: Check Your Battery Health

Hold Option + Apple menu. Select System Information from the drop down. Navigate to Hardware and Power to review the current Cycle Count for your battery.

Batteries are the first and most likely piece of hardware to fail. Check your battery health before any drastic steps. If your battery is sluggish then your Mac is going to have to work overtime and it’ll overheat.

Tip 4: Run Apple Diagnostics

Go through the built-in program — it knows the system best and can help you sweep up any issues causing your machine to overwork and overheat.

Tip 5: Review Activity Monitor

Review your computer’s activity and see if any programs are sucking the life out of your Mac. We often find that programs run in the background that should not or that you have browsers misbehaving. Check out our article on Safari if you find it’s acting up and drawing too much activity.