Yosemite - MacBook Pro unusably slow, now fixed

I installed Yosemite on my MacBook Pro only to find it almost unusably slow. My MacBook Air had been fine with Yosemite, better if anything.

Ha! I have now managed to restore it to a good speed.

Specs:
MBPro, 13 inch, mid 2012, 4GB memory, 2.5 GHz processor, 500 GB hard drive of which 108 GB free.
Air: 11 inch, late 2010, 4 GB memory, 1.6 GHz processor, 120 GB flash storage of which 18 GB free.

You'd think the MacBook Pro would be better, but no, the MacBook became so slow it was unusable, while the Air was fine.

So to fix the MacBook Pro, an online search found this useful advice:  http://www.hightechdad.com/2014/10/23/13-tips-optimize-mac-yosemite-installation/

The HighTechDad (cheek! listen to this HighTechMum) had found the same slowdown as me, and his was a higher spec. MacBook Pro. He suggested 13 possible steps, this is my experience with the most useful ones:

1), 2) Repair permissions and Check disk for errors, run Onyx. Download here. This free tuneup programme will check your hard drive, repair permissions, delete temporary files and generally clean up your system. Running Onyx improved things but the laptop was still unusably slow.

3) Reset the System Management Controller
"I believe that this (in conjunction with a few other things) truly fixed my issue. If your fans on your MBP are running all of the time, it’s probably worth doing this. Read this Apple Support Article that tells you how to do it on different Macs – http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964. Basically, here are the steps you can do on a MacBook Pro:

1. Turn off your Mac
2. Plug in your Mac power cord into the wall socket
3. Hold down the Left Shift + Option + Control + Power Button, simultaneously, for about 10 seconds
4. By holding these keys pressed, your Mac won’t power on but the reset will be done.
5. Release all keys after about 10 seconds and turn on and run your Mac like you normally do."

4)  Reset PRAM

"Here is the Apple Support Article for Yosemite – http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18761. I believe this helped with my issues. Here are the basic steps:"

1. Turn off your Mac
2. Press the power button and at the same time -
3. Press Command + Option + P + R in combination, all together
4. Press and hold all these keys until you hear the startup Boing - wait to hear it twice, this means the PRAM has been reset
5. Release the keys
6. The computer will finish restarting and your PRAM reset should be complete.

5) Reduce transparancy

No, I don't know when it uses Transparancy ... but apparently this takes up graphic processing time, so worth a try. Apple menu > System preferences > Accessibility then check Reduce transparency.

6) Turn off File Vault

I don't use that but if you do, apparently it can slow things down a lot so switch off if you can. Apple menu > System preferences > Security & Privacy > File Vault.

7) Reduce Spotlight items.

I don't use Spotlight, I prefer just Cmnd + F from the desktop, a simpler Find window. But if you do, go to Apple menu > System preferences > Spotlight and you can switch off any of the items it searches for that you don't think useful.

Certainly improved but not enough, so finally, I bought 16 MB of RAM from Crucial Computers (cost £122) and installed it myself (go on, it's really easy, but you might want to order the fitting kit at the same time to get the Phillips 00 screwdriver).

Two days later - my MacBook Pro is fine, really speedy. A long struggle but a moment of triumph.