There are also issues that always become apparent with a new OS X upgrade. One of the great things about running Snow Leopard all of these years is that you may not be aware of the transparent miracle called Rosetta and its ability to run PowerPC applications that will not run in OS X Lion and thereafter naturally, due to the elimination of Rosetta. If you listened to people who complained about each successive operating system, you'd never upgrade, and you'd be left with an expensive paperweight that can't do anything because it's woefully out of date. I use the programs I need, like Safari, iTunes, Mail, and TextEdit. I don't use Calendar or Messages or Maps, but I just leave them alone. They're not taking up obscene amounts of space on your hard drive. You can't remove items from OS X because it's not allowed. Have you checked Microsoft's website recently to see if an update for Office has been released? I'm running Office 2008 with zero issues whatsoever. I wish I had access to your advice before I upgraded. I've had Macs for nearly 20 years and since Jobs died, their products have literally gone down the toilet. I can 't get rid of non-essential apps (do I need iMessage on my Mac? no! It's not a cell phone, it's for my WORK!) Mac products have become toys, not tools and I am seriously considering jumping ship. I am a writer and the required upgrade for MSWord was also a bomb. That happened last November and it has given my nothing but headaches. I 'upgraded' unwillingly because Teckserve in NYC put that on my MacBook Pro when I got a new Hard disk. Third-party hardware drivers, virtual machines, networking software, audio interfaces (and of course Anti-virus) - this is the stuff that must be uninstalled.

Some software that hooks into the system may cause trouble, and that's usually what people here complain about when they say EC gives them problems. Most apps will just need updating - this may not be without cost, depending on the software.

The only real problems come from software currently on your computer that is incompatible with the new OS. (Make sure you have a good backup, as always, though.)ģ. All your emails, settings and data should be preserved. Upgrading should be as easy as downloading the app and running it. You can revert to this copy if El Capitan goes wrong.Ģ. Once you've done this, you now have a 'clone' image on your old hard drive with Snow Leopard. Plug the SSD into that, then use SuperDuper! or CarboCop圜loner to copy the entire disk. The tricky bit is moving the data over: ideally you need an external USB drive case (can be purchased very cheaply). It's quite easy to swap the drive in your MBP (videos online show how). You'll be amazed at how fast your old computer can be! I concur with the suggestions for maxing RAM and swapping your hard drive for an SSD.

Upgrade mac os x 10.6 8 to el capitan