So my Macbook is about four years old, and it's slowing down a lot. I'm getting a lot of spinning wheels, just for simple tasks like opening a static web page or changing to another program.

Are there utilities I should be using to clean it up and speed up performance? Or should I assume it's just beat and start looking at another machine?

I would say start looking. My motherboard went after 2 years and it was still under warranty. I can give you some software tips, but after 4 years, I think you need to cruise by the apple refurb aisles.

I hate the rapid and often forced, planned obsolescence of technology, I really, really do.

yep. it is a pain in the ass.

Tonights Woot.com is a macbook air for $760 + $5 shipping.

How much RAM does the MacBook have? The spinning wheel is usually a sign of paging [link] and can be improved with more RAM.

This [link] recs OnyX and Disk Inventory X. I think I've tried OnyX with decent results.

I hate the rapid and often forced, planned obsolescence of technology, I really, really do.

This is my song...or rather, screed these days.

Rob, I stupidly ordered the wrong memory for the mini but should have the new set Monday. I've been watching the how-to videos to memorize the steps. Mission day will be a bit nervy, but successful, I predict.

I've been getting major spinning wheels BUT, for the first time, I've been able to use Netflix streaming. That isn't really worth what I had to go through to upgrade, but hey, it's a bonus.

While the migration wasn't nearly as seamless as the migration assistant would lead one to believe, it really has been a good thing in terms of streamlining my files and photos.

I'm extra grateful for the recommendation of dupeguru. It's been a huge help.

Rob, memory is 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

How does one tell Google their search is broken? I mean, image search is buggy as all hell, and I figure they know those use cases, since they're every single time.

I don't know about the movie search, though.

Saturday mornings, I do a search on amc century city. Google does its often helpful thing were the first results are tailored to the type of results you get--those are movie listings. So--I want to see Looper. But when I click on the Google created link for it, or for any other movie, I get some form of this error as they fail to keep the information of AMC Century City much less the whole implicit CA and down the street from me part. It's freaking irritating. I figure maybe people with a one word neighbourhood name don't have an issue and it's not front and centre, but BUG REPORT.