Élan · Performance
Élan: a more responsive Mac, without magic tricks
A Mac that slows down rarely suffers from a single problem. It is usually dozens of small things: apps that launch on their own when you log in, agents left behind by software you deleted long ago, a DNS cache holding stale answers, a Spotlight index or a Mail database that keeps growing. Élan brings these three areas together on one screen: maintenance tasks, login items and background items.
Let's be clear: Élan will not double the power of your processor. It removes what uses resources for no reason and tidies up a few macOS mechanisms. You will notice the result mostly at startup, at login and in available memory.
Maintenance tasks: the scripts that restore order
The first tab lists maintenance tasks as switches. Recommended tasks are on by default, you add or remove the others, then click Run. Among them:
- Flush the DNS cache: useful when a website won't load after a server or network change.
- Free up memory: hands inactive memory back to the system when memory pressure stays high.
- Thin local Time Machine snapshots: reclaims space reserved on the internal drive.
- Compact the Mail database: Mail searches get faster again.
- Rebuild the LaunchServices database: fixes an "Open With" menu full of duplicates or apps that no longer exist.
- Reindex Spotlight and verify the disk, when search or the volume show signs of fatigue.
Each task shows its own result at the end. Some require administrator authorization: you are asked only once per session. The date of your last maintenance is remembered, and the Bilan module reminds you when a week has passed without one.
Login items: what starts with your session
Every app added to your login items delays the moment your Mac becomes truly usable, and often keeps using memory all day long. Élan lists these items with their name and location, and a Delete button removes them from the login list.
Removing a login item does not uninstall the app: it stays in the Applications folder and you can still open it yourself. It is the quick equivalent of System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, without hunting for the right pane.
Background items: agents and daemons in plain sight
More discreet than login items, agents (LaunchAgents) and daemons (LaunchDaemons) run all the time: update checkers, sync services, license helpers. Élan groups them by location and shows whether each one is Active or Inactive.
- A switch lets you disable an agent without deleting it, so you can test the effect safely.
- Orphaned agents, whose program no longer exists (often after an app was simply dragged to the Trash), are flagged separately.
- Select the ones to remove, then Delete: the files go to the Trash.
A good habit: disable first, watch for a few days, delete afterwards. To also find the files an app left behind, use Catalogue.
What Élan really changes (and what it doesn't)
On a Mac cluttered with ten or fifteen login items, the difference at login is obvious. Freeing up memory helps when Activity Monitor shows yellow or red memory pressure. However, if your Mac simply lacks RAM for what you do, or if the drive is almost full, no task replaces freeing up space or a machine that fits your needs. Our guide Slow Mac: what to do walks through these checks.
MacNeat's principles, applied to Élan
- Nothing is erased directly: deleted agents go through the Trash.
- Everything is logged: each operation is recorded and the last one can be undone.
- Simulation mode: test without changing anything; tasks are logged but not run.
- Apple Silicon and Intel, recent macOS versions.
- Free scan, actions with a license (7-day trial). Everything is processed on your Mac.