ZeroCitizen
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I've tried everything I can possibly think of to improve my computer's performance, and it seems to be getting slower every day.

Before I begin, let me post my system specs real quick:

 

Hardware Overview:

 

  Model Name: MacBook

  Model Identifier: MacBook5,1

  Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

  Processor Speed: 2 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 2

  L2 Cache: 3 MB

  Memory: 4 GB

  Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

  Boot ROM Version: MB51.007D.B03

  SMC Version (system): 1.32f8

  Serial Number (system): W8******1B0

  Hardware UUID: 90146DFB-93C5-5699-AB59-05403BEC071C

  Sudden Motion Sensor:

  State: Enabled

 

Storage:

 

  Available: 61.79 GB (61,793,218,560 bytes)

  Capacity: 255.2 GB (255,200,755,712 bytes)

  Mount Point: /

  File System: Journaled HFS+

  Writable: Yes

  Ignore Ownership: No

  BSD Name: disk0s2

  Volume UUID: 2DA6DBEC-85AD-3415-81FA-B6979712E3E5

  Physical Drive:

  Media Name: V4-CT256V4SSD2 Media

  Medium Type: SSD

  Protocol: SATA

  Internal: Yes

  Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

 

 

So, a while ago I decided to get a SSD and upgrade to 4GB of RAM when I was still using Snow Leopard. Great investment, totally worth it. Well, for a while. Boot times were good at first. But they got sluggish. So of course I decided to upgrade to Mountain Lion because that would speed up my mac, right? Wrong. It takes my computer ten seconds from the time I push the power button to respond and begin booting. It takes anywhere from one to two and a half minutes to get to the login screen. On the login screen it won't respond to any input from keyboard, trackpad, or mouse for ten seconds more. When I type in my password, it's another thirty seconds to a minute before the spinning beach ball of death disappears and what should be my desktop appears. Instead I'm greeted by my desktop picture and nothing else. One to one and a half minutes later, my desktop, dock, and menu bar are all there in front of me. But we're not out of the woods yet. It takes about two or three more minutes before my computer becomes even remotely usable- if I just start clicking I'll get the beach ball of death and have to wait longer, watching my once-swift Google Chrome browser bounce endlessly up and down, never opening.

 

TL;DR: It takes way too long for my computer to start up given its specifications.

 

You might be poised at your keyboard right now, telling me to repair disk permissions, clear caches, reset PRAM and SMC, etc... but I've already done that. I have about 75GB free space on my solid state drive, so that's not an issue. I've used Onyx and CleanMyMac2 to clean up anything that could be causing the problem, and it hasn't fixed slow boot times and general sluggishness.

 

I've scoured the forums far and wide to find the answer that will transform my computer into the speed-demon it once was. That is why I have turned to you, dear internet, to aid me in my quest.

 

I'm not a digital dummy- I can follow just about any advice you give me if you're clear enough in explaining steps required. The OP in almost every thread I've visited thus far was clueless and simply needed routine maintenace or a hardware upgrade to fix the problem, and I know that can't be the issue... so what can?

 

(PS I did select the SSD as my startup disk after installing it)

 

<Edited By Host>

MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 28, 2013 1:49 PM

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ZeroCitizen

Q: I've tried everything I can possibly think of to improve my computer's performance, and it seems to be getting slower every day.

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  • Helpful answers

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  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Aug 28, 2013 1:59 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 9 (66,876 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Aug 28, 2013 1:59 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    CleanmyMac and Onyx are the problem.    If you ever inadvertantly downloaded MacKeeper that's even a worse problem.   System cache cleaning actually slows your computer down.  Cache is used to speed your computer.  When cache files get corrupted that can slow you down.   But you would not clean that with a utility without first backing up your data to make sure nothing else is wrong.   MacKeeper uninstallation directions are here.  

     

    If you are backed up, and you have repaired your directory, not your permissions, and there are no errors, it sounds to me there is a hardware problem.  Run the hardware test that came with your computer.

     

    Is your slowdown also just with web browsing, or any applications that run locally?

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:19 PM in response to a brody
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:19 PM in response to a brody

    These boot times were actually much slower before cleaning the caches.

     

    I back up about once an hour with Time Machine

     

    I've verified both the permissions and the disk itself in disk utility- all I had to repair was permissions.

     

    The very thought of MacKeeper makes me cringe... one of the most annoying and obtrusive popups to ever disgrace the internet. But thank you for pointing out the thing about the cache.

     

    Both the SMART status and the structure of the volume have been verified as normal by Onyx... are you sure they're the problem? (not questioning your authority at all, I really appreciate your help, I just wondered if with this additional clarification they could be the issue)

     

    I'll try hardware test... how do I run it?

  • by R C-R,Helpful

    R C-R R C-R Aug 28, 2013 2:23 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 6 (17,685 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:23 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    A very common cause of poor responsiveness is adding a lot of third party "helpers" that supposedly improve or otherwise modify the user interface, or provide other functions the OS itself lacks. This can include startup & login items that automatically run in the background, extensions to the OS that in effect make it something other than the OS Apple provides, & any other add-ons that might not be fully compatible with the OS or conflict with each other.

     

    One handy tool for identifying these items is etrecheck, which generates a report of items installed on the system that might be problematic.

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:25 PM in response to a brody
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:25 PM in response to a brody

    The slowdown is with all applications or basic functions I try to use within a few minutes of having everything (dock, menu bar, desktop folders) appear on the screen. Sometimes the system will slow down for no apparent reason- I'll try to move or copy a 20MB file and it takes five minutes.

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:28 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:28 PM in response to R C-R

    Here's the results of etrecheck:

     

    Hardware Information:

              MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)

              MacBook - model: MacBook5,1

              1 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores

              4 GB RAM

     

    Video Information:

              NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

     

    Startup Items:

              360ControlDaemon - Path: /Library/StartupItems/360ControlDaemon

              ParallelsDesktopTransporter - Path: /Library/StartupItems/ParallelsDesktopTransporter

     

    System Software:

              OS X 10.8.4 (12E55) - Uptime: 0 days 1:39:57

     

    Disk Information:

              V4-CT256V4SSD2 disk0 : (256.06 GB)

                        disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

                        Ben's New Hard Drive (disk0s2) /: 255.2 GB (61.63 GB free)

                        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

     

              HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GS21N 

     

    USB Information:

              Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

     

     

              Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

     

              Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

     

              Logitech Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2

     

              Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

                        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

     

    FireWire Information:

     

    Thunderbolt Information:

     

    Kernel Extensions:

              com.orderedbytes.driver.CMUSBDevices          (4.4.3)

              com.orderedbytes.driver.ControllerMateFamily          (4.4.3)

              com.Cvnt.nke          (2.1.2)

              com.Cvnt.driver.CvntDriver          (2.1.2)

              com.vara.driver.VaraAudio          (1.0.3)

     

    Problem System Launch Daemons:

     

    Problem System Launch Agents:

     

    Launch Daemons:

              [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

              [loaded] com.Cvnt.daemon.plist

              [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist

              [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist

     

    Launch Agents:

              [loaded] com.Cvnt.start.plist

              [loaded] com.hp.devicemonitor.plist

              [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist

     

    User Launch Agents:

              [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist

              [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist

              [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist

              [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist

              [loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist

     

    User Login Items:

              Covenant Eyes

              Caffeine

              HP Scheduler

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes:

              Flash Player

              GamePadCompanionPrefPanel

              Perian

     

    Internet Plug-ins:

              AdobePDFViewer.plugin

              AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin

              DirectorShockwave.plugin

              Flash Player.plugin

              FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin

              iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

              JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

              QuickTime Plugin.plugin

              Silverlight.plugin

     

    User Internet Plug-ins:

              Google Earth Web Plug-in.plugin

     

    Bad Fonts:

              None

     

    Top Processes by CPU:

                   7%          HP Device Monitor

                   7%          WindowServer

                   3%          Google Chrome

                   2%          EtreCheck

                   0%          mds

                   0%          Dock

                   0%          fontd

                   0%          ps

                   0%          blued

                   0%          SystemUIServer

     

    Top Processes by Memory:

              135 MB             Google Chrome

              106 MB             mds

              57 MB              HP Device Monitor

              45 MB              WindowServer

              44 MB              Google Chrome Helper

              33 MB              coreservicesd

              29 MB              CalendarAgent

              29 MB              SystemUIServer

              29 MB              Finder

              29 MB              Dock

     

    Virtual Memory Statistics

              1.89 GB            Free RAM

              1.15 GB            Active RAM

              230 MB             Inactive RAM

              486 MB             Wired RAM

              793 MB             Page-ins

              0 B                Page-outs

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Aug 28, 2013 2:30 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 9 (66,876 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Aug 28, 2013 2:30 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    Go to the Hardware test directions for how to check your hardware.

     

    Onyx is one of the many one-trick ponies that exist because PC users believe that any cleanup is better than none.    Generally speaking  though the only repair the Mac needs is done if you leave it on screen saver instead of Energy Saver at night at least once a month.    This cleans the logfiles.   

     

    The reason you can't repair the disk from Disk Utility is that you need to boot in single user mode with command-S, or boot off the restore volume to get Disk Utility to repair the disk.  That's the directory repair when you repair disk.    From command line which comes via booting with command-S ea:

    /sbin/fsck -fy

    each time it says it has not been repaired repeat it followed by the enter key.

    Once it is repaired do a

     

    /sbin/mount -uw

     

    Followed by return key.

     

    If you are unable to repair it with the command line, you need Alsoft Disk Warrior.

    And if it can't repair it, then you need to replace your hard disk/SSD.

     

    If neither hardware test nor disk repair is revealing you and the problem is strictly related to internet applications, your router may need a firmware update for better compatibility, or using http://www.opendns.org/ DNS numbers in your network settings may work better.

     

    Additionally, if you are trying to backup your data in the background while working, that can slow you down.

     

    If the Spotlight menu shows that it is indexing, that also can slow you down.   You can turn off Spotlight and download other tools that can search for files by name only that are faster than the built-in Find of the Finder.  If you need help doing that I can.

     

    If Spotlight, Time Machine, the Internet, your hard disk, and the hardware test are unrevealing, let us know what is slow, and what is not.  Then maybe we can isolate it.

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Aug 28, 2013 2:34 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 9 (66,876 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Aug 28, 2013 2:34 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    Perian may be slowing you down, so may be Parallels.   What do you use Parallels for?

    You may need an update for your Logitech drivers and HP drivers.

    You still need to remove all elements of CleanmyMac.

    I don't know what Caffeine and Covenant eyes are for.

    Google earth check the plugin version you have is right for your system.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Aug 28, 2013 2:38 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 6 (17,685 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:38 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    ZeroCitizen wrote:

    Both the SMART status and the structure of the volume have been verified as normal by Onyx... are you sure they're the problem?

    Like all other such utilities, Onyx uses the same underlying OS functions for SMART status & verifications as does Apple's Disk Utility, so while running these functions in Onyx won't cause any problems, neither do they do anything Disk Utility can't already do.

     

    Onyx is (at least in my experience) a good tool for doing certain things but it is really just a "front end" for functions that you can run if you know the equivalent Terminal commands or how to use Disk Utility & a few other applications Apple provides. IOW, it is mostly a connivence item, a sort of one-stop-shop for a grab bag of utilities.

     

    But like a brody said, overuse of cache cleaning routines won't help unless there is a corrupted cache the OS can't deal with on its own, which isn't a very common occurrence.

  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 28, 2013 2:42 PM in response to ZeroCitizen
    Level 9 (72,238 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 28, 2013 2:42 PM in response to ZeroCitizen

    CleanMyMac - Uninstall

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:42 PM in response to a brody
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:42 PM in response to a brody

    Thanks for being so clear- I'm going to spend some time following your recommendations and will get back to you with the results. I already use OpenDNS.

     

    As a side note, I noticed in etrecheck that 360controldaemon and parallelsdesktoptransporter were in my startup items. I recently uninstalled my 360 controller pref pane. I download parallels when I first got this computer- I was in middle school and probably didn't know what I was doing. I know the original application is uninstalled, but sometimes I come across fragments like that when scouring my system.

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:47 PM in response to a brody
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:47 PM in response to a brody

    Caffeine is a small application that lives in the menu bar. If I click it, my computer and display don't go to sleep. Click it again, system defaults take preference.

     

    Covenant eyes allows my parents to monitor my computer and make sure I'm not visiting "bad" websites (I'm 17)

     

    I'll try updating drivers as well. I mentioned in another reply that I don't use Parallels and want to get rid of it.

  • by ZeroCitizen,

    ZeroCitizen ZeroCitizen Aug 28, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Eric Root

    done and done.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Aug 28, 2013 2:49 PM in response to a brody
    Level 6 (17,685 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 2:49 PM in response to a brody

    I think Caffeine is the utility to keep the Mac from going to sleep. It should be OK (if it is up to date) -- I've seen a mention of it somewhere in Apple's documentation, although not recently.

     

    I don't know anything about those "com.Cvnt" items. The "com.orderedbytes" stuff seems to be for a Midi controller or something like that, & possibly an out-of-date version that needs to be updated to the 4.7 version.

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