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dst66

Q: What app. is best for clean up of the iMac and making it faster?

My iMac is running very slowly all of a sudden and is generally not running up to par.  Is there a good clean up app to  get rid of waste that may be a factor.   It is also having a problem with typing delays and the circle with the multi color swells often appear rather the cursor?   Can you help me ?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 7, 2015 6:36 PM

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Q: What app. is best for clean up of the iMac and making it faster?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Aug 7, 2015 6:39 PM in response to dst66
    Level 10 (270,831 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 7, 2015 6:39 PM in response to dst66

    There are no good cleanup utilities needed. "Waste" won't make the computer slower.

     

    Ways to help make a slow Mac faster

     

    17 Reasons Why Your Mac Runs Slower Than it Should

    Slow Mac Performance? This Article Solves It!

    Fix slow start-ups in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

    6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

     

    Avoid using any third-party software that claims to clean up your computer. Usually this software does more bad than good. Furthermore, you don't need it. Note that all computers will become slower over time even under normal use. Experienced users typically erase the hard drive and do a clean install from scratch at least once a year or whenever installing a major OS upgrade. Of course doing so also means you must maintain regular and multiple backups.

     

    Add more RAM or cut back on the number of concurrently running applications and utilities. Remove unnecessary software such as anti-malware and software that promises to clean your Mac. Check for runaway processes: Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan acti… Also see:

     

    Pre-Mavericks

     

    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu.  Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

     

    Mavericks and later

     

    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the View menu.  Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the %CPU column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of %CPU, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

  • by greg sahli,Helpful

    greg sahli greg sahli Aug 7, 2015 6:55 PM in response to dst66
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    Aug 7, 2015 6:55 PM in response to dst66

    Now that you're a Mac user, it's time to lose all the Windows paranoia. The hype on TV and popup ads on the internet about "cleaning" just don't apply to Mac.

    Please tell us the symptoms you see if Harry's links don't help.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Aug 7, 2015 8:08 PM in response to dst66
    Level 8 (49,034 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 7, 2015 8:08 PM in response to dst66

    Back up your Mac if  you have not already done so. To learn how to to that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support.

     

    If your Mac is momentarily unresponsive, consider the following.

     

    Launch the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder. You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.

     

    If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu. Select Show Toolbar if it is not already shown.

     

    Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.

     

    To do that click the Clear Display button in the Toolbar. All previously displayed log entries will be disappear.

     

    Next: Perform whatever actions cause the Mac to exhibit the slow behavior. If the problem is caused by errors logged by the system, the Console window will show them being recorded in system.log.

     

    One or more of them, along with their time stamps, may reveal the reason for the problem you describe.

     

    Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting. There should be no need for more than a few log entries.

     

    Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 7, 2015 9:15 PM in response to dst66
    Level 10 (207,958 points)
    Applications
    Aug 7, 2015 9:15 PM in response to dst66

    When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.  

    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

    Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

    Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

  • by Eric Root,Solvedanswer

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 8, 2015 1:28 PM in response to dst66
    Level 9 (71,079 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 8, 2015 1:28 PM in response to dst66

    Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor.  Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.

     

    Etrecheck – System Information