Hallo...after a couple of days when it seemed that the problem had been resolved (removing a Tom Tom app spotted by JimmyCMPIT appeared to have stabilised everything) I am back to square one.
I followed your instructions and have kept an eye on the Activity Monitor for two days...Photoshop did indeed remain at the top of the list of Process Names but remained at a steady 710MB.
Memory Pressure was a constant smooth line.Even with an Epson Scanner program and Photoshop running concurrently Memory usage varied between 1.85GB to 2.25GB at most....until one hour ago
For no apparent reason I got the first beachball and hang that I have seen in two days...this was then accompanied by a huge red spike in Memory Pressure and Memory usage went from 2.25GB to 3.85GB.In the same moment in the Process Names list SOAGENT appeared from nowhere at 785MB then disappeared...thirty seconds later same again until within minutes I had what looked like a heartbeat in Memory Pressure
I decided to restart the machine....beachballs for every process....eventually shutdown but on restart for the first time ever a WHITE SCREEN
I read how to reboot in safe Mode...Memory usage was back to 1.25GB...within minutes it was 1.75GB with no Apps open...Etrecheck took it up to 1.95GB
I am in no way qualified to say if it is the change of OS,a memory leak or what...but I clearly have a mid 2011 iMac that is not working properly
All and any assistance will be gratefully received
EtreCheck version: 2.9.10 (261)
Report generated 2016-04-03 18:37:35
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 2:30
Performance: Excellent
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Problem: Beachballing
Description:
memory pressure red
Hardware Information: ⓘ
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac12,2
1 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 0/DIMM1
Empty
BANK 1/DIMM1
Empty
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ⓘ
AMD Radeon HD 6970M - VRAM: 1024 MB
iMac 2560 x 1440
System Software: ⓘ
OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65) - Time since boot: less than an hour
Disk Information: ⓘ
WDC WD1001FALS-403AA0 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (735.58 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5690H ()
USB Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Card Reader
Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Application Support/HASP/kexts
[not loaded] com.aladdin.kext.aksfridge (1.0.2 - 2016-04-03) [Support]
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.tomtom.driver.UsbEthernetGadget (1.0.0d1 - 2016-03-22) [Support]
System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks
[loaded] 166 Apple tasks
[running] 42 Apple tasks
[killed] 21 Apple tasks
21 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[failed] com.apple.ucupdate.plist
[failed] com.apple.watchdogd.plist
[not loaded] 40 Apple tasks
[loaded] 164 Apple tasks
[running] 70 Apple tasks
[killed] 13 Apple tasks
13 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-09-25) [Support]
[not loaded] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist (2015-06-29) [Support]
[not loaded] com.xrite.device.softwareupdate.plist (2015-08-19) [Support]
Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2015-09-25) [Support]
[not loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-03-19) [Support]
[not loaded] com.aladdin.aksusbd.plist (2015-12-07) [Support]
[not loaded] com.aladdin.hasplmd.plist (2015-12-07) [Support]
[not loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2012-04-02) [Support]
[not loaded] com.xrite.device.xrdd.plist (2015-08-19) [Support]
User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2013-07-28) [Support]
[not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2013-07-31) [Support]
User Login Items: ⓘ
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
Other Apps: ⓘ
[running] com.etresoft.EtreCheck.96992
[loaded] 413 Apple tasks
[running] 118 Apple tasks
[killed] 35 Apple tasks
Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
AdobeAAMDetect: AdobeAAMDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.6 (2015-09-25) [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.197 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-31) [Support]
EPPEX Plugin: 4.1.0.0 (2011-07-27) [Support]
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-09) [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-09) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-03-22)
Flash Player: 21.0.0.197 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-31) [Support]
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-03-22)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.2 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-21) [Support]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (2016-03-19) [Support]
Time Machine: ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 263.76 GB
Destinations:
Data [Network]
Total size: 3.00 TB
Total number of backups: 101
Oldest backup: 01/02/2014, 22:18
Last backup: 03/04/2016, 16:54
Size of backup disk: Excellent
Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 999.35 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
1% fontd
1% launchd
1% WindowServer
0% kernel_task
0% dpd
Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
394 MB kernel_task
188 MB usernoted
111 MB Finder
74 MB Activity Monitor
70 MB WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.70 GB Free RAM
2.30 GB Used RAM (641 MB Cached)
696 MB Swap Used
Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
Apr 3, 2016, 06:21:25 PM Self test - passed
Apr 3, 2016, 06:07:10 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor_2016-04-03-180710_[redacted].crash
/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements 10/*/Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor
Mar 31, 2016, 07:55:34 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor_2016-03-31-195534_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]