JoshuaMD
Level 1 (8 points)
Notebooks

Q: Does anyone have suggestions as to how to increase the operating speed of my Macbook Pro? It is continually getting more sluggish.

My 5 year old MacBook Pro is progressively getting more sluggish. Any ideas on how to "clean it up"? I appreciate any input.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 26, 2016 2:48 PM

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JoshuaMD

Q: Does anyone have suggestions as to how to increase the operating speed of my Macbook Pro? It is continually getting more sluggish. ... more

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  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Sep 26, 2016 2:50 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 26, 2016 2:50 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    Download this, run a report and post the results here (no personal info will be included.

  • by Phil0124,

    Phil0124 Phil0124 Sep 26, 2016 2:52 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 7 (27,681 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 26, 2016 2:52 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    If you provide an Etrecheck report many here will able to provide you with suggestions as to how to improve performance on your Mac.

     

    Using EtreCheck - Apple Support Communities

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 26, 2016 5:21 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 8 (49,659 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 5:21 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    Back up your Mac if you have not done so already. To learn how to do that please read https://www.apple.com/support/backup/. To learn how to use Time Machine read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac. The reason for creating a backup is that the symptoms you describe could be indicative of an impending hard disk drive failure, so securing your data is a primary concern.

     

    Then, shut down your Mac and restart it in "Safe Mode". To learn how to do that please read: Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up. Compare how your Mac works in Safe Mode to how it has been.

     

    Then, restart normally. If the same problem returns, please read the section If an issue doesn't happen in safe mode for Apple's recommended actions.

     

    Finally, you can temporarily create a new User Account, and log in to that account to determine if the problem also exists when logged in to that Account. To learn how to do that read How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. When you are finished troubleshooting, you can remove the temporary User Account by following these instructions: macOS Sierra: Delete a user or group. Before removing it, confirm you don't need any of the files you might have created in that Account.

     

    Let me know what you determine.

  • by JoshuaMD,

    JoshuaMD JoshuaMD Sep 26, 2016 6:24 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 26, 2016 6:24 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    Here is the result of my EtreCheck. Thank you CSound1 & Phil0124 for this suggestion. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

     

     

    Hardware Information: ⓘ

        MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1

        1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

        4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

        Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

        Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 419

     

    Video Information: ⓘ

        Intel HD Graphics 3000

            Color LCD 1280 x 800

     

    System Software: ⓘ

        OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 (15F34) - Time since boot: about 2 days

     

    Disk Information: ⓘ

        ST9500325ASG disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

            Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (312.43 GB free)

                Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online

     

        OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5970H   ()

     

    USB Information: ⓘ

        Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

        Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

        Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

     

    Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

        Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

     

    Gatekeeper: ⓘ

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.SAC.driver.SACPeripheralDeviceType05_1607E (1.2.0d1 - 2016-09-25) [Support]

     

    System Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    8 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    150 Apple tasks

        [running]    80 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    48 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    153 Apple tasks

        [running]    89 Apple tasks

     

    Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2016-04-05) [Support]

     

    Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2016-04-05) [Support]

     

    User Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.87BA5195-E4BB-4699-B9EA-1F 18494C9944.plist (2012-05-05)

        [failed]    com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (2012-03-16)

        [failed]    com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist (2015-09-13)

     

    User Login Items: ⓘ

        iTunesHelper    Application Hidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

        Skype    Application  (/Applications/Skype.app)

        SacReminder    Application Hidden (/Applications/Clickfree/OfficeGuardianV2/SacReminder.app)

        CFAgent    Application Hidden (/Applications/Clickfree/CFAgent.app)

     

    Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

        FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-14) [Support]

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-05-25)

        Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-14) [Support]

        Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.2.0.16   - SDK 10.8 (2014-04-23) [Support]

        JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 91 build 14 (2016-04-22) Check version

        Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-05-25)

     

    User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

        WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 (2012-01-12) [Support]

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

        Flash Player (2016-08-29) [Support]

        Flip4Mac WMV (2013-03-29) [Support]

        Java (2016-04-22) [Support]

     

    Time Machine: ⓘ

        Time Machine not configured!

     

    Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

             7%    storedownloadd

             6%    WindowServer

             4%    kernel_task

             1%    fontd

             0%    askpermissiond

     

    Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

        459 MB    kernel_task

        250 MB    firefox

        131 MB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

        98 MB    mdworker(7)

        61 MB    iTunes

     

    Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

        63 MB    Free RAM

        3.94 GB    Used RAM (1.29 GB Cached)

        118 MB    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

        Sep 25, 2016, 04:50:37 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/VTEncoderXPCService_2016-09-25-165037_[redacted ].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

            /System/Library/Frameworks/VideoToolbox.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/VTEnco derXPCService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/VTEncoderXPCService

        Sep 24, 2016, 07:45:35 PM    Self test - passed

        Sep 24, 2016, 07:24:41 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/VTEncoderXPCService_2016-09-24-192441_[redacted ].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

        Sep 24, 2016, 07:21:08 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PTPCamera_2016-09-24-192108_[redacted].crash

            com.apple.PTPCamera - /System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/PTPCamera.app/Contents/MacOS/PTPCamera

        Sep 24, 2016, 07:14:56 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/VTEncoderXPCService_2016-09-24-191456_[redacted ].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

        Sep 24, 2016, 07:06:24 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PTPCamera_2016-09-24-190624_[redacted].crash

        Sep 24, 2016, 11:47:24 AM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/softwareupdated_2016-09-24-114724_[redacted].cr ash

            /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/Resources/softwareupdated

  • by JoshuaMD,

    JoshuaMD JoshuaMD Sep 26, 2016 6:26 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 26, 2016 6:26 PM in response to John Galt

    Thank you John. I will have to try this.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 26, 2016 6:32 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 9 (61,115 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 26, 2016 6:32 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    You have two "hidden" applications running:

    User Login Items: ⓘ

        ...

        SacReminder    Application Hidden (/Applications/Clickfree/OfficeGuardianV2/SacReminder.app)

        CFAgent    Application Hidden (/Applications/Clickfree/CFAgent.app

    ...but the kernel extension behind them did not load:

    Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.SAC.driver.SACPeripheralDeviceType05_1607E (1.2.0d1 - 2016-09-25) [Support]

     

    You need to be sure that if you want to use that stuff, it is completely up to date and loading properly.

  • by kahjot,

    kahjot kahjot Sep 26, 2016 7:20 PM in response to JoshuaMD
    Level 4 (1,347 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 26, 2016 7:20 PM in response to JoshuaMD

    You have only 4GB of RAM and what I suspect is the original 5400 RPM hard drive. Upgrading to 8 GB of RAM and installing a SSD in place of the old hard drive would speed up your computer quite a bit.