My computer runs very, very slow; its an iMac (late 2013) computer and I currently have the Mojave os. I seemed to have maxed out my 8GB of RAM. I still have over 700GB of space on the hard drive. I have checked the "Memory" column in the Activity Monitor and 1) the memory pressure is yellow, and 2) something called Google Chrome Helper is listed several times.
Ultimately, I would like to learn how to free up space.
As dialabrain requested download and run 4leerily503/jivey4. Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.
Use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply:
Also assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get more information for the report:
Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.
Out of RAM - This machine is running short on RAM and has a mechanical hard drive, reducing the speed of the virtual memory system.
Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.
Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.
Low performance - EtreCheck report took over 5 minutes to run. This is unusual.
32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.
Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.
Hardware Information:
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)
iMac Model: iMac14,3
1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4570S) CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM - Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok
Video Information:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
iMac 1920 x 1080
Drives:
disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 1000.00 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 1000.00 GB (Shared by 4 volumes)
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 274.37 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 6.44 GB used)
Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 1000.00 GB (718.42 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] (Shared - 6.44 GB used)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm
Network:
Interface Bluetooth-Modem: Bluetooth DUN
Interface en0: Ethernet
Interface en1: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Interface en5: iPhone
Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge
System Software:
macOS Mojave 10.14.2 (18C54)
Time since boot: About 16 days
Security:
GatekeeperEnabled
System Integrity ProtectionEnabled
One of the issues you have is AdWare installed on your computer.
Major Issues: Adware - Adware detected.
If you could use the instructions posted by Old Toad above, and post the entire report, we could offer advice as to what else may be happening.
Is this what you mean:
EtreCheck version: 5.1 (5020)
Report generated: 2019-01-15 16:50:19
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 9:03
Performance: Below Average
Sandbox: Enabled
Full drive access: Disabled
Problem: Computer is too slow
Description: I have an iMac 2013 model using Mojave OS. The memory pressure shown in Activity Monitor shows yellow. I want to understand if I can free up RAM by deleting or uninstalling apps but do not know how. It seems my 8GB of RAM is maxed out. Typically I have these apps/browsers open: Finder, Mail, Calendar, Chrome with anywhere to 3-5 tabs opens, sometimes Safari, too. If I work in Photos, in can literally take 30 seconds to open an image. I believe my caches are not adding to the problem but I am a novice and really do not know what I am looking at. I have numerous DMG files that I cannot tell if it is safe to trash those files.
Major Issues: Adware - Adware detected.
Minor Issues in next post...
You need to check on the possible immediate problem: the second report states that you may have a failing hard drive. Make sure you have a full backup before taking it in. The Genius Bars have excellent diagnostic tests.
Hi, I am trying your suggestions with Find Any File. I've asked it to search the hard drive and its been searching for like 15 minutes with nothing found. I am now trying for it to search "all disks" but it does not seem to find MacKeeper files. I did back up via Time Machine last night after running Malware and deleting some other things. Before I take in my computer to the Genius Bar, I thought to run another backup after using FAF to delete potentially more corrupt stuff. I am not sure I am using FAF correctly. Thx.
(I see, the 1st time I tried to paste right away and I got a message that stated I exceeded spaces or whatever...
This report was done after making the selection for Full Drive Access.
Any suggestions for optimizing RAM would be greatly appreciated.
Hello. Can you clarify or give examples between what you mean by " the application's name and the developer's name in the file name"
Thanks
That line was from another example where there were two different names used for file, one the developer's name in some of them and then the app's name in others. Ignore it.
Google Chrome Helper is a process of the Chrome browser. The more tabs you have open the more RAM that is used. Basically you reduce memory usage by limiting the number of apps open at one time, the number of tabs open in a browser, and the number of system add-ons you have running in the background.
An example of when slow speed is very noticeable is when I use Photos; like, just opening an image can sometimes take as long at 30 seconds. If I am working in Photos, then should I have mm mail and calendar apps closed? Typically I only have Finder, Chrome and/or Safari browsers and maybe MS Word open at the same time, which seems rather light or typical and nevertheless the speed is sluggish.
If you could post an EtreCheck report that would be helpful. EtreCheck on the Mac App Store
Click the Text icon at the bottom of the reply window to paste in the report.
Another reason for general slowness is that your model has a glacially slow 5400 rpm hard drive which it will do everything about 30+% slower than the 7200 rpm drive in a 27” iMac. And, the new OS versions are made so they use all the available RAM purposely, so thebest thing is to have only one appopen at a time. Even if you close the app window, it will still be running in the background, so actually quit it (Command + Q).
MacKeeper is listed in one of your reports. It's a very bad actor and you should make sure you've delete3de all ofd it's support files. You can check to see if you've removed all of the MacKeeper files by downloading and running Find Any File to search for any files with the application's name and the developer's name in the file name. Do the following search:
1 - Name contains mackeeper
Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop for deletion.
FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.
And definitely follow babowa's recommendations regarding back-ups.
Also Google software are know resource hogs. If you don;'t like using Safari try Firefox instead of Chrome.
How to free up RAM space
