Laptop running heavy all the time.

Uninstall Sophos as per the developer's instructions. No Anti-Virus software or so-called “cleaning” apps are needed or recommended for Mac OS. They can conflict with Mac's own built-in security. At best they will slow your Mac by using unnecessary resources and at worst will bork your entire system. Your Mac has all the built-in protection you need.

macOS - Security - Apple

Then restart and post another Etrecheck report.

Probably because of only 4 GB RAM, barely enough to run the system. Your Google apps use a lot of resources. Also any additional apps you use just puts more stress on the system.

Adobe Flash Player is likely unnecessary since most sites use HTML 5 which obviates the need for Flash Player. Also Adobe has announced it is discontinuing Flash Player in 2020.

Here's a another thing you can try for faster speed. Take Dropbox out of Login Items. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items and use the minus (-) button to remove Dropbox (you can always use the (+) button to add it back.

Given the specs on your Mac it will never be a speed demon. But hopefully this will help.

Hello fen916,

Thanks for that info and for choosing the Apple Support Communities. If I understand correctly, you are having an issue with performance on your Mac. First, use the steps in this Apple resource to see if an app or something else is causing this issue:

See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity

Next, use safe mode to start up your Mac as it does the following things:

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
• Loads only required kernel extensions
• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically
• Disables user-installed fonts
• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Log in to your user account and test the issue while in safe mode and then restart normally and test the issue again.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

Graphics performance limited in macOS Recovery, safe mode, or Guest User mode

Cheers!

Please post your Etrecheck report, so we can analyze it:

To post the log file click on share report and use the Page icon in your reply window.