performance -- terribly low speed operation in an iMac

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Level 1

16 points

performance -- terribly low speed operation in an iMac

We're running an iMac with Mojave (10.14.6). When new it was a nice machine. Now everything is _terribly_ slow. Like, how nice is the beach ball -- after a long pause? Loading an app, loading a file, saving a file, loading an old (already stored on the iMac) email - it will often load the email name & subject line, but not the text. In short, just about everything is really, really slow. Much slower than when it was first set up only a year ago.

What to do? I persuaded the user to move a pile of files off the desktop. Would this help & should it do a reboot to be effective?

What else can be done? What information would narrow your suggestions?

This is serious. the alternative is shutting down the machine, and all it is doing.

Machine: iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5 inch, 2019)

processor: 3.6 GHz Intel Core i3

Memory: 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Graphics: Radeon Pro 555X 2 GB

It is as we purchased it.

Posted on Jun 13, 2020 10:46 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,021 points

Jun 14, 2020 9:32 AM in response to Metal_bender

Adware - Adware detected... isn't there a link to remove that? If not the free Malwarebytes which may take care of it...

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

Delete these files & restart...

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.SimpleGuideSearchDaemon.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.SimpleGuideSearch.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist

These last 2 are hidden...

~ tilde indicates hidden Home Library.

Apple hid the Users' Library folders...

Method 1:

From the Finder, select the Go menu at top of the screen, and choose Go to Folder.
In the window that opens, enter ~/Library/LaunchAgents, and click Go.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,319 points

Jun 13, 2020 11:31 AM in response to Metal_bender

Download and run Etrecheck. 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.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.

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Answer 3

Allan Jones

Level 9

71,858 points

Jul 2, 2020 9:14 AM in response to Metal_bender

Glad you got that sorted. I saw one other thing: You have Apple Mail and Safari set to launch at startup. As you cannot practically upgrade your RAM, it helps to have as little as possible launch at startup. Some apps must be in User login item but Mail and Safari do not. With an external boot SSD added, they will launch plenty fast the old-fashioned way.

To remove those from Login Items, please see this Apple support article:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/open-items-automatically-when-you-log-in-mh15189/mac

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,422 points

Jun 13, 2020 6:34 PM in response to Metal_bender

2 problems, first is the configuration you bought. It has only 8 go of RAM, the bare minimum to run Mac OS that it should have. Worse though is the bottleneck on the system, it has a glacially slow 5400 rpm hard drive. You can get and external SSD and clone the HD to the SSD and then use the SSD as your primary drive.

the other issue is some adware has been installed, please download the free version of Malwrebytes and it should be able to remove it easily.

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Answer 5

Metal_bender Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 2, 2020 7:43 AM in response to Metal_bender

Took the machine to a Genius bar person, who ID'd the hard drive & memory size as key issues also. This iMac cannot be upgraded internally. Then we got into the local Wi-Fi signal issue, which may contribute to the speed.

Final conclusion (& action):

1) buy an external SSD drive -- I plan to.

2) Check the Wi-Fi signal strength in the office - Yup, & beef it up with repeaters or whatever as necessary.

3) For real speed, get a 'bigger' machine. -- probably not going to happen.

You folks were great - hit the mark well.

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