Very Slow Booting Speed. Please Help! 🍎👨‍💻👩‍💻

You do not need any anti-virus product installed on your Mac because 1) there are no real viruses on Mac, and 2) that anti-virus product will interfere with the normal operation, and built-in security of your Mac, and installed applications. Entirely remove the anti-virus product per the vendor's instructions, and reboot your Mac.

Windows actually has real viruses that can replicate and cause mayhem, but they will not run on Macs. That makes anti-virus products on Macs a revenue stream for anti-virus vendors selling fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Of more concern on Macs are the ad/malware that you may download and install by not choosing software directly from the original vendor site.

Our usual recommended tool to detect and remove ad/malware is the free Malwarebytes for Mac. It is not an anti-virus product, and no one here gets any money for recommending it.

If your Mac is still slow after removing your anti-virus product(s), and running Malwarebytes, let me know.

Merely disabling non-Apple "anti-virus" junk is inadequate. It must be uninstalled in accordance with its instructions.

The first step in diagnosing a broken Mac is to remove the junk. Often, it's the only step.

Hi:

I had this exact same problem several years ago on a MacBook Air after I'd ignored numerous "Disk Nearly Full" messages.

I'm working mostly from memory, but I seem to recall that the OS had somehow forgotten the assigned "Startup Disk"

As I recall ... going into System Preferences ... Startup Disk ... and "reminding it" which disk to use when starting solved the problem.

Def not an "authoritative" answer, but it's a possibility.

Best of luck.

soumstar wrote:

Then I removed all the login/startup items of apps except my antivirus.

Do you want to fix your Mac or not?

You could try starting in Verbose mode to see where the delays are.

Use the Console app to look at system log.

Interesting, you should have gotten all the way to the desktop, like this. So, what was happening in the startup log when it paused long enough for you to enter 'reboot'?

Sorry. :-(

I tried recreating the search strings I might have used years ago which led me to the answer then ... all to no avail.

I understand the anxiety waiting that time-bar; all the while you're wondering, "Is it gonna work THIS time"

Best of luck.

PLEASE post the solution when discovered.

Cheers.

I didnt say that Macs do not get infected with Malware, and if you are downloading things into Cross Over, and had said Cross Over in your original post, then I would have mentioned that Windows games, applications, and sourced data are vectors for real Windows viruses, and other infections.

A virus by definition is able to replicate itself, to other documents, or send itself attached to emails from your contacts list to infect others. Trojans and other ad/malware cannot do that.

As long as you use Cross Over, you should be running an anti-virus tool, though not to secure your Mac, but rather Cross Over.

I didn't reach level 9 by a lack of knowledge… but you are set in your opinion.

Your Discussion has taken a predictable turn. User complains Mac isn't working. User is directed to remove the junk. User refuses. Experienced Mac users take their decades of Mac knowledge and experience elsewhere, where it's appreciated.

Good luck.