Suddenly real slow

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Level 1

133 points

Suddenly real slow

I have an iMac18,3 with 16 GB RAM running Catalina 10.15.7. No problems, everything fine, until suddenly it got really slow. Apps that normally opened in seconds took minutes. I rebooted, with no effect. Ran Malware Bytes (once it opened) and no problem. I ran EtreCheck (once it opened) and it reported no problems. I powered off, and unplugged it to reset the SMC. Upon powering back up it seemed fine. Malware Bytes opened quickly and reported no problems. EtreCheck also opened quickly and again reported no problems. EtreCheck Diagnostics did report heavy CPU usage by com.apple.WebKit.WebContent, however the executable as reported by EtreCheck could not be found: /Library/Apple/*/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent. There were 4 counts, the last one this morning when the machine was idle.

It appears something went haywire with the SMC. Or is there more to the story?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 12, 2020 2:19 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

141,490 points

Nov 12, 2020 2:25 PM in response to DesertRatR

A suddenly slow computer with a computer that has either a traditional HD or Fusion Drive indicates a failing HD. Before you do ANYTHING backup using Time Machine or by creating a bootable clone. If you already backup using one of these methods, test your backup to verify it's working.

I would start by restarting in the Recovery Partition (Command + R on startup) and open Disk Utilities and run First Aid 2-3 times back to back, if any errors appear that confirms my hunch about a failing HD. If you don't see anything, the please do the following:

Please navigate to the Mac App Store or navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.

When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again.

For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211

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Answer 2

Nov 12, 2020 2:46 PM in response to DesertRatR

My brand new 27" iMac bought in August was updated to Catalina 10.15.7, which I also installed on my MacBookPro (mid-2015 edition) and I blame the Catalina update. For the past week, both Apple products have dramatically reduced in performance. I get the spinning disc a lot on my 8-core i7 16GB iMac. My poor laptop has bogged down altogether, presenting many security issues from one web page to another. I fully blame 10.15.7.

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Answer 3

DesertRatR Author

Level 1

133 points

Nov 13, 2020 6:37 AM in response to DesertRatR

The problem had nothing to do with my Mac and everything to do with Apple servers. Please refer to https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-big-sur-launch-appears-to-cause-temporary-slowdown-in-even-non-big-sur-macs/

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 8

47,560 points

Nov 13, 2020 10:45 AM in response to DesertRatR

DesertRatR wrote:

The problem had nothing to do with my Mac and everything to do with Apple servers. Please refer to https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-big-sur-launch-appears-to-cause-temporary-slowdown-in-even-non-big-sur-macs/

Has the problem resolved itself? You are probably correct about the cause because your EtreCheck report doesn’t show anything unusual. However, many people didn’t experience any problems yesterday.

It can be risky to rely on the internet for these issues. One of the “solutions” being posted involved disabling a key component of your system security protection. If you have done that, you will have to remember to undo it.

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Answer 5

DesertRatR Author

Level 1

133 points

Nov 13, 2020 11:51 AM in response to etresoft

Thanks for checking. Yup all resolved. I did not rely on the Internet for any solutions. Actually was looking for the latest news on problems with Big Sur installation (lots of folks having trouble there, so I'll wait awhile) and happened across the article about Apple servers. What I didn't post in the original complaint was that native Apple apps, e.g. Numbers, didn't experience the delay in opening, just the third party apps. So it all makes sense.

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Answer 6

DesertRatR Author

Level 1

133 points

Nov 12, 2020 2:58 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Etrecheck report

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Answer 7

DesertRatR Author

Level 1

133 points

Nov 12, 2020 2:33 PM in response to rkaufmann87

The Mac has a SSD flash drive. And I have both TM and bootable clone (SuperDuper).

I will see what DU reports.

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Answer 8

Nov 12, 2020 2:48 PM in response to sirknightmuse

I have login issues on Apple as well with my user id. They send me a nice link about the shipping of my iPhone 12 Max but all I get is "Something went wrong".

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