I am trying to troubleshoot the reason why my iMac is so slow, and installed EtreCheck who returned that JavaAppLauncher is the top application taking CPU from the desktop.
Anyone knows how to solve this?
iMac 27″, macOS 10.15
The best antivirus, cleaning app, and overall maintenance app for Mac OS is Mac OS itself. All you need to do with Mac OS to keep it secure and running well is to keep it up-to-date and do periodic (about 1x per week) restarts. Other than that, leave it alone. Adding third party antivirus, cleaning, security and other types of maintenance apps to Mac OS adds no additional level of security. The only thing these apps do is have the opposite affect users want. They make Mac OS slow, unstable, generate odd behavior (much like you are experiencing) and make Mac OS appear buggy.
Please locate the developers uninstall instructions for McAffee and follow to the letter. Then restart in Safe Mode per the directions in Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and then restart normally.
Also, I would recommend that you upgrade the RAM to a minimum of 16GB (32GB is better) using either Crucial.com or Macsales.com RAM.
That is unfortunate about the AV App, perhaps your IT department is not educated on the non-necessity of Mac OS AV apps. Many of these folks are educated in Windows where it is a necessity and are not educated on Mac OS. I'm afraid you will need to live with a buggy Mac due to this policy.
As for the RAM, the reason I specifically indicated Crucial.com and Macsales.com an not Amazon (or other resellers) is that these resellers often do NOT sell the same RAM that you would get by buying direct. iMacs are very sensitive to using quality RAM, both vendors supply very high quality products at reasonable prices, offer lifetime support and have great customer service. In short there is no reason to not buy from one or the other. Macsales.com is a US company however they do have distributors all over the world, if you need a list of those you can useOWC International Resellers to find one in your general area.
Thank you for your answer
whilst this is a personal desktop I need to use it for work and cause of that I also need to comply with my company software policies which imply installing macafee antivirus and other apps.
I restart the iMac every day so doing weekly restarts is already something I’m doing.
aa for ram upgrade I got myself Crucial and Komputerbay 16GB from Amazon which I had to return in both occasions as none were recognised by the iMac (tried multiple combinations and waited several times and no joy).
I am going to give it a try and (1) de-install McAfee - after all this is my personal desktop so unless I connect to the company VPN (which I will do from the company laptop) I can work in many other things - and (2) contact the local RAM vendors for an upgrade.
Many thanks mate, really helpful direction/ tips
JavaAppLauncher taking too much CPU
