My iMac is so SLOWWWW!

Hi there,

First, delete Clean My Mac. That software ruins Macs.

Secondly, I believe we need to proceed with an EtreCheck report. EtreCheck is a useful app to diagnose and identify issues, both hardware and software. It is trusted by many users. Please follow the steps outlined below:

1. Navigate to: https://etrecheck.com and get the free version of EtreCheckPro.
2. Download it. It is a free and trusted app. It is often recommended here on Apple Support Communities. 
3. Open EtreCheck, and before running the report, be sure to check “Allow full Drive Access” at the bottom of the EtreCheckPro window.
4. Run the report, and put it in a post, as seen here - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211. We will then examine the report for issues in your Mac.

Cheers,

Jack

Actually that is not the "edu-iMac." The only crippled Edu-iMac left in the line is the 2017 21.5-inch. witha dual-core processor. However, Mr Hoffman's assessment of your hard drive is 100 percent correct. That is where your case of the "slows" arises.

With hard-to-upgrade RAM, it is a good idea to restart the computer more ofter that every two weeks:

System Software:

macOS Big Sur 11.2.3 (20D91)

Time since boot: About 14 days

Also remove CleanMyMac. Your already slow hard drive is running even below nominal write speeds for that drive, when it should about 70MB/sec for both write and read. I have seen several EtreCheck reports here where removing CleanMyMac normalized drive speeds. It is unneeded, merely dupliucating funcitons you paid Apple to build into the OS.

Mr Hoffman's recommendation of using a USB3 external drive holding a 6GB/sec SATA SSD as the boot volume is the most cost-effective solution. Data transfers are around 400MB/sec compare to you current max possible speed of 70-80MB/sec.

Notes:

• Delete CleanMyMac: https://cleanmymac.com/how-to-uninstall-cleanmymac. This software ruins Macs
• Google Chrome should not be used. It uses a lot of resources. Stick to Safari, if possible.

Other than that, the iMac is slow due to the 5400 rpm hard drive. You can speed up the mac a whole lot by using an external SSD as your startup disk. For more information, how to setup, and what OWC SSD to buy, please read: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003583.

Cheers,

Jack

There may still be some system CleanMyMac files.

1. Go to Finder > Go (top menu bar) > Computer.
2. Click search, and type "MacPaw".
3. Delete anything containing "MacPaw", such as "com.macpaw."
4. Then, search for "cleanmymac".
5. Delete anything containing "cleanmymac".

Cheers,

Jack

That’s the iMac intended for students and schools, those that need mail and light web browsing and such.

That iMac has far too little memory and with a very slow hard disk for what I’d consider moderate usage.

That iMac is never going to be fast, and one of the few options to compensate is to migrate to an external SSD.

A fast hard disk will do 100 to 150 operations per second, and you don’t have a fast hard disk.

An SSD will do 100,000 to a sizable chunk of a million operations per second. Slightly faster...

Which will somewhat compensate for the lack of main memory available in that Mac.

Get your backups going soonest, too.