My iMac has been really struggling with slowness this week - please can you help me?

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Level 1

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My iMac has been really struggling with slowness this week - please can you help me?

My one-year iMac really chugs like an old man sometimes, taking ages to do the simplest things. Would be very grateful if you could look at my EtreCheckPro report. Is there anything I can do to speed it up? Sometimes the EtreCheck report says the hard drive is slow - other times the report says the performance is good - when I know it isn't. Is it worth paying out for a RAM upgrade?

Here is the latest report - I will do that backup.

EtreCheck report

iMac, macOS 10.12

Posted on Mar 31, 2021 5:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,188 points

Mar 31, 2021 6:02 PM in response to marra1

Hello there,

Your iMac is slow due to the 5400 rpm slow hard drive. You can speed it up a lot by using an external SSD as your startup disk. For more info and instructions, please read: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as y… - Apple Community.

Cheers,

Jack

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,328 points

Apr 1, 2021 3:28 PM in response to marra1

You have one file that should be removed:

[Loaded] com.avast.av.uninstaller.xpc.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2021-03-10)

It's loaded in your Home/Library/LaunhDaemons folder.

Other than that Jack-19's recommendation regarding an external SSD is right on. Excellent candidates for it are one of these from OWC (MacSales.com):

Envoy Pro EX with USB-C or USB 3- best from a speed vs price standpoint

OWC Envoy Pro EX with Thunderbolt 3 - fastest if you have a Thunderbolt 3 port but more expensive

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Answer 3

Jack-19

Level 8

46,188 points

Mar 31, 2021 6:03 PM in response to marra1

A RAM upgrade wouldn’t help much, and you would need to find an AASP to to the upgrade. You couldn’t do it yourself, but you can do the external SSD yourself.

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Answer 4

Jack-19

Level 8

46,188 points

Apr 1, 2021 2:09 PM in response to marra1

It will help performance a lot. In your case, up to 50 times for storage.

Cheers,

Jack

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Answer 5

marra1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 1, 2021 12:27 PM in response to Jack-19

Sincere thanks for your helpful advice. I have now found dozens of despairing posts, harsh reviews and warnings about this particular imac (21.5-inch, 2019) and it appears I have bought one very slow lemon. Meanwhile, my 2009 iMac still works beautifully and faster than this one. Can't afford to trade in, so I probably will go the external SSD route.

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My iMac has been really struggling with slowness this week - please can you help me?

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