running very slow

Moulan123 wrote:

why is my mac running very slow and I keep getting beachball

Good question— what trouble shooting have you done...

To trouble shoot further you can:

—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.

Login and test. Reboot as normal. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.

This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

To get a good look at your System config. and reveal conflicts or issues, you can download/run this trusted utility https://etrecheck.com

If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.

I don't know why. It would be greatly helpful if you could provide some information. Has anything changed recently? Is this a new condition? How much RAM do you have installed? Does it run slow on every action or only certain ones? Below, I am going to give you some suggestions for speeding up things, which may be helpful.

Often times there is a specific cause for the slowness and other times any of the following actions may be helpful. They are “maintenance” steps which are often ignored.

·      It is important to occasionally restart a Mac. Ideally, once a week or more often. This does some system cleaning.

·      Regularly clearing the history of your browsers can help as all the data is stored in RAM. Clearing frees up RAM for system use.

·      Some people seldom empty their trash. If you haven’t, then do so. Also empty your email trash.

·      Some programs use a lot of RAM. (Like many Adobe apps and the Chrome browser.) When using them, close any other apps not being used.

·      Doing a restart in the safe mode can clear a number of problems. This is done by holding down the Shift key at start up. This process can take up to ten minutes while the computer is doing its maintenance and cleans the cache. You may then restart normally.

·      It is also a good idea to run the Disk Utility app. If it reports some issues, then rerun it repeatedly as needed until the final report is ok. Your disk may be failing. Disk Utility will report this if it is the case.

·      On some computers the problem may simply be that there is not enough RAM installed for RAM hungry programs that are being used. The very minimum amount of RAM I would recommend for computers running the Catalina or Big Sur OS is 16 GB. This information is found by going to the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the finder and clicking on About This Mac. Note; not all computers are able to have RAM user installed. Some upgrades must be done by a qualified Apple service specialist.

·      Last, and most important, you should remove any and all maintenance and antivirus programs. They will cause problems and will significantly slow your computer.

·      It is also very useful to download and install the free app EtreCheck. Be sure to enable full disk access and run it. Save the report. You can post the results here at the bottom under “Additional text”. It will tell us exactly what you have installed which might be problematic.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and enable you to speed up your computer.

Mine too, slow and beachball all the time. But when I stopped using Safari no more beachball....using Opera now.

https://www.opera.com/no