My iMac is very slow. Is is too old?

Thanks for the report.

No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

It appears that you do not have a Time Machine backup. If this is the case, you should create one. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s a few excellent ones sold by Apple: 

• LaCie Mobile Drive 4TB External Hard Drive USB-C - Apple
• LaCie 4TB Rugged USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple

If you have an iMac (Late 2015) or earlier, or a Mac mini (Late 2014) or earlier, you will also need this cable. Since you have an iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), you will need the cable for one of the above drives.

You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:

• Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support
• Set up iCloud Drive - Apple Support
• Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
• Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine. If you have this setting on due to a limited amount of storage on your Mac, that is fine. Just know changes won't be backed up to Time Machine, only iCloud.

Symantec

Delete Norton following these steps.

Mac computers do not need any sort of anti-virus, cleaners, VPNs, etc. The only thing they are good at is creating false marketing promises and taking consumers' money. They are all scams. In fact, anti-virus and other cleaners cause performance issues, security issues, and make macOS appear buggy. Your Mac is far worse with these types of Apps installed.

Mac computers have protection built-in, which is the best protection for your Mac. For specifics on macOS Security, see: macOS - Security - Apple and Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support. Mac computers also have built-in storage recommendations: Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support. You can even use the built-in macOS Firewall: Block connections to your Mac with a firewall - Apple Support. Other than that, all you should do is restart your Mac approximately once a week and keep macOS up to date: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support. 

However, should you ever get adware or malware on your Mac, the only tool that should be used to remove it is the free Malwarebytes for Mac. This App is the only exception to the general rule that no anti-virus, anti-malware, etc. should be used.

Hard drive too slow - The hard drive in this computer is too slow.

Other than that, the reason your iMac is slow is due to the 5400-rpm hard drive. While this hard drive found in your Mac is perfectly suited to light tasks, such as email, web browsing, etc., for more advanced tasks, and for users who want the maximum performance from their Mac, this hard drive does have its limitations. Luckily, you can use an external SSD as your startup disk to run macOS and all your data from that. It will make your Mac 10 to 30 times faster for storage, and in turn, make your entire Mac system much faster. For more info, instructions, and what external SSD to buy, please see: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk on a Desktop Mac - Apple Community.

Another option is to replace this Mac with a new Apple Silicon Mac: Mac - Apple. If you go this route, it is generally recommended that you purchase 16GB of Memory with the largest SSD that you can afford. You can also use Apple Trade-In to get credit towards a new Mac: Apple Trade In - Apple.

Cheers,

Jack

To check the health of the hard drive you can run DriveDx. Feel free to post the DriveDx report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. Usually any "Warning" or "Failing" notices indicate a worn out or actual failing drive respectively (only applies to hard drives since these types of apps tend to mis-interpret the health of SSDs). If the hard drive is worn out it can become very slow. As others have already pointed out your iMac contains a naturally slow drive even when brand new.

You can also try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected although the diagnostics don't really detect most types of drive failures.

I think most of the performance issues will be due to the Norton/Symantec software.

I see a couple of issues right off the bat.

You have a very slow mechanical hard drive.

You have Symantec/Norton garbage running. Get rid of it. It serves no purpose on a Mac and will only cause problems.

Flash Player is obsolete. Flash is dead. Remove it.

I have one of those and runs flawlessly probably you have installed something that runs in background that makes thd iMac to run slow , stop apps to start up at logging , games or safari extensions there is a bunch of things that you can do to make the iMac runs faster

Viewing your EtreCheck report, yes... your machine is being bottlenecked by very little RAM which cannot be upgraded due to it being soldered and a mechanical and very slow hard drive.

You're better off buying a new iMac. What I do recommend is to avoid what you did with your current iMac. Configure your new iMac with as much RAM as you can afford, at least 16GB and at the minimum, a 1TB SSD (storage). Avoid the cheaper, base model. There are too many compromises.

Good luck.

You're very welcome!

Jack