Very slow booting and using apps on my iMac Big Sur 11.6.7

Report generated: 2022-07-18 12:04:42

Performance: Below Average

A - Answered later and below with possible solution

Major Issues:

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

A - This is answered further down in this Analsysis

Hardware Information:

iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019), iMac Model: iMac19,2

Q - Drives:

  disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)

A - This drive is a Mechanical / Rotational Drive  and is the slowest version available. It will be the Biggest Impediment to any boot up times and thereafter, any meaningful performance for every day usages.

A - Monterey and Big Sur both perform much better on SSD Configured computers and not so well on Mechanical / Rotational Drives.

A - To extend the usefulness of this computer and to get some real improvements to overall performance would require purchasing a reliable External Enclosure with a reliable SSD Drive. Then to Install Monterey directly to this drive. Thereafter, to make the External Drive the Startup Up Drive   www.owc.cm is a good and reliable start 

Q - System Software:   macOS Big Sur 11.6.7 (20G630)

A - Good, fully up to date for Big Sur 

Q - User Launch Agents:

    [Other] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google LLC - installed 2022-07-17)

A - Browser of choice but a known Memory and Rejoice Hog especially with a Rotational Drive. Possible alternative would be www.brave.com which  is basically Chrome but without the Google Overhead. 

 Q - Backup:    Skip System Files: No

    Auto backup: Yes

    Volumes being backed up:

        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 1000.00 GB - Disk used: 374.55 GB

    Destinations:

        S******************e [Local] (Last used)

            Total size: 999.79 GB

            Total number of backups: 60

            Oldest backup: 2022-01-20 11:41:46

            Last backup: 2022-07-18 11:57:24

    14 local snapshots

    Oldest local snapshot: 2022-07-17 14:02:32

    Last local snapshot: 2022-07-18 11:55:29

A - Above is showing 14 Snap Shots from TM Backup which has not been move to the TM Backup drive. These are occupying  Space on your drive and may consider  How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac

Q - Performance:   System Load: 1.32 (1 min ago) 1.21 (5 min ago) 1.21 (15 min ago)

    Nominal I/O usage: 0.00 MB/s

    File system: 26.55 seconds

    Write speed: 37 MB/s

    Read speed: 41 MB/s

A - This dovetails in the earlier 5400 RPM Mechanical / Rotational Internal Drive issue

Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:

Q - Google Chrome 178 MB (Google LLC)

    Google Chrome Helper (GPU) 133 MB (Google LLC)

Q - Free RAM: 1.38 GB

    Used RAM: 5.12 GB

    Cached files: 9.50 GB

A - This tends to support what Google Chrome is doing on this machine 

Software Installs (past 60 days):

    Install Date Name (Version)

Q -  2022-07-15 Norton For Mac.Universal

Q - 2022-07-15 DSP_SKU.N360_ESD_8_1_MRF_20440_DSP

Q -  2022-07-16 Norton For Mac

Q-  2022-07-16 Norton 360 SKU

A - Though showing as installed on July 15 - do not see leftover elements still installed. Good Work there :-)

Is this Computer equipped with a Fusion Drive ?

Are there several External Drives attached when it is booting up ?

From what previous version of macOS was this computer running before Big Sur 11.6.7 ?

What Third Party Software was used to scan for Viruses ?

1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps in the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

A - Fusion Drive >> "Fusion" Drive -- 32 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD or some other type of configuration

A - Fusion Drive is a combination of a smaller Solid State Drive usually 32, 128 or maybe 256 GB in Capacity with a Larger Rotational / Mechanical Drive with a variety of Drive Capacities.

A - The Operating System sees the Two individual Drives as One Drive and uses the SSD portion of the Drive to usually use for Active and Loaded Applications because it is much faster than the Rotational Drive . The Rotational Drive is usually used for Storage .

A - Upgrading from High Sierra macOS 10.13 released in 2017 to Bug Sur macOS 11 released in 2020 is a big jump up the ladder but doable. One of the biggest changes are that anything written for 32 Bit is not longer support at all. There is no workaround - period.

A - Using any Third Party Antivirus Software and especially Norton 360 is ill advised.

A - The computer maybe even compromised with this software installed.

A - There are no known Windows-like Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS, because of the underling UNIX  Foundation and Permission Limitation. 

Additionally, and specific to Big Sur macOS 11 and Monterey macOS 12, the Operating System resides in a Sealed and Read Only Volume that can not be opened by the User or “ Bad Actor “ Software.

The Only thing this Antivirus software is protecting is the Bank Account of the Developers and for zero return to the User aside from the problems this software creates.

The The Built in Security  is all that is required to protect the computer.

A - Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions 

This will included Norton Antivirus

Please take a moment to review some of the Posting Specific to this software and arrive at your own conclusion

There has been sufficient advise offered for the User to make an informed and educated choice what the next course of action is required.

The suggestions have been put forth on a volunteer basis, in good faith and in the best interests of the computer.

Understand, we are all working Remotely from all around the world. 

Therefore, we do not have the On-Hands experience the User ( you ) has with this computer.

The next best thing for us to having a semi - actual On-Hand experience on this computer is to follow the steps below

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. And Safe to use.

The application is free or paid from added features. 

Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).

It will take a Snap Shot -  both the hardware and software.

 The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

Q - " as I use online banking will this be safe."

A - Antivirus Software has very little bearing on online Banking

A - As long as the Bank Site is in a >>> https <<< with the s format all is good.

A - To Share, have been using online banking, investments, Income Taxes and other Highly Secure online internet transactions for years and never every used any Antivirus Software as far back as macOS since OS X 10.4 Tiger released 2005

How do you upgrade the hard drive or SSD in the "Tapered Edge" Aluminum iMac models? What type of storage do they support? Is it even possible to upgrade the storage?

This Q&A covers the "Late 2012," "Early 2013," "Late 2013," "Mid-2014," "Late 2014," "Mid-2015," "Late 2015," "Mid-2017", "2019" and "2020" Tapered Edge Aluminum iMac models (model numbers A1418, A1419, A2115 and A2116). 

EveryMac.com also provides hard drive upgrade instructions for earlier Aluminum iMac models shipped from 2007 to 2012 -- both the 20-Inch and 24-Inch Aluminum iMac (model numbers A1224 and A1225) and 21.5-Inch and 27-Inch Aluminum iMac(model numbers A1311 and A1312).

Officially, Apple does not consider the hard drive and/or SSD module in any of the "Tapered Edge" Aluminum iMac models to be upgradable.

Thank you for the Report.

Will dissect in detail and be back to you shortly