Mac OS Ventura: very slow internet

Try and boot in to the safe mode to see if the problem persitst. If it is not persisting in the safe mode, it is an external software issue

I don't know if you're having an intel Mac or an Apple Silicon one so here are the instructions for both chips:

Start up your Mac with Apple silicon in safe mode

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down.
2. Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar) are off.
3. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until “Loading startup options” appears.
4. Select a volume.
5. Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.
6. The computer restarts automatically. When the login window appears, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.

Start up your Intel-based Mac in safe mode

1. Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key until you see the login window.
2. Log in to your Mac.
3. You might be asked to log in again.
4. On either the first or second login window, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.

Ventura is extremely stable and the issue is NOT Ventura. To see what may be causing your problem please do the following.

It will help us get a good idea of what is causing your problem if you provide a report of your system, that way we do not have to play 20 questions with you. The report we are requesting does NOT provide any personal information and is extremely safe to use. Please navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.

When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again. 

For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

The DriveDX report says, Advanced SMART Status : FAILING this information simply confirms what EtreCheck told you and what I advised. Your best bet is to take the computer your local third party Apple Authorized Service Provider (use Apple Authorized Service Provider Locator (AASP) & Genius Appointment) to confirm and to discuss using another external SSD as your startup drive. Do not take the computer to your local Apple Store as they will not help with setting up an external SSD as a startup drive, only a third party Apple Authorized Service Provider will do this. My best guess is you can expect to pay $200-300 for this service.

Best of luck!

Your report indicates the HD is failing. I recommend downloading the free version of DriveDX and running it on your internal HD. If any errors appear that only confirms what EtreCheck is showing. You have options, you can have the computer repaired (not recommended due to high expense and limited value of the computer), you can get an external USB 3 SSD and install Mac OS onto it and use that as your startup drive or you can replace the computer with a new Mac.

On your next Mac do NOT buy a base model machine, buy one with a minimum of 16GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The performance will be dramatically better than your current machine even on its best day.

Your read and write speeds are abysmal.

Write speed: 26 MB/s

Read speed: 20 MB/s

It certainly looks like a failing Fusion drive. I recommend getting an external SSD, cloning your boot drive to it and booting and running from it. You'll get speeds in the 430 to 530 MB/s minimum.

Contact Customer Support at OWC (MacSales.com) to see which of their several offerings is best fro your partial Mac model, work needs and budget. OWC is considered by most to be4 the premier 3rd party hardware supplier for Mac.

The nice thing about using an external SSD is that you con't have to pay for its installation and it's easy to take with you when you move to a new Mac.

1 - Failing hard drive - This computer has a hard drive that appears to be failing.

Refer to comment later in this reply

2 - Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be malicious and should be reviewed.

Self explanatory

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

Slow at best and especially in anything above macOS 10.15 Catalina

Any of the above could be the root cause of this computer issue

If it were my machine, which it is not >>

Have the computer evaluated by the Professionals who have the Special Hardware / Software and Expertise to diagnose the issue and offer possible solutions

Yes. Clone with Carbon Copy Cloner  and then boot and run from the external.

When using CCC use the Legacy Bootable Backup Assistant to clone with.

Your current iMac has 16GB of RAM however it does not have a SSD. It has a base model 5400 RPM 1 TB spinning HD. You do have an external SSD currently attached to it which may be your Time Machine drive or it may be used for additional storage. Your current SSD does nothing to help performance.

The Etrecheck Application gains all its' information , Hardware wise, from the Computer so very unsightly to make such an error.

Yes the computer does has 16 GB RAM that can be upgraded by an Apple Authorized Service Provider

" 16 GB RAM - Upgradeable by an Apple Authorized Service Provider "

As for Drive itself, the suggested " DriveDX " is a very good start to analysis the drive but be prepared for the worst and make a Time Machine Backup before hand. Actually, do 2 Different TM Backup each to separate Drives

nydesign wrote:

So using an external SSD as a startup drive, I still need to access all client files on the iMac. How does this work? Are all operations still taking place on the failing iMac?

How long can I operate my iMac this way?

You are currently doing all operations on a failing drive. It could fail completely any day. You need to address this now.

See this informative article that explains exactly how to change from use of your internal failing drive to an external SSD (solid state drive). The external drive would be both the boot up drive as well as the drive to hold all your files and software (just as your internal drive is right now).

Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

[Credit to Jack-19 for this article.)

With an SSD as the boot and data drive, you will also likely see an increase is speed and responsiveness of more than a factor of ten.