I would appreciate and help, suggestions on how to improve system & screen performance for a Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015), 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon R9 M380 2048 MB
Running: MacOS Version 12.6.3 ?
iMac 27″, macOS 12.6
I see a few things of concern.
Intego AV and Netprotection software. Not needed or recommended, and a potential performance siphon. Uninstall this per the publishers instructions. (intego.com)
CleanMyMac optimizing software. Also not needed or recommended – often found on misbehaving Macs. Uninstall per instructions found at publisher site (macpaw.com)
Mechanical HDD formatted with APFS. APFS doesn't run well on a mechanical HDD, particularly so under macOS Big Sur and newer. You'd do well to replace the 7200 rpm internal drive with an SSD OR install the OS on an external SSD and boot the Mac with that. Either way, you'll see a vast improvement in performance. As it stands, your Mac's write/read speeds (67 MB/s & 30 MB/s) are atrociously low - possibly indicative of impending hdd failure. With an SSD installed, you could see these numbers improve tenfold to 450-500 MB/s or more.
Doubling your RAM from 8GB to 16GB would also be helpful, but likely wouldn't make a significant difference in performance day to day.
Otherwise, things look okay to my eye.
Other's will likely comment as well.
I see a few things of concern.
Intego AV and Netprotection software. Not needed or recommended, and a potential performance siphon. Uninstall this per the publishers instructions. (intego.com)
CleanMyMac optimizing software. Also not needed or recommended – often found on misbehaving Macs. Uninstall per instructions found at publisher site (macpaw.com)
Mechanical HDD formatted with APFS. APFS doesn't run well on a mechanical HDD, particularly so under macOS Big Sur and newer. You'd do well to replace the 7200 rpm internal drive with an SSD OR install the OS on an external SSD and boot the Mac with that. Either way, you'll see a vast improvement in performance. As it stands, your Mac's write/read speeds (67 MB/s & 30 MB/s) are atrociously low - possibly indicative of impending hdd failure. With an SSD installed, you could see these numbers improve tenfold to 450-500 MB/s or more.
Doubling your RAM from 8GB to 16GB would also be helpful, but likely wouldn't make a significant difference in performance day to day.
Otherwise, things look okay to my eye.
Other's will likely comment as well.
Hi there!
To start, please create an EtreCheck report. EtreCheck is a simple, helpful utility to diagnose and identify both software and select hardware issues with your Mac.
Downloading
To get started, download EtreCheck:
https://etrecheck.com/en/welcome.html
Click “download” on the site. The app will be downloaded to your Mac to your downloads location, which is the “Downloads” folder by default. This can be accessed by going to the Finder > Go (in the top menu bar) > Downloads.
Open the app, and generate a report
Open the downloaded application, and follow the initial steps to open the app. Choose a problem in the drop-down menu, and click Start. Creating a report typically takes 2-4 minutes on a healthy Mac.
View your report, and upload a copy to Apple Support Community
Once you have your report generated, you can upload it to Apple Support Community for us to review and provide suggestions. Please refer to this document with instructions for uploading your report and using the “Additional Text” function of Apple Support Community:
If you need help in the meantime, please let us know!
Jack
Uninstall Intego & run another etrecheck to be sure it didn't leave any chaff hanging.
Your Mac has antivirus software built in. It's called XProtect. As long as you keep the Mac updated it does a good job to keep itself running well.
Third party av software is unnecessary. It tends to get in the way of the smooth operation the the Mac and often conflicts and causes performance issues.
Please see: Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support
Also: XProtect Explained: How Your Mac’s Built-in Anti-malware Software Works - How-To Geek
And: Effective Defenses Against Malware (John Galt)- Apple Community
Ok thanks for these suggestions I'll try them. I have a follow up question BD & DI if I uninstall Intego AV, etc. there won't be any anti-virus software on this machine. Are you saying I don't need one at all or do you recommend something better ?
Slow iMac Performance
