Why my iMac is very slow , takes 10 minutes to fire up .I have enough hard disc space and enough memory and I clean it every month,I don't have a lot startup programs .Could you give me some advice what to do ?
Has it always been slow or is this something new? Often times there is a specific cause 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.
· If your computer is set to startup with too many apps that will slow down the startup process.
· 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.
· 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 we would recommend for computers running the Catalina or a later 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. Then we can offer some suggestions.
Finally, if your computer has an older, slow mechanical hard drive, there is nothing that can be done to speed it up. One solution is to install an external SSD and install the operating system onto it and make it your startup drive. This can increase speeds by 200 percent.
I hope these suggestions are helpful and enable you to speed up your computer.
Has it always been slow or is this something new? Often times there is a specific cause 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.
· If your computer is set to startup with too many apps that will slow down the startup process.
· 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.
· 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 we would recommend for computers running the Catalina or a later 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. Then we can offer some suggestions.
Finally, if your computer has an older, slow mechanical hard drive, there is nothing that can be done to speed it up. One solution is to install an external SSD and install the operating system onto it and make it your startup drive. This can increase speeds by 200 percent.
I hope these suggestions are helpful and enable you to speed up your computer.
Micia70 wrote:
...and I clean it every month,...
Have you installed a cleaning application? If so, this may well be the root of your issue. macOS neither requires nor benefits from such applications. If kept updated, it is quite capable of keeping itself clean and running properly.
If you have installed an app (or apps) such as clean-up, optimizing, anti-virus or VPN, I would recommend that you uninstall these per the publisher's guidance.
Regardless of what the marketing materials say, these apps are useless, often problematic and only serve to separate you from your hard earned $$.
I agree with what Ronasara has suggested above and also recommend that you run an EtreCheck evaluation of your Mac. EtreCheck is a safe and recommended utility from a trusted developer and respected ASC contributor. The diagnostic app gathers important info about your hardware and software and reports it back to you. It is very highly regarded and meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help others help you troubleshoot and resolve your Mac problems. The EtreCheck report will not include any personally identifiable info. It simply gathers specifics about hardware and performance and any installed software that might be in conflict with the OS.
Please navigate to EtreCheck.com and download the free version. Be sure to enable full disk access when you install the app. Once you’ve run the app and created your report please post it with your reply to this message.
You must upload the full report. To see how, please click > How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.
We'll use the report to provide specific guidance to you on how to solve this problem.
+1 👍🏽
Yes, I had a few before and I had removed them from the computer a while ago and since then I have problem with Imac. How can I fix this?
why my iMac is so slow ,I have enough disc space and I clean it often but still needs 10 min to start up
