Beach balling on 2019 27" iMac - 64GB memory and 3 Tb HDD

I converted to Apple from another well known system after wasting years fighting a desktop PC, move to Apple had been excellent. However, the 3Tb HDD is starting to age and is well used resulting in Beach-balling on frequent occasions.


I am reluctant to move to a new iMac such as a 24" M1 or M2 as I am now retired and use the Mac mainly for photo editing for which the 27" screen is ideal. Eventually I will go for a Mac mini and new 27" screen but feel there is still plenty of life left in my existing setup.


Have used EtreCheck Pro 2 to check my system and there are no major problems but I would like to stop the beach-balling which is a nuisance. May I ask someone to look at my EtreCheck report outline and make any suggestions to try and stop this beachball? Also, Am I over reacting? or will the beach ball lead to more serious problems?


Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Thanks in Advance, Frank


Outline of EtreCheck report follows:


EtreCheckPro version: 6.8.4 (68040)

Report generated: 2024-01-16 11:07:22

Download EtreCheckPro from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 3:08


Performance: Excellent


Problem: Beachballing

Description: 

Continuous beach balling


Major Issues: None


Minor Issues:

    These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement. 


    More than one antivirus app - This computer has multiple antivirus apps installed.

    Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage.

    Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

    Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. These files could be old, incompatible, and cause problems. They should be reviewed.

    System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background.


Hardware Information:

    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019)

        Status: Supported

    iMac Model: iMac19,1

    3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-9600K) CPU: 6-core

    64 GB RAM - At maximum

        BANK 0/ChannelA-DIMM0 - 16 GB DDR4 2667 

        BANK 1/ChannelA-DIMM1 - 16 GB DDR4 2667 

        BANK 2/ChannelB-DIMM0 - 16 GB DDR4 2667 

        BANK 3/ChannelB-DIMM1 - 16 GB DDR4 2667 


Video Information:

    Radeon Pro 580X - VRAM: 8 GB

        iMac (built-in) 5120 x 2880

iMac 27″, macOS 14.2

Posted on Jan 16, 2024 3:30 AM

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3 replies

Jan 16, 2024 7:41 AM in response to Frankfiz

First uninstall the 3rd party AntiVirus programs.

a) MacOS is pretty secure on its own. I'm only aware of a single MacOS virus seen in the wild in the past five years (DazzleSpy). Everything else targeting MacOS has been trojans users are tricked into installing themselves.

b) AntiVirus with active background scanning works by installing hooks into the system to watch for suspicious activity. Those hooks will slow your system down. Added security comes at the price of performance.


Second rerun Etrecheck and post the full report using the "additional text" posting option.

Jan 16, 2024 11:15 AM in response to Frankfiz

First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This documents describe what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.  


There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   


Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.


There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is designed solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  


Unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer's, school's or bank's servers, they provide false security from a privacy standpoint. 


As you've already been told uninstall the A/V apps according to the developers instructions. You can check to see if you've removed all of the supporting files by downloading and running the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name.  For XXXX software you'd do the following search(es): 


1 - Name contains XXXX

(get the names from the Etrecheck report)


Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.


FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  


If you get warnings that the file can't be deleted because it is in use or used by another app boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and delete from there.


Note:  if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode.  This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.


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Beach balling on 2019 27" iMac - 64GB memory and 3 Tb HDD

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