i have to use control + option + shift + power very often on my imac 2017 because it gets really slow

Hey there!

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-Jack

It's an old i5, which is not known to be particularly speedy. I've used the 27" version of this iMac 2017 with 16 GB and with the Apple SSD, and that still does fairly well. But the similar configuration I'm aware of lacks the add-on security tools and related.

File system performance looks reasonable, and there is some free RAM available.

There's a lot of user activity here, though.

Given the presence of end-point security, is this is a managed iMac? (If so, contact IT.)

The Crucial SSD retrofit into this Mac should probably have TRIM enabled, if that BX500 SSD supports that. (BX500 does indicate TRIM support. And Crucial has some info on enabling it.)

What to do?

Remove McAfee, and re-enable the built-in anti-malware including Gatekeeper. (This if this iMac is not IT managed.)

Remove the cleaner app, too.

There are apps here I don't recognize using sketchy-looking app names too, including Manual, InstallerApp, and Installer Support. MSCUI is Microsoft Health Common User Interface? And there's endpoint security, which usually means IT is involved.

Pragmatically, this looks like an overloaded old iMac with some previous hardware upgrades likely installed to extend its usefulness, and some add-on apps that can degrade performance.

Remove the add-on anti-malware app and the add-on app and re-test, as

1: you are testing whether those are contributing to the performance issues here,

2: neither of those apps is relevant to your concerns around having previously been hacked, and

3: those apps are from a class that all too often introduces security issues and vulnerabilities, all too often reduces system performance, and as recent cases have shown some of those apps are all to fond of pillaging user activities for personally-identified metadata resale.

PS: Apps that claim to free RAM memory is wasting the memory you paid for. You paid for that memory, use it, and macOS is intentionally using it as a performance cache. Until these apps can try to second-guess macOS memory management and evict that data and those caches unfortunately, which can force that data to be regenerated or reloaded.

I've noted the following in your Etrecheck report:

• McAfee anti-virus is installed. Anti-virus apps aren't needed on a Mac due to the security features of MacOS. Recommend doing a Google search on "uninstall McAfee on Mac" to find the manufacturer's uninstaller. Simply dragging the app to the trash won't rid your Mac of everything McAfee installed.
• CCleaner is present. Same comments as McAfee.
• Do you really need Stateful Firewall, AntiMalware, WebProtection apps?

We don't recommend having anti-virus, Mac "Cleaner", Mac "Optimizer", Mac "SpeederUpper", or VPN software installed, as all have been known to create issues. (VPN may be necessary for some if they need it for connecting to corporate systems, but otherwise most VPNs aren't really private).

MRperiodista wrote:

hello, there is another report i posted, now it shows ssd failing, but the strange thing to me is that it was doing the same slow thing with the other disk but it was the original one that came with the imac since new, i replaced it in june 2023

Have a backup first and foremost.

Check the drive status with DriveDx or with whatever Crucial diagnostics might be available,

Remove the add-on anti-malware, etc.

Unless the DriveDx diagnostics show overt issues, remove the add-on anti-malware and the add-on cleaner app before replacing the storage.

Worn certainly, but that SSD is not imminently headed for failure.

What happens to performance when the add-on anti-malware app and the add-on cleaner app are removed?

MRperiodista wrote:

no, i understood what you mean but the add on anti malware app are not the problem,..

Then you will want to find the commonality. Given somebody is performing hardware work on this iMac, that or some other latent error or some corruption from the add-on apps could introduce all sorts of issues.

Need I repeat the troubleshooting recommendation?

Not removing add-on anti-malware apps is entirely your prerogative, of course.