File system very slow; applications appear normal

Update: the file management slowdown continues but has improved a bit.

Now, "Mail" and "System Settings" will open, but only after > 1 minute wait. I've given up on "Preview," which repeatedly went nuts yesterday, to the point where it continually froze.

Once open, "Mail" appears to work fine.

Once Open, "System Settings" continues to lag, especially when I try to enter the top, or Apple ID, section. It can take > 2 minutes for it to open. Once in to Apple ID, I appear not to be able to select iCloud Drive. I select it, and nothing seems to happen. I've waited for several minutes to no avail.

I can access my iCloud Drive and account via Safari and it works well on my other Mac; just this one is messed up.

As stated, I already reinstalled the MacOS using Apple recovery program. My only remaining option is to wipe the SSD and reinstall the system. I am dubious about reinstalling anything from Time Machine, though.

I need all this resolved by Monday, or else I'm up the crick without a paddle.

Okay. I used the URL someone here provided to download EtreCheck.

I ran it. It reported that many processes were hanging and/or were using excessive CPU time. It told me it would give me solutions for 17 bucks.

Contrary to my better judgment, I shelled out the money to see behind the curtain. I'm that desperate.

What was there? The suggestion that I check to see whether of any of the offending apps were out of date (none are. Most are Apple system apps.) or to contact Apple Support.

I cannot create a pdf of the report. EtreCheck freezes, then releases at the point before I tried to create the pdf. (See attached screenshot.)

The thing that gets me: Safari works fine. So do some other apps. In EtreCheck, all is well until I try to create a pdf of the report.

These problems first came to my attention yesterday when I was using Preview, as I usually do, and it became ever more slow and unwieldy. Related?

Note: when I tried to attach the screenshot using "image insertion" in the toolbar, below, Safari froze for a minute and then released back to normal. I dragged the image you see into the text field of this message.

Thank you. What does this mean?

https://eclecticlight.co/2024/02/07/why-is-my-mac-working-so-hard-after-startup-whats-cgpdfservice/

The above article states that CGPDFService is a process inside the core graphics framework.

I do not know what any of that means, but I have noted that anything involving pdfs or graphics is fried. That was the problem I had generating the EtreCheck report.

It does NOT explain other issues. Namely, why I when I try to go to "Apple ID" in "System Settings," I must wait a couple of minutes, or why I cannot then click on iCloud at all to see those settings, or why moving non-pdf/graphics files in Finder quickly becomes too slow to be useful.

I might just have to reformat and reinstall.

EtreCheck did bring to my attention that the MacOS 14.4.1 update took place the night before these problems arose.

Problem exists, regardless of the source or the destination (e.g., moving a file from the Documents folder to the Desktop - from folder A to folder B on the MacIntosh HD - is distressingly slow).

No, I am not -- at all.

I have 1.49TB of 2TB available on the system SSD.

Here's the report. I figured it out.

I note that MacOS 14.4.1 installed the night before these problems arose. Coincidence?

Thank you. Those are the first things I did when I first realized the problem was serious. Both reported that the Mac and the system disk were, respectively, fine.

I don't know. If DuckDuckGo installs a VPN, that's news to me. I had one but I deinstalled it months ago.