Disappointing performance with Sonoma & Sequioa

Once this type of software is installed , CleanMyMac >> Disk Cleaner

Do not waste time trying to figure out where the problem is

Start Over from Scratch 

For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.

For Apple Intel computers >>   Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS

Always make a Time Machine Backup  before  proceeding 

If going this route - I suggest Not using Startup Assist to migrate everything back.

This will probably Re-Introduce ( CleanMyMac aka BrickMyMac ) back into the Operating System 

This will include CleanMyMac , aka “ BrickMyMac “

LeftyKev wrote:

Not a fan of clean-my-mac then?

Dare I ask why.........

At a fundamental level, there isn't anything that needs to be "cleaned". In fact, the cache files that these kinds of clean up apps say they delete are actually designed to improve performance.

That being said, CleanMyMac does appear to be one of the most innocuous of clean up apps. They seem to have unlimited resources and have literally painted the internet in ads. As much as people may complain about ads, they are extremely effective. My own EtreCheck data shows that CleanMyMac is installed on 13% of Macs.

If CleanMyMac were really that bad, I would expect a lot more problems being reported. My theory is that if the CleanMyMac ads were effective on you, then other ads were also probably effective. These days, misinformation is wildly out of control. Advertisements are probably one of the more truthful messages you will find on the internet, relatively speaking, of course.

You probably have some other 3rd party system modification that is causing this problem. I could be wrong. It could be CleanMyMac. But I wouldn't want you to just uninstall CleanMyMac and stop there. Chances are, that's not it.

An easy solution is to just erase the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. You can restore from backup, but only restore user files and user accounts. Do not restore any apps, software, system settings, or "other files". You can manually reinstall only the apps that you absolutely can't live without. Then see how your performance is with that configuration.

It should be what you expect at that point. You can make another backup and then reinstall some of those "other" apps. Once you find the one that does the most damage, see if you can uninstall it. If not, you've still got that backup.

Get rid of Brick-My-Mac (Cleanmymac) for starters. You have lots of memory and a huge 4TB of storage. See also what might be running in the background. I haven't used Topaz in years not do I use Photoshop so I don't know how piggish both apps are.

I am sure by colleague @AlWeir 🇨🇦 ? with reply

Just what add some context

To put the CleanMyMac in context and the damages it may have or has already done.

This application will Muck Up your User Account ( Home Folder ) of this machine.

It does not touch the Operating System itself unless you consider your User Account ( Home Folder ) as part of the Operating System

Then in that case, the operating system is hosed , Full Stop .

I use Cleanmymac but I seem to be constantly re-starting.

Those two statements are likely linked.

You are constantly restarting or it is constantly restarting?