Something has corrupted my iMac macOS Sequoia 15.3.2

FYI, there is no need to run MalwareBytes 24/7. There is an option within the MalwareBytes to turn off real time scanning (it is a paid feature that is enabled during the free trial period of the extra MalwareByte features). The real time scanning is what can cause all sorts of system stability & performance issues. The free version of MalwareBytes is all that is ever needed....run it & update it when you suspect you may have malware or adware.

Now for an explanation of macOS storage....Apple makes storage much more confusing than it needs to be. You mentioned in your initial post that you were at a critical 97.24GB of storage. The EtreCheck report you posted shows you actually only have 25.30GB of Free storage space that can be used immediately. The other 75GB is currently not accessible for you to use right now.

So why is there such a discrepancy? Look at the EtreCheck report here:

  disk3s5 - Data [APFS Virtual drive]
    Filesystem: APFS
    Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data
    Encrypted
    Used: 434.30 GB
    Shared values
      Size: 494.38 GB
      Free: 25.30 GB
      Available: 99.23 GB

See the Free and Available storage values listed at the bottom of that section? That is the problem. Unfortunately Apple only shows the very misleading "Available" storage value everywhere within macOS. The only places Apple shows the Free storage space value is within Disk Utility or the Apple System Profiler (aka System Information). This is very unfortunate since the Free space value is the most important & critical storage value in macOS.

Free space is storage that you can use immediately. Users should always have at least 20GB+ of Free space at all times. Even that 20GB of storage can disappear very quickly even with light system use. Ideally people should have at least 20%+ Free storage at all times. With some workloads you may need even more Free space (video editing is one such case).

Available space is storage that at some point will be released & made available to the system for other purposes at some unknown time in the future. Available storage consists of both Free space and also Purgeable space. The Purgeable space is what will be released at some unknown time in the future. Sometimes you may see Apple show Available space and also show Purgeable space in parentheses like so you can actually calculate the actual Free storage space:

Available:  99GB (74GB purgeable)

Free space = Available space - Purgeable space

Available space = Free space + Purgeable space

Purgeable space = Available space - Free space

Using the information from the EtreCheck report:

Purgeable space = 99GB Available space - 25GB Free space = 74GB Purgeable

25GB Free space = 99GB Available space - 74GB Purgeable space

Even the Used space value is not always what it seems. There are circumstances where you may see your system using more storage than the size of the physical drive itself. That is a tale for another day.

TLDR: The Free storage space value is the most critical storage value you need to worry about. Never let it go below 20GB for any reason. It is best to keep the Free storage space at 20%+ of the size of the drive. The Free space value is most easily seen in Disk Utility. Completely ignore the Available storage value since it is so misleading. Bad things can happen if you completely run out of Free storage space including not being able to delete any files from an APFS volume, so a complete erase, reinstall & restore of data from a backup is required. With a MacOS Extended file system, silent file & data corruption can occur.

Concentrate of fixing the system first, then take time to re-read this post to familiarize yourself with the macOS storage terminology.

FYI, when you delete data, you may not see any change in the Free space for a day or two due to how macOS works especially when using Time Machine backups or even third party backup software (the Available value will increase which we now know should be ignored knowing it should lower in a day or two). Data you delete today will still reside in the backup APFS snapshots until they are automatically deleted by the system or the backup software (TM or third party). The EtreCheck report shows you currently only have a single TM backup snapshot on your system so in about 24-48 hours that snapshot will be deleted & replaced by a newer one.

Click on "Disk" in Activity Monitor and it will show you the processes that are writing huge amounts.

Many people had problems in Sequoia with Spotlight and its associate, mds_stores

If this is the case you need to turn off Spotlight.

DO NOT reinstall Mac OS. Please post an EtreCheck report of your system ASAP. Chances are you have installed something that is causing the issue.

herb178 wrote:

Hello

I got the App you suggested and ran it.

It helped a bit but I am still around 109GB free space on my HD.

No please re-read what I said above.

That Free Space App was already installed on your iMac and I told you to get rid of it.

Just wondering if you have any other suggestions?

What I said, was to use Apple's way... see > Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support

If I can not fix this issue and since it also has found its way to the Cloud

I have one more question if I may. If all this ends up my wiping the HD

clean and reinstalling the OS. How can I also wipe the Cloud clean so

I do not end back up where I am now when and if I reinstall the OS. I

have everything backed up on my own so I weil not lose any data.

To Manage what is going to iCloud, see > Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

To completely stop iCloud > go to System Settings > select your Name and Sign Out...

Well there are a number of issues, first is you have a third party VPN installed. NEVER EVER install any of the following types of third party apps:

• Antivirus
• Cleaning
• Security
• VPN
• Maintenance

That means you need to find the developers uninstall instructions for the VPN installed and follow it to the letter. Also, I suspect that you may have installed something malware, please run Malwarebytes. Next, the computer has not been restarted recently. Please restart after executing the first 2 instructions.

Finally, I see you are using Paragon NTFS which at best is a total hack and should be uninstalled. If you want to share space between a PC and a Mac then use iCloud.

herb178 wrote:

Is it possible to wipe clean iCloud?

I ask this due to the fact it seems iCloud is spreading some of the iMac

issues to my laptop.

I would assume so if you disabled each device from syncing items to iCloud. You can turn individual items on/off, or you can just flip the entire switch. The tricky part is understanding Apple's notices when you do this since they can be a bit confusing at times in regards to whether it will keep the data on the device and/or retain the data in the cloud.

Other contributors probably have a better understanding of this process.

Here are two Apple articles with information about iCloud:

Change which apps sync and store data with iCloud - Apple Support

Sign out of iCloud on your devices - Apple Support

I am a backup freak with external HD's so I have everything important.

Very good to hear since so many people don't.

O! and for sure not like trouble shooting back in the iMac Bondi days!

I miss those days.

Edit: Apple keeps a copy of the iCloud data for 30 days so it is possible to recover items for that long if needed.

That is a good start.

Now get rid of the Free Space App from the App Store and see > Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support

herb178 wrote:

WOW! ... HWTech ... what a batch of such useful information... THANK YOU!

You're welcome. I'm never sure how to explain it since it is a bit complicated to explain. You have no idea how many times I want to save "available", but have to re-think the wording. It is hard for people to properly use a device properly if they don't understand some basics of how it works & has changed....Apple certainly doesn't alert users to such changes.

Over the last week or so I have lost some addresses in my Contact list.

The Contact List is the only operation I have noticed direct issues with.

My one major concern is this issue is now in iCloud as I am seeing some issues

like Contacts also messed up in my Apple lap top.

That is the main problem with file syncing features. A change on one device affects all synced devices. Whether that change is accidental, or on purpose, or through some hardware or software fault. Having it occur with Contacts is a major issue. Imagine issues with less used items....people may not notice until it is way too late to recover.

It doesn't help that Apple doesn't allow people to easily backup specific items on some of their devices like iPhones/iPads. It is all or nothing. On macOS I'm not sure if it is possible to backup the Contacts list & database & restore it so you can re-sync the good database to all other devices. Fortunately I've never had to deal with a corruption of Contacts which is the only think I sync besides Messages.

Maybe due to something I did in tying to fix things? I have been into MAC's since

the old Bondi days so am somewhat good at fixing issues. That said, this current

one is way above my pay grade! ... so to speak. I am so thankful for those of you

trying to help me!!!

It is definitely getting harder to troubleshoot issues with Apple's devices these days. You are not alone. It doesn't help that a lot of things are not properly documented. Apple just assumes everything is just going to work, otherwise just restore everything from a backup when something goes wrong.

The VPN is part of the DuckDuck web browsing app that you installed. I suspect if you uninstalled DuckDuck per the developers instructions the VPN would be uninstalled as well. I would recommend that you begin using Safari for your web browser. I would uninstall while in Safe Mode. Once uninstalled, restart normally and test.

In order to keep your Mac secure, simply keep Mac OS up-to-date and restart the computer about 1x per week. Other that please just leave Mac OS alone.