System_7_User wrote:
Wish I had a choice - sadly most of what seems to be causing the problem has been installed by our IT support company as this is a work computer so I don't have a choice, but can flag the problems they are causing.
This is the challenge of working with "managed Macs." What is key is that the IT engineers who manage and control it understand and address issues caused by the MDM software.
The company I work for has had central management of all computers, PCs and Macs, that are owned by the employer. Recently, it has greatly restricted access to their network from personal devices, so basically only company-owned computers can access the restricted network. It requires VPN when off site as well as anti-virus plus the embedded MDM software. They can remotely force or prevent any MacOS update, remotely install or delete any software, and remotely restrict or even completely block user access. When they block user access (for instance if an employee is terminated), in a matter of seconds one cannot log into the computer, instead the screen presents what looks like a firmware lock screen when the device is powered on. This is done not only for PCs and Macs, but also iPhones and Android phones as well. In the past, this intrusive software used to result in stability problems on these computers, PCs as well as Macs. However the employees (which are mostly engineers and scientists, and of course managers) insisted on improvements and as of late, many improvements have been made. After switching many times between various anti-virus solutions, a stable one has been found. Same for the VPN, the issues have been ironed out. And the remote control software has been improved significantly and become mostly benign. The number of complaints has plummeted, but only due to intensive effort by the IT team to address all issues. The IT Team (this is a large company with many government contracts) also has direct contact with Apple and with Microsoft and they do respond to issues that are brought up. And when a new MacOS update comes up, the remotely managed Macs are prevented from installing it until all the associated tools and software have been through "soak" and shown to work properly with the new OS version, or fixed to work properly. Then the OS update is approved and it becomes mandated to be applied within a week or the update is pushed to the computer, like it or not. This is true for the PCs on Windows as well as the Macs, and for unix or linux machines as well.
What I am saying here, with this long story, is that only with dedicated attention to these sorts of issues will they be addressed and be fixed. If your IT team is not willing or able to do that, then you are likely to see these problems repeat every time there is a MacOS update. It puts you at a huge disadvantage and will impact your productivity in your job. At some point, it might make sense to simply use a PC at work (your personal computer can still be a Mac of course, if you prefer), which no doubt your IT Team does understand better, than stay will a poorly configured and poorly supported, crippled Mac. From my perspective, what you are experiencing is really unacceptable, one cannot really use a Mac that has "slowed to a crawl."
