Poor Mac performance: heavy RAM and CPU usage

Unusually poor performance shown by EtreCheck Report


Hello,

For the past couple of weeks my EtreCheck Report has been showing "Good", "Below average", and today "Poor Performance". Apart from this, among "Minor issues"I also have "Heavy RAM usage - Apps are using a large amount of RAM," "Apps with heavy CPU usage - numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage," "Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. These files could be old, incompatible, and cause problems. They should be reviewed," and "System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background."

What makes me worried in the first place is the poor performance. I also wonder what I can do to lower RAM and CPU usage? I may be wrong but the unsigned software files appears to me a lesser problem, as well as the system modifications in the background.

Thank you for any help or suggestion.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 26.3

Posted on Mar 21, 2026 10:03 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 21, 2026 11:19 AM

your unsigned files appear to be limited to standard Java components. Not an issue.


--------

THIS might be a problem:

 [Running] AppCleaner SmartDelete (Julien Ramseier - installed 2024-11-03)

    Modern Login Item

    /Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner SmartDelete.app


Your Mac does not accumulate filth that requires any third-party App to clean it.

if you need to delete an App use the software-maker's Un-Installer process, ONLY.


--------

your last-completed Time Machine backup shows as March 14.

When your Time Machine backups are "stuck" like that, intermediate snapshots (lists of files to be backed up) will be written to the boot drive, slowing your Mac.


Open Time Machine settings and figure out why it is not going.


-------

You seem to be running more than one AI software, any one of which is computationally intense AND may require a lot of network bandwidth. Get rid of the ones you are not using at this moment.


---------

you seem to be running Backblaze, a file sync program.


Third-party file Sync-ers such as DropBox, BackBlaze, OneDrive, Carbonite, or GoogleDrive can ruin performance, but are not inherently dangerous.


They were Quickly ported from that other Operating System, and were never re-written to take advantage of the MacOS ‘File System Event Store’. The typical brute-force search they use takes all afternoon for one pass. That relentless searching is a completely un-necessary waste of resources.


Native Synch and Backup programs like iCloud Drive and Time Machine that DO use the MacOS File System Event Store can find changes really quickly and be done with their work and suspend themselves. Time machine can run backups Hourly, while all those others are still beating on the file system for the first pass, four hours later. By the time those others have finished one pass, they need to start again.


If you MUST run that, launch it only when needed. When complete, quit the App or Restart your Mac after use.


-------

I have noticed a correlation (not proof) that when Mac shows highest network use is mDNSResponder, it is likely spending too much time "on the phone" synchronizing or communicating with others, and not getting your real work done.



2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 21, 2026 11:19 AM in response to Autolykos

your unsigned files appear to be limited to standard Java components. Not an issue.


--------

THIS might be a problem:

 [Running] AppCleaner SmartDelete (Julien Ramseier - installed 2024-11-03)

    Modern Login Item

    /Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner SmartDelete.app


Your Mac does not accumulate filth that requires any third-party App to clean it.

if you need to delete an App use the software-maker's Un-Installer process, ONLY.


--------

your last-completed Time Machine backup shows as March 14.

When your Time Machine backups are "stuck" like that, intermediate snapshots (lists of files to be backed up) will be written to the boot drive, slowing your Mac.


Open Time Machine settings and figure out why it is not going.


-------

You seem to be running more than one AI software, any one of which is computationally intense AND may require a lot of network bandwidth. Get rid of the ones you are not using at this moment.


---------

you seem to be running Backblaze, a file sync program.


Third-party file Sync-ers such as DropBox, BackBlaze, OneDrive, Carbonite, or GoogleDrive can ruin performance, but are not inherently dangerous.


They were Quickly ported from that other Operating System, and were never re-written to take advantage of the MacOS ‘File System Event Store’. The typical brute-force search they use takes all afternoon for one pass. That relentless searching is a completely un-necessary waste of resources.


Native Synch and Backup programs like iCloud Drive and Time Machine that DO use the MacOS File System Event Store can find changes really quickly and be done with their work and suspend themselves. Time machine can run backups Hourly, while all those others are still beating on the file system for the first pass, four hours later. By the time those others have finished one pass, they need to start again.


If you MUST run that, launch it only when needed. When complete, quit the App or Restart your Mac after use.


-------

I have noticed a correlation (not proof) that when Mac shows highest network use is mDNSResponder, it is likely spending too much time "on the phone" synchronizing or communicating with others, and not getting your real work done.



Mar 21, 2026 12:12 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you for your quick and detailed response.

AppCleaner app: is it sufficient to switch off the SmartDelete function inside the app, or is it best to uninstall the app itself? As there appears to be no native uninstaller software, is it a viable solution for removing AppCleaner to use the Storage Settings (so far as I know, AppCleaner does not install system-level components)?

AI software: if I decide to use ChatGPT, shall I delete an application called Ollama as well?


Thanks again.

Poor Mac performance: heavy RAM and CPU usage

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