Frustrated with Lion...

Thanks for that Linc. Have never installed it myself, knew it was trash but not that bad. Thanks for the link to uninstall tips so I can pass them on.

Thanks again.

Cheers

MacKeeper is still in the MAS, or was, the last time I checked. But the MAS version is not the same one the developer distributes through his site. The full version would violate MAS restrictions. Still, it's an outrage that Apple allows any version, even a sanitized one, to be sold through its channel.

No, not a good answer. My guess is that you have old(er) applications, which negatively interfere with Lion. Note that many 3rd party apps, usually those, which dig deep into the system, may be the cause of such eerie behavior. That is why I warmly recommend to reinstall the system, but first uninstall all such stuff or make an erase-and-install action. Unfortunately, Lion has abandoned this type of installation, which may prove very useful in a case like yours. But you may run Disk Utility before installation proper, provided that you run the Lion installer from another partition than the one targeted as Lion partition or from a flash disk.

If, after such a clean install, the system behaves itself, you are done. Then, be careful with what you are going to install, and avoid applications, which are not optimized for Lion.

Cattus Thraex wrote:

No, not a good answer.

In your humble opinion

My guess is that you have old(er) applications, which negatively interfere with Lion. Note that many 3rd party apps, usually those, which dig deep into the system, may be the cause of such eerie behavior.

As is MacKeeper, and you too are guessing, are you not?

That is why I warmly recommend to reinstall the system,

last resort. Try to figure out the problem first. Who warmly recommended this?

but first uninstall all such stuff or make an erase-and-install action.

all such what stuff? Identify it if you can see OP's computer from where you are as you seem to infer.

Unfortunately, Lion has abandoned this type of installation, which may prove very useful in a case like yours. But you may run Disk Utility before installation proper, provided that you run the Lion installer from another partition than the one targeted as Lion partition or from a flash disk.

Can you confuse the process any more?

If, after such a clean install, the system behaves itself, you are done. Then, be careful with what you are going to install, and avoid applications, which are not optimized for Lion.

Genius stuff. I think Linc would be better listened to here given his experience.

Ok something I would try would be to download freememory from the app store. You can use it to see how much ram is being used.

Yes and no- it is a 3rd party app, but it will not slow down your mac. It slows down your mac sometimes, and those times are when it is trying to increase the speed. It basicly slows down your mac for like a minute, hen it is is faster than it was before.

@Neil from Oz and MattLivey. Let us remember the initial message:

‘Should I assume that my MacBook Pro 17" (last model before the UniBody version) is ready for the scrap heap now that I've loaded Lion? It's was pretty powerful for the first couple of years of ownership and reasonable up until I upgraded to 10.7. Now it's just painfully slow [...]“

Therefore:

- his / her mac had been OK before installing / upgrading to Lion

This means, in my mind, after more than 15 years of mac experience, including various inside programs, that something went wrong with the system. There are very few details on what he / she had done, nevertheless, if the problem abruptly bacame evident after upgrading to Lion, I assume that something is wrong with software, not hardware (even if not exclued a priori). In general, this means:

- less than 10 % free space on the disk / partition where system is running—does not seem the case

- faulty installation—may be, no info on this detail

- 3rd party app—this is a usual case when Mac OS X generations are replaced by a newer generation as the system may contain older apps not updated for Lion

- other, various cases

If common workarounds do not work, the simplest—and ultimately the shortest way to success—is an erase-and-install process, provided that the user is aware that erasing the disk/partition means that user had backedup his/ her data. This is why default installation is now upgrade or put a new system aside the older system, and import settings and apps into the new system. This is a good idea, as many users lost data by erasing their previous system / partition / disk. Nevertheless, if serious system behavior occurs, erase-and-install is the best way to solve the issue. If, after such a fresh system, all is OK, the user immediately knows that he / she had an app, which led to those problems and, upon reinstalling his / her apps, he / she is more cautious with reinstalling these apps.

Various attempts to solve a software issue may take hours or days, depending on available time. An erase-and-install may take half an hour + 1-2 hours for reinstalling needed apps. This is indeed the simplest way to solve an issue and, despite its being complicated, is—in fact—the fastest and simplest solution! Of course, I repeat, provided that the user has a good backup.

I for one use Martin Jahn’s iBackup (grapefruit.ch), I find it reliable, clear to use, customizable. There are other options too, including Apple’s TM (which I frankly dislike), but also 3rd party options. Any option is good, as far as the user is satisfied.

So, guys, why was I wrong? I am really curious.

I do not use MacKeeper but, in general, do avoid using apps, which you do not need in fact. There may be little utilitites, below 1 MB, which may lead to headache issues. I remember a humble icns file, associated to a keyboard layout I had created myself, which led to a catastrophic system crash. To be indeed crazy, only on one mac config only! It was in Leopard, but other macs running Leopard did not witness that issue!

Therefore, there may be config-linked issues, as there may be general issues, difficult to say from the very beginning. In any case, I repeat, reinstalling the system via erase-and-install may often prove to be the simplest and shortest way to solving an issue. Indeed, the user must know how to back up his / her essential data, those files and folders, which are imperious for a smooth recovering the system after an erase-and-install method. I have become accusomted to Martin Jahn’s iBackup, but—of course–there are other options too. As far as the user is satisfied, then all is OK.

Any backup is better than no backup, which is an adaptation of the well-known bridge-game thumb rule: a bad plan (to play) is a lot better than no plan.