Apple getting worse and worse?

I am a Mac Pro, late 2013 user. I'm an Art Director/ Designer, sole prop; I am experiencing more and more annoying restrictive security situations as a single user; after installing Sierra this week, tried to use Apple TV airplay and got asked for my AirPlay code...I had never been asked before and do not look forward to talking to a tech to find out what that IS ? ...think it's prolly a Sierra thing. I have to say, the so called improvements in the OS and the interconnectivitity have resulted in frustration and allot of down time. Having been a dedicated Apple user for 20+ years, I can see myself migrating to non-Apple, like so many other friends. I am proud to say I "rode the Apple wave" when it was easier and a pleasure to use. These are the kinds of issues I see as "getting worse". Maybe with Steve gone, there is simply less 'responsible imagination'.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Copy or drag — do not type — the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'

Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.) You can omit the final line ending in “$”.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfix|x)/{print $3}'

This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.

Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'

Step 4

ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null

Remember, steps 1-5 are all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

Please post the output of step 4.

Please read this whole message carefully, especially the warnings, before doing anything.

1. The changes to your configuration suggested here should be considered provisional; they may not solve your problem, or they may remove functionality that you find useful. If a third-party system modification that you want to keep is causing the problem, seek help from its developer.

2. WARNING: Back up all data now if you haven’t already done so. Before proceeding, you must be sure you can restore your system to its present state, even if it becomes unbootable. If you’re not sure you can do that, STOP — DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING. If you’re dissatisfied with the results of the procedure suggested below, restore from your backup. I will not be responsible for the consequences, and I will not be able to help, if you ignore this warning.

3. You should either remove or update the following system modification(s), if an update is available from the developer:

N/A

and definitely remove at least the following:

† CleanMyMac

† DivX

† MacKeeper

† SIMBL

4. Whatever you remove must be removed completely, and (unless otherwise specified in this message) the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the third-party developers, or to follow their instructions. In some cases it may be necessary to re-download or even reinstall the software in order to get rid of it. I can't be more specific, because I don't install such things myself. Please do your own research.

Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickYourMac.” First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickyourmac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, email the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickYourMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickYourMac.” If not, open “BrickYourMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button.

Again, please don't ask me to do this research for you. You can do it better than I can, because I haven't installed the product and I may not even know what it is.

If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase your boot volume and perform a clean reinstallation of OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.

WARNING: Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" that purport to remove software.

5. I recommend that you never reinstall the modifications marked with a dagger (†) above, if any. If your problem is resolved after uninstalling all the above modifications and rebooting, but you still want to use some of those not marked with a dagger, you can experiment with putting them back, one at a time, testing carefully after each step. Keep in mind that system modifications may be incompatible with each other or with future OS X updates, so it may not be clear which one is at fault.

6. If you still have problems after making the suggested changes and rebooting, post again. Remember: if you don’t like the results of this procedure, you can undo it by restoring from the last backup you made before you started.

Remove the "MacKeeper" crapware as follows.

Note: These instructions apply to the version of the product that I downloaded and tested in early 2012. I can't be sure that they apply to other versions, nor do I intend to repeat the test.

IMPORTANT: "MacKeeper" has what the developer calls an “encryption” feature. In my tests, I didn't try to verify what this feature really does. If you used it to “encrypt” any of your files, “decrypt” them before you uninstall, or (preferably) restore the files from backups made before they were “encrypted.” As the developer is not trustworthy, you should assume that the "decrypted" files are corrupt unless proven otherwise.

In the Finder, select Go ▹ Applications from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-A. The "MacKeeper" application is in the folder that opens. Quit it if it's running, then drag it to the Trash. A dialog will pop up asking why you want to uninstall it. You don't have to provide that information. Enter anything you like in the text box, then click the Uninstall button. All the functional components of the software will be deleted. That's the only useful feature of "MacKeeper:" it deletes itself. Reboot.

Do not try to uninstall by dragging the MacKeeper icon in the Dock or the LaunchPad to the Trash.

Here are some general suggestions. If you want your computer to be usable, don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” “extenders,” “cleaners,” “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, this kind of material is useless, or worse than useless.

The more actively promoted the product, the more likely it is to be garbage. The most extreme example is the “MacKeeper” scam.

The only software you should install is that which directly enables you to do the things you use a computer for — such as creating, communicating, and playing — and does not modify the way other software works. Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.

Uninstall SIMBL as follows. Back up all data before making any changes.

Select Go ▹ Go to Folder… from the Finder menu bar, then enter the following text in the box that opens:

/Library

A folder will open. From that folder, delete the items listed below (some may be absent.) You may be prompted for your administrator login password.

Application Support/SIMBL

InputManagers/SIMBL.bundle

Log out and log back in.

Make sure you never reinstall SIMBL. It’s likely to come bundled with another third-party system modfication that depends on it. If you want trouble-free computing, avoid software that makes miraculous changes to other software, especially built-in applications. The only real exception to that rule is Safari extensions, which are mostly safe, and are easy to get rid of when they don’t work. SIMBL and its dependents are not Safari extensions.

Back up all data to at least two different storage devices, if you haven't already done so. The backups can be made with Time Machine or with a mirroring tool such as Carbon Copy Cloner. Preferably both. You must be certain that you can restore everything to the state it's in now.

Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup), launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup volume with the default options.This operation will destroy all data on the volume, so you had be better be sure of your backups. Quit Disk Utility and install OS X. When you reboot, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process. That’s when you import the data from one of your backups. For details of how this works, see here:

Using Setup Assistant

Import only "Users" and "Settings" – not "Applications" or "Other files." Don't import the Guest account, if it was enabled on the old system. Test. If the problem is still there, you have a hardware fault. Take the machine to an Apple Store for diagnosis.

If the problem is resolved, reinstall your third-party software cautiously. Self-contained applications that install into the Applications folder by drag-and-drop or download from the App Store are safe. Anything that comes packaged as an installer or that prompts for an administrator password is suspect, and you must test thoroughly after reinstalling each such item to make sure you haven't restored the problem.

Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with networks that require any kind of authentication other than a WPA or WPA2 Personal password.

All your personal data will be restored.

To repeat, before erasing the boot volume, you need at least two complete, independent backups -- one is not enough to be safe. You must also be certain that both of the backups ran without errors. If you have any doubts at all about your ability to carry out this procedure, don't do it. Get someone more experienced to help you.

Yes, that's personal data.