My Mac is running slow. Advice from former discussions not helping.

Please click Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used and follow the directions then post back with what you have found.

Do you have any antivirus or hard drive "cleaner" installed?

In Activity Monitor check to see if you have any apps that are taking a lot of CPU power, click the System Memory tab then look on the upper left for a column called %CPU, it will look like the picture below, if you see any apps that are taking a lot, then you have a problem app that needs to be addressed. Check that the next time you notice a slowdown, otherwise my guess is your HD could be failing and should be checked with Apple Hardware Test (Extended Mode), run AHT at least 3 times back to back to see if any errors appear.

Sometimes this can be caused by a failing hard drive. Run the free demo of SMART Utility.

http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php

Hard drive "cleaning" apps are a BIG problem and should be avoided. These apps claim to do one thing,but cause other, more detrimental issues. Stay away from any apps claiming to clean up your hard drive!

Especially, one called MacKeeper. Avoid this app like the plague!!!

helpplz3 wrote:

No significant percentage suckers under CPU other than momentary reads where mds is 40% for about a second or report crash is 20% for about a second.

Is Apple Hardware Test included in the software already on the iMac or is it something I have to purchase?

Thanks again!!!!!

AHT comes with all Macs. To learn how to launch it please click Apple Hardware Test

This type of symptom is best resolved by isolating it.

You usually want to start with the least destructive method.

Isolate User-specific from System-wide:

I would start with creating a new Admin user account and testing the responsiveness within that environment. If things seem to respond adequately, then you may have a user-specific problem with your user account. If the same symptoms exist in the new user account, then you may have a system-wide issue with OS X (or other hardware components).

Isolate User-specific issues:

If a new user works fine, then you'll want to isolate what could be the source of the behavior within your user account. Generally, there are typical culprits such as Login Items and Startup Items. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items. Technically, you're not required to have anything listed in the Login Items box in order for the system to run correctly so consider removing all items from here that aren't needed. You could also try booting into Safe Mode (hold down the left SHIFT key during startup until you see a progress bar appear below the Apple logo on-screen). This will allow the OS to only run Apple software (all 3rd party software is disabled and the display will respond a little slower than normal, that's expected).

Isolating System-wide issues:

If an issues is reproducible in a new user account, there's a few steps to consider. If the problem is with a single application, Remove and reinstall it. If the issue is with overall system responsiveness, this can sometimes be the result of the security permissions set for the system files becoming unusable and needing to be repaired. If you've ever held the power button to turn off your Mac because it has become unresponsive, this can cause similar issues. Files and resources need to be closed appropriately and not suddenly cut-off. Repairing system-level files requires booting to the Recovery HD partition (hold OPTION during startup) and using Disk Utility from there to repair them.

Before you take another breath, BACKUP the system, the HDD is failing!