I have an Early 2010 MBP. When I installed Mavericks I had all kinds of problems. This was one of them. It is either a cache problem, a spotlight problem, or an update problem.
1. Cache. When you upgrade to mavericks or restore from backup after mavericks install alot of the cache files do not match up. Clear all of the caches system wide. If you do not know how to do this, go to the mac app store and download Disk Diag. Install and run it. It will advise you of what files you can get rid of. Save what you want to save ( pictures, photos, downloads, etc.) but make sure you let it clear all of your caches. Things should run faster, but you will have to re-enter most of your passwords. Make sure that you write them all down.
2. Spotlight. Spotlight is a pain in my....... well you get the picture. Spotlight is a program to index your mac so that you can search for files easily. It indexes your mac every time you start up your machine. It makes every thing run slow and choppy until it is done. I for one know where I put my files. I guess some people need help searching for things. But most people that own a mac have a basic knowledge of the file tree and can find what they want in a finder window. So here is how you speed up the Spotlight problem. First off. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DELETE OR UNINSTALL SPOTLIGHT. Spotlight works with the App Store and Apple to deliver important updates. So don't get brave and think you can just delete it. It causes more problems than its worth. What you can do is to adjust the Spotlight preferences. Go to the system preferences. In the top row click Spotlight. You will see a list of places for spotlight to search. Uncheck everything. Seriously, Uncheck everything. Spotlight will still index your mac when you start up, But it will not take near as long as before. A minute tops.
3. The never ending update. This will seriously slow down your mac. I explained how to stop the never ending update in another thread, but it can be quite confusing. It is easy to tell if you have an update problem. Go into the App Store and click Check for updates. Attempt to do the updates first. If the updates finish and restart, you have a problem. If you have updates in your Application folder or Launchpad that will not download all of the way, you have a problem. The Mavericks OS has a slightly different file tree. So some things dont match up during updates. You can successfully update an application and then the system continues to update the same app over and over. Why? Cause the source of the update is the outdated application. When the app updates it installs the new updated app in a different place then the original app. So good ol' Spotlight detects the old outdated app and downloads the update and installs it again and again and again. I am going to try to describe how to get rid of this problem as best as i can with parts of my posts from another thread.
I was plagued with iPhoto, iMovie, iWork, and a few third party apps that kept updating over and over and over.
- 1. First thing. Skip this if you do not have any of the iWork components ( Pages, Numbers, Keynote). Attempt to update 1 full time through the App Store. Once the update is complete if it starts again do this.
- Go to the system preferences.
- Click spotlight in the first row.
- Click the privacy button at the top.
- Click the + plus button.
- Select the Applications folder.
- In the Application folder select the iWork folder.
- Click the Choose button on the bottom right of the window.
- This will take away the iWork updates, but not fix the problems.
- Next go to your Application folder in the finder. You will see an iWork folder. Normally your iWork programs are contained in an iWork folder in the Applications folder. These files are the problem.
- Mavericks installs the new iWork programs directly into the Applications folder.
- Just find these files and drag them into the iWork folder. Over write the old files.
- Go back to the system preferences.
- Click Spotlight.
- Click privacy.
- Select the iWork folder.
- Click the - minus button.
2. You will most definately have this problem.
- Next go to the system preferences.
- Fourth row down. Click App Store.
- Unchecked everything. This will stop the horrible update loop for all of the other programs.
- Open iPhoto and iMovie individually from the applications folder.
- They will update when you start them up.
- Any other Applications that were stuck in a loop now need to be deleted. You must also delete the incomplete update files. They will be either in the Applications folder or your Launchpad. They will have a download status bar under them.
- Recheck all of the App store preferences except Automatically download apps purchased on other Macs.
- Reopen the App Store and check for updates.
- You can reinstall any apps you had to delete from the App Store as long as they are compatible with Mavericks.
I Hope this helps.