Q: I downloaded OS X Mavericks over the weekend and it has made my Macbook Pro extremely slow

Very poetic alternative name for the OS. I like it.

If you like we could try to fix what is wrong rather than go back to 10.6, which is no picnic.

It would help to give us more information about your computer. If you can, use EtreCheck  Etresoft: EtreCheck  to generate a system report and paste it in a response here.

Revert to a Previous OS X

Revert to former OS from Mavericks

I am just a Apple user guy.

Here's your report with some comments in red:

Hardware Information:

          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)

          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2

          1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

          4 GB RAM This is a minimum amount of RAM for basic Mavericks function (I know the specs say 2 GB). If you are doing anything more than just checking your email you may want more RAM, especially if you are doing things that are more memory intensive, like audio/video recording/editing. It all depends on your degree of tolerance for the SBBOD (the spinning beachball of death). At the moment you've got no page-outs so that's good.

Video Information:

          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB

          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB

Audio Plug-ins:

          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9

          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9

          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

Startup Items:

          HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

          HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect

          StartOuc: Path: /Library/StartupItems/StartOuc

System Software:

          OS X 10.9 (13A603) - Uptime: 0 days 0:28:26

Disk Information:

          Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 319.21 GB (49.67 GB free)

                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898

USB Information:

          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

FireWire Information:

Thunderbolt Information:

These next categories are all things that are loaded at startup and can be potential causes for poor performance, as they run in the background. These all need to be looked at carefully if you want your mac to run better. The rules are:

1) if you can live without the app that installs these potential culprits, uninstall it. You have to uninstall the app itself, not just the file that is listed here.

2) if you can't live without the app, then at least research it to see if it is compatible with Mavericks, and make sure you have the latest version.

Some of these I don't know about, but I've marked those with **; you'll have to research them yourself.

Kernel Extensions:

          com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt          (0.0.74) **

Problem System Launch Daemons:

Problem System Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

          [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist ** The google stuff is suspect in my book. This is sort of like spyware and installs things on your computer without your permission. Google Drive was or is incompatible with Mavericks, and a lot of the people writing in to this forum are running Chrome. I'd stay away from all things Google.

          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

          [loaded] com.rim.BBDaemon.plist **

          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist **

Launch Agents:

          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist **

          [loaded] com.hp.messagecenter.launcher.plist **

          [loaded] com.rim.BBAlbumArtCacher.plist **

          [loaded] com.rim.BBLaunchAgent.plist **

          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist **

          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist **

          [failed] jp.co.canon.UFR2.BG.plist This one definitely needs to be uninstalled (failed.) You have to uninstall the app that is responsible. Probably a printer or camera "utility", which is unnecessary.

User Launch Agents:

          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist

          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist

          [loaded] com.google.GoogleContactSyncAgent.plist **more google stuff.

User Login Items:

          iTunesHelper

          RealPlayer Downloader Agent **

          BlackBerry Device Manager **

3rd Party Preference Panes:

          Flash Player

          Flip4Mac WMV

Internet Plug-ins:: ** you have quite a few of these. I'd get rid of all that you can. These could make for poor browser performance.

          DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.5.8r612

          o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 4.9.1.16010

          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.6.5

          OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6

          RealPlayer Plugin: Version: (null)

          Silverlight: Version: 4.0.50917.0

          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.152 - SDK 10.6 ** two versions of flash player probably isn't good.

          Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.152 - SDK 10.6

          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

          googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 4.9.1.16010

          npgtpo3dautoplugin: Version: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5

          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 9.5.5

          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6

          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.9 Outdated! Update  needs updating

User Internet Plug-ins::

          CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0 **

Bad Fonts:

          None

Old applications:

          Microsoft Alerts Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Alerts Daemon.app

          Microsoft Chart Converter:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Chart Converter.app

          Microsoft Clip Gallery:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Clip Gallery.app

          Microsoft Database Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Database Daemon.app

          Microsoft Database Utility:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Database Utility.app

          Microsoft Document Connection:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Document Connection.app

          Microsoft Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Excel.app

          Microsoft Graph:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Graph.app

          Microsoft Language Register:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app

          Microsoft Office Reminders:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Office Reminders.app

          Microsoft Outlook:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Outlook.app

          Microsoft PowerPoint:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft PowerPoint.app

          Microsoft Upload Center:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Microsoft Upload Center.app

          Microsoft Word:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app

          My Day:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/My Day.app

          Open XML for Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Open XML for Excel.app

          Solver:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app

          SyncServicesAgent:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5

                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/SyncServicesAgent.app

Time Machine:

          Auto backup: YES

          Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

              61%          RimAlbumArtDaemon ** this sounds like some unnecessary software for downloading album art, and it's using 61% of your CPU.

              20%          Mail

              15%          WindowServer

              14%          iTunes

               5%          coreaudiod

Top Processes by Memory:

          242 MB          mds_stores

          202 MB          RimAlbumArtDaemon

          180 MB          Mail

          143 MB          iTunes

          117 MB          WindowServer

Virtual Memory Statistics:

          1.07 GB          Free RAM

          1.50 GB          Active RAM

          556 MB          Inactive RAM

          776 MB          Wired RAM

          535 MB          Page-ins

          0 B          Page-outs

I forgot to mention: those three startup items are also potential problems and should be researched.

Rimalbumart daemon suggests you have blackberry desktop sogtware running? I would run the uninstall in the install package if you still have it, or not download the blackberry desktop for mac again and run the uninstall.

1) Will uninstalling apps automatically remove the files you mentioned

It should. The best way to uninstall them is with an uninstaller provided by the developer.

If there is no uninstaller (one of the hallmarks of crapware is no uninstaller), then I like AppZapper AppZapper - The uninstaller Apple forgot.

After running the uninstaller, reboot and see how your mac runs. I'd run Etrecheck again and see if all the stray bits of software are gone. If not, you may have more digging to do to get those out.

For some of the more stubborn ones, a browser search for "Mac uninstall xxx" can be helpful (where xxx is the name of the app).

In some cases these apps can be impossible to uninstall, so the only recourse is a clean reinstall.

Whatever you do, don't get MacKeeper or CleanMyMac or any other crapware on your computer to try and "clean" it. Don't get me started on that topic.

that don't seem to be anywhere on my Mac when I try to find 'em using Finder. Is there a different way of finding such files?

They are there, it's just that the Finder (and spotlight) do not like to find system files unless you know a few tricks:

How to Search for Hidden, Packaged, and System Files in OS X

The mac OS is designed to keep users with less advanced computer skills away from system files, so they don't unknowingly do damage. If you can figure out how to get the Finder to show you those files, then you’ve probably got the skills to look under the hood safely. It's like a computer chimp IQ test.

4) Internet Plug ins: If these plug ins are removed, won't it affect the relevant program it supports ?

They will, but too many of them, and in particular ones with old code that haven't kept up with the OS or the browser, can make problems. I suspect many of them you could live without. For example, the adobe PDF viewer. Safari can open PDF's just fine without Adobe. The internet plugins would give specific browser-related symptoms (slowness). If your browser is working fine, then keep them.

Any particular reason you asked me to uninstall  the launch daemon "jp.co.canon.UFR2.BG.plist "

a few reasons:

1. printer and camera manufacturer "utilities" are notorious for causing problems. I suspect that the manufacturers of these peripherals still don't value the mac sector of their customer base very highly. We are still the redheaded stepchild. As such, I don't think they assign their best and brightest software engineers to making the mac software. Kind of like Al Qaeda: they don't assign their Rhodes scholars to be the suicide bombers.
2. these "utilites" are unnecessary and macs usually can use the printer/camera/whatever just fine, and probably better, without them.

jp.co.canon.UFR2.plist will be in /Library/LaunchAgents

It's best to uninstall (via manufacturers instructions), but removing that file will stop the job from failing.

If you want the printer to still work look for updated drivers on Canon's website.

Does this help with Blackberry?

KB18771-Installing and removing BlackBerry Desktop Software on a Mac computer

Don't forget to reboot to unload the old jobs completely