What does Activity Monitor tell me

Question

Level 1

19 points

What does Activity Monitor tell me

Since upgrading to Mavericks my 2009 version iMac (4GB RAM, NVIDIA 9400 256MB) has slowed down noticeably.

I've run the Activity Monitor and this is the result

User uploaded file

but frankly I'm not sure what it's telling me. Since it's still in the 'green' and not swapping, does this mean it's doing alright with my usual software open (Safari, Photoshop CC, Bridge, Word) ?

I know I need to have at least 512MB to run all the features in PS, but beyond that will I see any significant benefit from the upgrade to the late 2013 iMac with faster processor, more RAM etc?

Brian

iMac

Posted on Jan 27, 2014 2:38 PM

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Answer 1

azartguy Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 27, 2014 2:41 PM in response to azartguy

Oops, forgot the Acitvity Monitor data, Brian

User uploaded file

Message was edited by: azartguy

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jan 27, 2014 2:43 PM in response to azartguy

Pre-Mavericks

Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

Mavericks and later

Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

The above will help you determine if you have any software that has crashed or otherwise is causing very high CPU usage.

See the following as related to memory shortage concern:

Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory & determine how much RAM is used

OS X Mavericks- About Activity Monitor

Memory Management in Mac OS X

Understanding top output in the Terminal

The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.

Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently. It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster. What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent. It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.

Slowdowns appearing after upgrading to Mavericks are typically the result of upgrading over a dysfunctional system. I suggest looking at the following solutions:

Fixing a Mavericks Installation Problem

How to manage a failed OS X Mavericks installation | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews.

Try these in order:

1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM

b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the

COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and

after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears.

Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

4. Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

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Answer 3

arthur

Level 5

5,242 points

Jan 27, 2014 2:45 PM in response to azartguy

You may have a software issue that is slowing things down. I'd rule that out first.

It would help to give us more information. Etresoft: EtreCheck is a free app developed by one of the contributors to this forum which will generate a system report on your computer. If you can paste the report here we can take a look and see what might be the problem.

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Answer 4

azartguy Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 27, 2014 7:49 PM in response to arthur

arthur,

here it is, whatever it is...

Hardware Information:

iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)

iMac - model: iMac9,1

1 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores

4 GB RAM

Video Information:

NVIDIA GeForce 9400 - VRAM: 256 MB

System Software:

OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 8:19:8

Disk Information:

Hitachi HDT721032SLA380 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

HD (disk0s2) /: 319.21 GB (204.71 GB free)

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

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N

USB Information:

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Generic AutoRUN/Partition

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Tablet PTK-640

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

FireWire Information:

Iomega HDD unknown_device 800mbit - 800mbit max

disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 32 KB

HDD (disk1s3) /Volumes/HDD: 1 TB (555.27 GB free)

Thunderbolt Information:

Kernel Extensions:

Startup Items:

ProTec6b: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b

Problem System Launch Daemons:

Problem System Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

[System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.barebones.authd.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link

Launch Agents:

[System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.sony.PMBPortable.AutoRun.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link

[not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link

[not loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Dropbox

AdobeResourceSynchronizer

Google Drive

Dropbox

apple-scc-20131029-125753

Internet Plug-ins:

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 4.9.1.16010 3rd-Party support link

WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.2 3rd-Party support link

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 3rd-Party support link

AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 3rd-Party support link

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.38 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.38 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 4.9.1.16010 3rd-Party support link

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

npgtpo3dautoplugin: Version: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update

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

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player 3rd-Party support link

WacomTablet 3rd-Party support link

Bad Fonts:

None

Old Applications:

Microsoft Language Register: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

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

/Applications/Utilities

Adobe AIR Application Installer: Version: 3.3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Adobe AIR Uninstaller: Version: 3.3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

SLLauncher: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Silverlight/OutOfBrowser/SLLauncher.app

/Library/Frameworks/Adobe AIR.framework/Versions/1.0/Resources

Adobe AIR Updater: Version: 3.3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Template: Version: 3.3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

OLYMPUS Digital Camera Updater: Version: 1.06 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011

Microsoft PowerPoint: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Outlook: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Word: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Document Connection: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Solver: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

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

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office

Microsoft Graph: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Database Utility: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Office Reminders: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Upload Center: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

My Day: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

SyncServicesAgent: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Open XML for Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Alerts Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Database Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Chart Converter: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Clip Gallery: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/OLYMPUS Viewer 3

Bootstrap: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

OLYMPUS Viewer 3: Version: 1.2.0.5 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/iWork '09

Microsoft AutoUpdate: Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app

Adobe AIR Application Installer: Version: 3.3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Library/Frameworks/Adobe AIR.framework/Versions/1.0/Adobe AIR Application Installer.app

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0

Microsoft Error Reporting: Version: 2.2.9 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Ship Asserts: Version: 1.1.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Nik Collection

Sharpener Pro 3 Output Sharpening: Version: 3.1.0.0 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Dfine2: Version: 2.200 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Color Efex Pro 4: Version: 4.200 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Sharpener Pro 3 Raw Presharpening: Version: 3.1.0.0 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Viveza 2: Version: 2.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Silver Efex Pro 2: Version: 2.100 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Epson Printer Utility 4: Version: 9.17 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter2/Utility/UT4/Epson Printer Utility 4.app

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

HD: Disk size: 297.29 GB Disk used: 106.63 GB

Destinations:

HDD [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 931.39 GB

Total number of backups: 57

Oldest backup: 2013-08-28 07:48:18 +0000

Last backup: 2014-01-28 03:32:51 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 931.39 GB > (Disk size 297.29 GB X 3)

Time Machine details may not be accurate.

All volumes being backed up may not be listed.

Top Processes by CPU:

5% syncdefaultsd

3% WindowServer

3% WacomTabletDriver

1% EtreCheck

1% Safari

Top Processes by Memory:

938 MB Adobe Photoshop CC

176 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

139 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

135 MB softwareupdated

102 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information:

276 MB Free RAM

1.64 GB Active RAM

1.33 GB Inactive RAM

523 MB Wired RAM

738 MB Page-ins

4 KB Page-outs

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Answer 5

arthur

Level 5

5,242 points

Jan 28, 2014 4:32 AM in response to azartguy

More RAM might help. I know the specs for Mavericks say 2, but 4 is a more realistic minimum. I have 8 in my MBP 8,2 (and a SSD) and it's very fast.
frequent flyers on this discussion for causing problems:
1. ProTec
2. Google Drive (at one point it was incompatible with Mavericks)
3. google keystone agent (noted for excessive phoning home and slowing things down)
Dropbox is in there twice, which probably isn't good

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Answer 6

azartguy Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 28, 2014 10:50 AM in response to arthur

arthur, dumped the Google Drive, whatever ProTec was and the "keystone" agent, but I only see one Dropbox in Applications. In any case, it didn't make any difference, so I'm going to try kappy's suggestion and reset the NVRAM, and if that doesn't help, then reset the SCM. Thanks,

Brian

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Answer 7

azartguy Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 28, 2014 11:15 AM in response to arthur

Arthur, also it looks like the big CPU Time hogs are the Wacom table that is close to 50% of the usage and Aperture at about 25%.

Brian

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