Speeding up mid 2011 iMac

Question

Hello!Ik have a mid-2011 iMac, 21.5", which I&#x27;m generally speaking still very happy with. Thing is, it&#x27;s been getting a little slow over last 6 months. Starting up relatively light software takes longer than it would before (say Codekit, Spotify, or Safari ftm).I have already:- put in some extra memory (running on 16GB now)- removed all unnecessary start-up items- removed eveything from my harddrive that wasn&#x27;t necessary- checked the state of the HDD with the Disk Utilities- done a full system scan with Eset&#x27;s Cyber Security ProBut nothing really seems to help. There are three options I can come up with on my own:- Replacing the HDD with an SSD, which I don&#x27;t even know if is possible.- Formatting the HDD and doing a clean install of OSX (which I wouldn&#x27;t look forward to).- Buying a brand new iMac, which I can&#x27;t afford right now ;-)Hope you can shed some light on this, give me some clues on how to speed this thing up again 🙂-------------------System specs:- iMac mid-2011- 2.5GHz Intel Core i5- 16GB 1333 MHz DDR3- AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB

John Galt · Answer

- removed eveything from my harddrive that wasn&#x27;t necessary- checked the state of the HDD with the Disk UtilitiesPlease explain exactly how you accomplished each of those tasks.- done a full system scan with Eset&#x27;s Cyber Security ProThat should have been included in the first item above. If you did not, remove it now according to its instructions. Verify its complete eradication from your system, then evaluate your iMac&#x27;s performance.With Mavericks and 16 GB RAM your mid-2011 iMac should perform faster than it was when it was new, so something is not right. Macs don&#x27;t get slower on their own. Barring any hardware failures that can be difficult to diagnose on your own, whatever is wrong can be fixed. Please clarify the above and write back for more suggestions.

ErikBooij · Answer

Thanks for the quick response John, I appreciate it!With "removed eveything from my harddrive that wasn&#x27;t necessary" I meant, every file I made myself but didn&#x27;t need anymore, 98GB worth of photos I processed for example. No system files were removed. I figured extra free HDD space wouldn&#x27;t hurt. I&#x27;ve 370GB available of the total 500. I&#x27;d reckon that&#x27;s more than enough right?With "checked the state of the HDD with the Disk Utilities" I meant, (I don&#x27;t know the exact phraseology, since I&#x27;m on a Dutch system) I&#x27;ve gone into the Disk Utilities and clicked "Check Disk", it didn&#x27;t come up with any errors.You&#x27;re saying it&#x27;s better to delete Cyber Security Pro again? I&#x27;ll do that, but I don&#x27;t think it will be the solution to my problem, unfortunately, because I&#x27;ve only had this software for about three weeks now.

ErikBooij · Answer

I&#x27;ve made a PDF of every process running according to Activity Monitor.http://erikbooij.nl/junk/activitylog.pdf (7 MB). Not sure if it is of any use though.

John Galt · Answer

... I&#x27;d reckon that&#x27;s more than enough right?Yes.You&#x27;re saying it&#x27;s better to delete Cyber Security Pro again?Yes. Please be sure to follow its developer&#x27;s instructions for uninstalling it.To check for problems that may be a result of hard disk errors boot OS X Recovery by holding ⌘ and r (two fingers) while you start your Mac. At the Mac OS X Utilities screen, select Disk Utility. Select your startup volume (usually named "Macintosh HD") and click the Repair Disk button. Describe any errors it reports in red. If Disk Utility reports "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK" in green then you can be reasonably (though not completely) assured your hard disk is in good working order.When it finishes restart your Mac and test again for operation. If it&#x27;s still not behaving as you expect it should, please post the results of EtreCheck in accordance with the following instructions:Apple Support Communities contributor etresoft wrote a very useful app to quickly gather certain system information that may help point to a cause of this problem. Read about it here. It contains the link to his website where you can read more about what it does. If you are satisfied it may provide helpful information download and run EtreCheck. It will be in your Downloads folder. It requires no installation procedure.Upon opening it the first time you may see the following dialog box:etresoft contributes to this forum frequently and can be considered a trustworthy developer.It will take a moment to run as it collects its data.Copy and paste its output in a reply.Do not be concerned about anything that says "Problem" or “failed” or anything else that may appear in red.EtreCheck was designed to remove any personal information (such as your computer&#x27;s name and serial numbers) but if you see anything that looks like an email address or any other personal information that should not be divulged to others, please delete or obscure that information when you post the reply.When you are finished with EtreCheck, quit the program. It occupies very little space. You can keep it or drag it to the Trash as you wish, which will remove it completely.After completing the above please determine if the problems also occur in "Safe Mode":Safe Mode or "Safe Boot" is a troubleshooting mode that bypasses all third party system extensions and loads only required system components. Read about it: Starting up in Safe ModeYou must disable FileVault before you can start your Mac in Safe Mode.Starting your Mac in Safe Mode will take longer than usual, graphics will not render smoothly, audio is disabled on some Macs, and some programs (iTunes for example) may not work at all.Merely starting your Mac in Safe Mode is not intended to resolve the problem, it&#x27;s to observe its performance without certain additional components.To end Safe Mode restart your Mac normally. Shutdown will take longer as well.System performance problems for reasons that cannot be isolated to any other cause justify an SMC reset. Be sure to read the procedure carefully and follow all the steps exactly as written, even if they seem inapplicable or trivial.

ErikBooij · Answer

Thanks again for the help John,I have completely remove Eset Cyber Security Pro.I&#x27;ve run the disk check and it told me in green that the disk was OK.I also ran Etrecheck:--------------------Hardware Information:          iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)          iMac - model: iMac12,1          1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4 cores          16 GB RAMVideo Information:          AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MBSystem Software:          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 0:7:33Disk Information:          WDC WD5000AAKS-402AA0 disk0 : (500,11 GB)                    EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209,7 MB                     Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 499,25 GB (374,92 GB free)                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 650 MB           OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5690H  USB Information:          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver           Apple Internal Memory Card Reader           Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)           Logitech USB Receiver           Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub                     Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard           Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub                     Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller FireWire Information:Thunderbolt Information:          Apple Inc. thunderbolt_busKernel Extensions:          com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver          (3.6.0 - SDK 10.6)          com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver          (1.2.0 - SDK 10.6)Startup Items:          ChmodBPF: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ChmodBPF          MAMP: Path: /Library/StartupItems/MAMPProblem System Launch Daemons:Problem System Launch Agents:Launch Daemons:          [System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.barebones.authd.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.eset.esets_daemon.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          [System] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] org.apachefriends.xampp.plist 3rd-Party support linkLaunch Agents:          [System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.divx.dms.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.divx.update.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.wacom.pentablet.plist 3rd-Party support linkUser 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.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.plexapp.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist 3rd-Party support linkUser Login Items:          iTunesHelper          Dropbox          Moom          JumpcutInternet Plug-ins:          nplastpass: Version: 2.0.15 3rd-Party support link          WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link          OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 3rd-Party support link          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9          AdobeExManDetect: Version: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 - SDK 10.7 3rd-Party support link          WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 3rd-Party support link          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          DivX Web Player: Version: 3.1.0.13 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20513.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 51 3rd-Party support linkAudio 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 10.9User Internet Plug-ins:          iGetterScriptablePlugin: Version: 2.9.2 3rd-Party support link          Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 3rd-Party support link3rd Party Preference Panes:          Application Enhancer  3rd-Party support link          Flash Player  3rd-Party support link          FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE)  3rd-Party support link          Java  3rd-Party support link          Logitech Control Center  3rd-Party support link          MacFUSE  3rd-Party support link          PenTablet  3rd-Party support linkBad Fonts:          NoneOld Applications:          /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0                    Microsoft Foutenrapportage:          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          dynamiclinkmediaserver:          Version: 6.0.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclinkmediaserver/1.0/dynamiclinkmediaserver.app          /Library/Application Support/DivX                    DivXUpdate:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    DivXMediaServer:          Version: 10.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    DivXTransferWizard:          Version: 10.1.0 (Build 10.1.0.102) - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    DMSLaunch:          Version: 1.0 - 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          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office                    Microsoft Graph:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Database Utility:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Office-meldingen:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Upload Center:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    My Day:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    SyncServicesAgent:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Open XML for Excel:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Alerts Daemon:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Database Daemon:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Chart Converter:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Clipgalerie:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011                    Microsoft PowerPoint:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Excel:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Outlook:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Word:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    Microsoft Document Connection:          Version: 14.3.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link          SA Color Finesse 3 UI:          Version: 3.0.6(275) - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    /Applications/Adobe After Effects CS6/Plug-ins/Effects/Synthetic Aperture/(CF3 Support)/SA Color Finesse 3 UI.app          dynamiclinkmanager:          Version: 6.0.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclink/CS6/dynamiclinkmanager.app          Microsoft AutoUpdate:          Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app          Solver:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Invoegtoepassingen/Solver.app          DivX Player:          Version: 10.1.0 (Build 11.3.0.40) - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link          Sequel Pro:          Version: 1.0.2 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support linkTime Machine:          Time Machine not configured!Top Processes by CPU:               3%          EtreCheck               1%          WindowServer               0%          configd               0%          mds_stores               0%          mdsTop Processes by Memory:          115 MB          mds_stores          92 MB          com.apple.WebKit.WebContent          66 MB          Dropbox          49 MB          Finder          49 MB          WindowServerVirtual Memory Information:          13.29 GB          Free RAM          1.26 GB          Active RAM          241 MB          Inactive RAM          1.21 GB          Wired RAM          273 MB          Page-ins          0 B          Page-outs-------------------------------I have done one more thing, I&#x27;ve disable 803 fonts (I had installed the entire Google Fonts directory for webdev purposes) and that made a noticable difference. Photoshop for example, from clicking the icon to having a ready to use clear canvas, went from 1 minute and 6 seconds to just 17 seconds.But although that made an improvement, it still doesn&#x27;t feel just as quick as it used to.

Allan Jones · Answer

One problem is "Clean My Mac." Such products were ported from Windoze and often slow the Mac, and sometimes remove critical system files that such programs can&#x27;t identiy as "critical" to a Mac&#x27;s operation.

ErikBooij · Answer

Thanks Allan!Clean my Mac is something I have tried a long time ago and removed pretty much directly after installing it. Apparently not well enough though. Any suggestions on how to completely get rid of it?

John Galt · Answer

Like Allan says CleanMyMac has to go. It is a scam product that will result in lost time, money, data, and general abject misery.Any suggestions on how to completely get rid of it?Generally speaking anything that requires your Login name and password to install such as CleanMyMac requires a complimentary uninstaller. In the case of CleanMyMac the developer recommends you use CleanMyMac to uninstall it. However, I determined that is ineffective at removing all its components. Merely using CleanMyMac to "clean" a Mac can result in a system that is so badly corrupted that an "erase and install" is the most prudent course of action.This is one reason having a backup strategy is so important. If you created a backup of your system prior to installing CleanMyMac, use it.I have completely remove Eset Cyber Security Pro.Your report indicates its continued presence. That is another reason I recommend erasing your Mac completely, followed by installing Mavericks, followed by installing only your essential software and other files. "Essential" is defined to specifically exclude garbage products such as CleanMyMac and Eset.I seem to recall reading somewhere on this site that MacFUSE and / or OSXFUSE is a problem. I don&#x27;t recall what it does, but if you don&#x27;t have a need for it, don&#x27;t install it either.

ErikBooij · Answer

Alright, I was hoping it wouldn&#x27;t come to that, but I agree it&#x27;s probably the best option. I do not have any back-up strategy in place and yes, I know I&#x27;m a fool for it.I&#x27;ll do a fresh install and hope the issues will be resolved. It may take a while before I have the free time to do so, but for now, thanks a LOT! Both of you, but John in particular!

ErikBooij · Answer

BTW, since I&#x27;m new to this support system... I believe it works with reward points or something like that? I&#x27;d like to award you some hard earned points John, is it sufficient to just click the "This solved my problem" button? ;-)

John Galt · Answer

Yes. The "points" is most useful to direct others with similar problems to a solution that may apply to them.The more people learn about such junk products and avoid them, the happier they&#x27;ll be. CleanMyMac is only one example, but it&#x27;s aggressively advertised and disturbingly common. The vast majority of Mac related problems reported on this site are the direct result of using them. The "solved my question" badge gives the solution (avoidance) a fighting chance at equal visibility.

ErikBooij · Answer

Thanks, well explained!