Q: How do I improve performance?

Take a look at this document.

Checking for reasons for a slow running machine.   The Safe Mac » Mac Performance Guide     Thomas Reed is a well known and much respected contributor here.

Right you have a 4 year old Mac that is running a version of OS X that is designed for more modern computers.

It will run slower than previous versions of OS X.

Sparty96 wrote:

 

I have a 4 year old iMac running OS X 10.9.2 wondering if there is a way to run diagnostics/repair to improve overall performance/speed.

How much RAM do you have installed? Less than 4gb and Mavericks tends to be a slow performer.

Apple Menu>About this Mac will tell you if you're unsure.

See:

Mac Maintenance Quick Assist,
Mac OS X speed FAQ,
Speeding up Macs,
How to Speed up Macs,
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance,
Mac troubleshooting: What to do when your computer is too slow,
Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up,
Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines,
Maintaining OS X, 
Five Mac maintenance myths and
Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X for information.

It would help us to help you if we could have some more technical info about your iMac.

If you so choose, Please download, install and run Etrecheck.

Etrecheck was developed as a simple Mac diagnostic and reporting tool by a regular Apple Support forum user and technical support contributor named Etresoft.

Etrecheck is a small, unobstrusive app that compiles a static snapshot of your entire Mac hardware system and installed software. This is a free app that has been honestly created to provided help in diagnosing issues with Macs running the new OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

It is not malware and can be safely downloaded and installed onto your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Copy/paste and post its report here in another reply thread so that we have a complete profile of your Mac's hardware and installed software so we can all help with your Mac performance issues.

Hello MichelPM,

You mentioned Etrecheck, and in a previous post said you had seen some reports that it will work with Snow Leopard ... although officially meant for 10.7 or above.

Just want to add that Etrecheck works almost perfectly with my Snow Leopard, the only exclusion being reports on Time Machine.   Excellent app.

I wasn't sure as I haven't used or tested Etrecheck while using Snow Leopard.

I, also, believe the other aspect of Etrecheck that doesn't work in Snow Leopard is the live web links that Etresoft places at the end of each piece of third software listed on a particular Mac, that automatically brings you the software developer or Google search link.

Again, since I haven't used and confirm this, I do not know this for sure.

I have seen many Etrecheck reports where the software web links aren't active and do not work.

Not sure if this is a Snow Leopard issue or not.

Hello, MichelPM,

The only items marked (in red) are ...

       JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 13.9.8 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

       Time Machine information requires OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later.

I'm not sure that I need the Java pluglet anyway.

Hope this helps keep your info up to date.