Mavericks 10.9.4 Super Slooooow (whats going on)

You have a very over-modified system. Too much stuff is running all the time in the background. You need to examine your kernel extensions, launch agents/daemons and login items. Uninstall any of the programs corresponding to those items that you don't really need. Be sure to uninstall them properly, using the uninstaller provided by the developer. Do not use generic app removal tools.

CleanMyMac is junk. You do not need any of the features it provides. Remove it first.

BlackByRequest wrote:

I need to understand from a technical point of view why the upgrade from 10.9.3 to 10.9.4 caused these issues that i listed in my original post..

Because some of that software is not getting along with the update as it should, most likely. Or perhaps CleanMyMac damaged your system... it's been known to do that before.

Also, note that you are absolutely wrong when you say, "there are countless tools that are needed in order to make the apple world go round." A Mac does not need any third-party tools to keep it running in good shape. I've fairly certain that every single experienced user on these forums will agree with that. None of us use any kind of "cleaning" or "maintenance" tools, and none of us have ever needed them.

But, we can't make you do anything... you are free to ignore my advice as you please.

Cleanmymac, Sophos, and little snitch are useless.

However if you don't want to remove those, you can try resetting ACL and home folder permissions, and PRAM reset.

http://pondini.org/OSX/Password.html

About NVRAM and PRAM

CleanMyMac - Uninstall

CleanMyMac2 Un-install

Sophos Uninstaller

RIM also causes problems for some people.

RIM Uninstall

Activity Monitor - Mavericks

Activity Monitor in Mavericks has significant changes

Performance Guide

Why is my computer slow

Why your Mac runs slower than it should

Slow Mac After Mavericks

Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy

I would have to agree with everyone else's assessment of your Mac's system state.

It is waaaay toooo heavily modified and as a result much of what has been carried over from older OS X system upgrades has just built up.

Plus, perhaps, much of the software and modifications installed is not integrating well with OS X Mavericks.

Sophos Antivirus is one major cause of your slowdowns. Commercial antivirus software is not necessary with OS X and can, actually, negatively impact OS X performance.

CleanMyMac is total paid "garbageware" and depending how long this has been installed on your system and how many times you have used this, you could have irreparable data corruption/deletion to the point your system may run better once other things are taken card of, but will not run as well as it should as "cleaning" apps tend to clean out needed files as well as unneeded files.

There are a abnormal amount Kernel extensions that may or may not be needed as well as you may need to update the software these belong to.

Your system, also, has an abnormal amount of Launch Daemons that needs to either be removed and/or updated or the software these belong to needs to be updated or properly uninstalled if the software has no Mavericks updates.

You have too large a list of apps launching at startup/login that is eating up CPU AND RAM cycles/resources.

This needs to be paired down down to six or less items that you feel really need to launch when you first start your Mac.

Your startup must be really slow from all of these apps trying to launch and run in the background.

RIM Blackberry software is never going to be upoated for Mavericks and is unstable and problematic, too!

RIM is a company still clinging to life , but failing miserably and is not issuing any tyoe of software updates for newer operating systems.

EIther properly uninstall this software or continue to use at your own risk.

Google Drive has been consistently problematic on OS X Mavericks. First try just disabling Google Drive and see if your Mac's performance improves more with Drive disabled. If it does, then completely uninstall Google Drive per the uninstall instructions on Google's website.

Make sure all of your third party software is up to date as well as all of your Internet Web browser plugins and extensions.

MacFUSE is out of date and obsolete. It has been replaced with FUSE for OS X.

After toy have done all of this, restart your Mac.

You have a lot of work to get your system working better under Mavericks,

Good Luck!

With 16GB RAM you should have no page outs so I also recommend deletion of the programs noted by others.

Numerous problems exist:

1. CleanMyMac2
2. a modified Hosts file
3. Useless "anti-virus" garbage
4. outdated or incompatible software including but not limited to the following list:

1. BlackBerry drivers
2. MacFUSE

Your Mac has been corrupted by CleanMyMac. There may be additional problems contributing to the symptoms you describe. It may be possible to eradicate each of the aforementioned modifications but that would be time-consuming, may not be sufficient to undo the damage CleanMyMac is capable of inflicting on a Mac, and may not solve the problem you are experiencing. I recommend that system should be erased and reconfigured for those reasons alone, but if you require additional justification read the following.

If you know the reason for altering Hosts then you can troubleshoot it on the basis of that knowledge. If you do not know the reason, it often occurs as a result of installing pirated or "cracked" software to circumvent its ability to contact an external host to verify their software was legitimately obtained. If that's the case then anything is possible as a result of having installed illegally obtained software.

There is no way to reverse the effects of having used CleanMyMac2, and the developer's uninstallation instructions are ineffective. Given the extent to which that Mac has been modified, I suggest you erase it completely and restore it from a backup created prior to having installed them. If that backup no longer exists, erasing your Mac completely and rebuilding it from the ground up is likely to be the most expedient solution. When reinstalling your essential software, do not reinstall the junk.

You are welcome to research this site for individual removal instructions, but the work that will be required will be time-consuming and may not be completely successful if CleanMyMac was used to remove files or components of files that you consider essential.

The recovery procedure will require that you erase the Mac using OS X Recovery, and then create a new user whose contents will be empty. You will then be able to use Setup Assistant to migrate your essential documents including photos, music, work products and other essential files.

When doing so, select only your previous User account and do not select "Applications", "Computer and Network Settings" or "Other files and folders". De-select those choices. Subsequent to using Setup Assistant, you will need to reinstall the essential software you may require, once again remembering to install software only from their original sources, and omitting all non-essential software.

To erase and install Mavericks read: OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X

To migrate your essential documents read: OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks and follow the procedure under Time Machine or other disk migration.

May I suggest that you review the following setting in System Preferences?

Although you may easily override that setting, it will serve to protect you from inadvertently installing garbage.

@Thomas_r, thanks for posting those comments. It would seem a lot of the issues Apple users (a great percentage iMac from my personal, informal research) are experiencing with Mavericks are from the "junk" 3rd party software, not necessary for "day-to-day" ops.

Most folks are just not as thorough as "BBRequest" in posting their profile so, again, I'm going to assume, comparing successful results vs. unsat results, that folks experiencing issues are most likely running a lot of useless junk in the background (since others with "clean" systems are having no issues).