Q: Best way to wipe drive on 2011 MBP

The main reason I want to is the following. My 2007 MB's battery was dead, didn't replace it, but still powered up plugged in and was being used by my kids. They were careless enough to accidentally unplug it without a proper shut down many times until it had faulty system folder and would not start properly.

I restored it with the start up disk and installed to it's latest OS, 10.8 I think.

It ran surprisingly faster than it did before and THAT is why I thought I'd do it for my MBP. It runs kinda sluggish and I don't want to increase the RAM either.

It is not something I do before every major OS update, just timing.

Yes, I believe that would be best. Can you point me in the right direction?

Also running Mavericks with 4GB. I've read that that amount can make it slow down, but even before going to Mavericks I noticed it.

No intensive gaming/graphic productivity apps. Basically switching between Word, Safari, Preview, Firefox and sometimes Chrome. Will be doing more coding soon with Coda 2 as well.

EtreCheck version: 2.0.4 (89)

Report generated October 17, 2014 at 1:51:01 PM PDT

Hardware Information: ℹ️

  MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)

  MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

  1 2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

  4 GB RAM Upgradeable

  BANK 0/DIMM0

  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

  BANK 1/DIMM0

  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

  Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

  Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

  Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

  Color LCD 1440 x 900

  AMD Radeon HD 6490M - VRAM: 256 MB

System Software: ℹ️

  OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 3:47:18

Disk Information: ℹ️

  TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

  EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

  Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 499.25 GB (282.75 GB free)

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

  MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-8A8 disk1 : (8.1 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

  disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 31 KB

  disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted> : 827 MB

  Mac OS X Install DVD (disk1s3) /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD : 7.27 GB (84 MB free)

USB Information: ℹ️

  Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

  Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

  Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

  Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

  Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

  Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

  Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

  /Applications/PeerGuardian.app

  [not loaded] xxx.qnation.PeerGuardian (1.1.11 - SDK 10.2) Support

  /Library/Extensions

  [not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.9.1 - SDK 10.8) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions

  [not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.3.0 - SDK 10.6) Support

  [not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungComposite (1.4.16 - SDK 10.6) Support

  [not loaded] com.marvell.kext.USBGenericPrinterClass (1.0.0) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/ssuddrv.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMControl (1.4.16 - SDK 10.6) Support

  [not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMData (1.4.16 - SDK 10.6) Support

  [not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP (1.4.16 - SDK 10.5) Support

  [not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungSerial (1.4.16 - SDK 10.6) Support

Launch Agents: ℹ️

  [running] com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist Support

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

  [running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist Support

  [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

  [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

  [running] com.flipvideo.FlipShareServer.launchd.plist Support

  [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support

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

  [loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support

  [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist Support

  [loaded] xxx.qnation.PeerGuardian.locum.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

  [running] com.hp.printerAgent.plist Support

  [loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

  iTunesHelper ApplicationHidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

  Android File Transfer Agent Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

  Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

  KiesAgent ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Kies.app/Contents/MacOS/KiesAgent.app)

  fuspredownloader ApplicationHidden (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/.FUS/fuspredownloader.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

  Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16   - SDK 10.8 Support

  FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

  Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189

  QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

  o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.1 - SDK 10.6 Support

  googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

  DirectorShockwave: Version: 12.0.2r122 - SDK 10.6 Support

  JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

  Flash Player  Support

  Flip4Mac WMV  Support

  Logitech Control Center  Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

  Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

      4% WindowServer

      3% Safari

      1% hidd

      0% fontd

      0% AppleSpell

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

  168 MB Safari

  150 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

  125 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

  103 MB mds_stores

  77 MB Dropbox

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

  592 MB Free RAM

  1.62 GB Active RAM

  1.03 GB Inactive RAM

  1.05 GB Wired RAM

  1.40 GB Page-ins

  0 B Page-outs

I would like to know if the above information that EtreCheck provided indicates what might be slowing down my MBP.

I provided the info, forgot to reply to your post to essentially "ping" you.