Scan result - I'd value advice from an expert!

First uninstall Sophos and Bitdefender, you don't need either and either or probably both are contributing to the slow down. Thunderbird is eating up a lot of CPU cycles, go into Activity Monitor and kill that process to see if things pick up.

In addition to Mikes advice, if the machine is still somewhat slow after removing those 2 apps then install a 4GB DIMM to increase the RAM to 6GB, the maximum a 2008 iMac can accommodate. You can get the DIMM from either OWC (www.macsales.com) or Crucial.

Please describe the problem, if you have one, in as much relevant detail as possible. The "etrecheck" fad hasn't made that step any less necessary. The usual results of posting etrecheck output on this site without a full description of the problem are very poor. The better your description, the better the chance of a solution.

For example, if the computer is slow, which specific actions are slow? Is it slow all the time, or only sometimes? What changes did you make, if any, just before it became slow? Have you seen any alerts or error messages? Have you done anything to try to fix it? Most importantly, do you have a current backup of all data? If the answer to the last question is "no," back up now. Ask if you need guidance. Do nothing else until you have a backup.

HunterBD wrote:

Hello

Please can you provide some reference saying that I can install 6GB of RAM on this machine?

I'm almost certain that Crucial advised me that 4GB was the maximum when I upgraded from the original 2GB (when new)

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/Intel_Core_2_Duo_PC2-6400

HunterBD wrote:

Hello

Please can you provide some reference saying that I can install 6GB of RAM on this machine?

I'm almost certain that Crucial advised me that 4GB was the maximum when I upgraded from the original 2GB (when new)

I installed 6GB in my 2007 machine and it is still working fine today with it.

HunterBD wrote:

Interesting!

So, do you have 4GB of RAM in one 'slot' and another 2GB of RAM in the other slot?

Why can't one put 4GB in EACH slot - then it would be faster still! (or would it?!!) 😉

Yes 2GB in 1 slot and a 4GB DIMM in the other.

Easy, because it won't work!!

I was curious as to why I had indications of 'failure' in the scan report.

I haven't tested that program and I don't recommend it. In reports on this site, the "failed" warnings appear often. No one, including the developer, seems to know what they mean. I've seen no evidence that they mean anything at all. To do anything at all merely because of those warnings, in the absence of a functional problem, would be a waste of time. As I wrote, the results of posting "etrecheck" output can be very poor.

I am going to have to side with Linc on most points here. You seem to be running about three different antivirus programs. All bets are off until those are removed. The problems caused by Mac antivirus are many, many times greater than anything caused by any actual Mac malware.

Beyond the antivirus, you definitely have a problem with Thunderbird. More RAM would always help, but there is no point spending money when you have known problems installed.

With Yosemite installations, or at least those where people report problems, it is common to see large numbers of failed Apple processes. I don't know what causes that. In every instance I ask people to try rebooting first. If that doesn't work, try to re-run the Yosemite installer. In this case, remove your antivirus first, of course. I have yet to see anyone ever respond to say if either rebooting or re-running the installer was successful. Such a response would be appreciated. 🙂

These failures may, in fact, be normal in Yosemite. I still don't have enough information to know for sure.

How to maintain a Mac

1. Make two or more backups of all your files, keeping at least one off site at all times in case of disaster. One backup is not enough to be safe. Don’t back up your backups; all should be made directly from the original data. Don’t rely completely on any single backup method, such as Time Machine. If you get an indication that a backup has failed, don't ignore it.

2. Keep your software up to date. In the App Store or Software Update preference pane (depending on the OS version), you can configure automatic notifications of updates to OS X and other Mac App Store products. Some third-party applications from other sources have a similar feature, if you don’t mind letting them phone home. Otherwise you have to check yourself on a regular basis.

Keeping up to date is especially important for complex software that modifies the operating system, such as device drivers. Don't install such modifications unless they're absolutely necessary. Remove them when they are no longer needed. Before installing any Apple update, you must check that all system modifications that you use are compatible. Incompatibility with third-party software is by far the most common cause of difficulties with system updates.

3. Don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” "boosters," “extenders,” “cleaners,” "doctors," "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, such stuff is useless or worse than useless. Above all, avoid any software that purports to change the look and feel of the user interface.

It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the whole "utility" software industry for the Mac is a fraud on consumers. The most extreme examples are the "CleanMyMac," "TuneUpMyMac," and “MacKeeper” scams, but there are many others.

As a rule, you should avoid software that changes the way other software works. Plugins for Photoshop and similar programs are an obvious exception to this rule. Safari extensions, and perhaps the equivalent for other web browsers, are a partial exception. Most are safe, and they're easy to get rid of if they don't work. Some may cause the browser to crash or otherwise malfunction. Some are malicious. Use with caution, and install only well-known extensions from relatively trustworthy sources, such as the Safari Extensions Gallery.

Only install software that is useful to you, not (as you imagine) to the computer. For example, a word processor is useful for writing. A video editor is useful for making movies. A game is useful for fun. But a "cache cleaner" isn't useful for anything. Cleaning caches is not an end in itself.

Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it. Otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve. Do not rely on "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

4. Don't install bad, conflicting, or unnecessary fonts. Whenever you install new fonts, use the validation feature of the built-in Font Book application to make sure the fonts aren't defective and don't conflict with each other or with others that you already have. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions. Deactivate or remove fonts that you don't really need to speed up application launching.

5. Avoid malware. Malware is malicious software that circulates on the Internet. This kind of attack on OS X was once so rare that it was hardly a concern, but malware is now increasingly common, and increasingly dangerous.

There is some built-in protection against malware, but you can’t rely on it—the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness—not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.

Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must come directly from the developer's website. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from the web, without your having requested it, should go straight into the Trash. A web page that tells you that your computer has a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with it, is a scam.

In OS X 10.7.5 or later, downloaded applications and Installer packages that have not been digitally signed by a developer registered with Apple are blocked from loading by default. The block can be overridden, but think carefully before you do so.

Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most people don't.

6. Don't fill up your disk/SSD. A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a startup failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Macs that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem.

While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage use and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.

If storage space is running low, use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeperto explore the volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move seldom-used large files to secondary storage.

7. Relax, don’t do it. Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” "defragmenting the drive," “running periodic scripts,” “dumping logs,” "deleting temp files," “scanning for viruses,” "purging memory," "checking for bad blocks," "testing the hardware," or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are either completely pointless or are useful only for solving problems, not for prevention.

To use a Mac effectively, you have to free yourself from the Windows mindset that every computer needs regular downtime maintenance such as "defragging" and "registry cleaning." Those concepts do not apply to the Mac platform.

A well-designed computing device is not something you should have to think about much. It should be an almost transparent medium through which you communicate, work, and play. If you want a machine that needs a lot of attention, use a PC.

The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.