I upgraded to Yosemite in the early autumn. My 2011 iMac has always had a tendency to crash (programs or whole computer) but that increased after installing Yosemite. I never upgraded to Mavericks though. I think I was using Snow Leopard before.
iMac, iOS 7.0.4
That's your choice, you have to live with any issues it causes though.
Will be out for an hour, Csound1. Kindly assist further, she is a creative user and not a Mac fundi.
michele, all that is cripling your mac has been said in this thread already: but a lot of apps or remnants are still there.
I will list them again:
Akamai,
WD software,
Tascam,
ALL Safari extensions,
Director Shockwave,
Fuze and Fuze extension,
HP tocgenerator,
And last but not least:
in Finder click the GO menu, in there click GoToFolder, fill in (copy/paste): /private/etc/
in that folder you find an file called sysctl.conf delete that file (be careful in this etc folder).
After all that, restart, empty the trash, run a new etrecheck list so that we can check if all is gone completely.
Lex
Thank you both for your help. I'm still not sure how to get rid of the WD software. I assume it installs automatically when you first plug in the drive because I didn't do it intentionally. I just wanted to put all my data on an EHD to keep my internal drive mostly empty so my computer will run faster. I use Photoshop and Lightroom, which demand a lot of the computer. And, like I said, my computer has been prone to crash practically since I bought it in May 2011 . . . though, as I also said, that tendency has increased since around the time I upgraded to Yosemite.
Which brings me back to my original question, which no one has answered yet . . . do you think this crashing and corruption of Lightroom catalogs is more likely caused by the memory cards I added to my machine soon after I bought it or because of Yosemite?
I'm just not sure how to get rid of all those things you listed.
Nope, I believe incompatible software is the root cause.
It may be the Ram, check the specs again carefully.
But I think it is more likely that a corrupted software may be the cause. You have downloaded software from an untrusted source or via a torrent, or got it from another "irregular" source: then it is certainly not to be trusted. I use Lightroom and used to use Photoshop: LTR 5 is so complete that I ditched the Photoshop. Unless your workflow is really large they can do completely well on your system.
When you may have the idea that maybe Photoshop is compromized, you could try an alternative like Gimp;
or use extensions in LTR.
Lex
Well, I said it very elegant to the op don't you think....
😁
Check what specs? How? (And I still don't know how to get rid of those programs you suggested I get rid of. I tried searching for their names as you listed them, and nothing comes up. And even if something had, how do I know I've got everything I'd need to delete?)
I wish I could remember what the program was that led me to change that privacy setting to "Anywhere." It was trustworthy. It was most likely something related to photography. I don't download many programs.
Is LTR your abbreviation for Lightroom? I'm wondering if there's another version of Photoshop I don't know about. I actually use Lightroom, the latest version, for 99% of my photography workflow. I keep Photoshop Elements (I don't have full Photoshop) for digital scrapbooking.
Big clue! As I said in my second post, I couldn't remember whether the first Lightroom catalog corruption occurred before or after I installed Yosemite. Well, I went back to the threads I wrote in lightroomforums.net to jog my memory. HERE is the first post I wrote, when the Lightroom issues got really bad around Halloween. There I wrote that I'd been experiencing trouble backing up Lightroom and failed catalog integrity tests for a few weeks AND that I'd just installed Yosemite the previous week. I remember now that in addition to being interested in a couple of new features of Yosemite, I was hoping upgrading would make the Lightroom problem go away.
So the Lightroom problem predates Yosemite. It seems clear that Yosemite is not to blame. But you think it's some programs on my computer instead of these memory cards causing Lightroom catalog corruptions?
OK Michelle,
Back with you. You are and were in superb hands while I was away.
Your hardware can be qualified, to see if all is ok and conforming.
The first test would be to run Apple's own test which you can easily achieve.
This is the information
Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support
I agree with Lex and company that software most probably is the culprit, but it is comparatively easy to scratch the hardware of the bare iMac from your list.
Thanks for returning Leopardus. You have been very supportive.
I ran the Apple Hardware test around Christmas as suggested by the people who were helping me with these problems then. (Remember this Lightroom catalog corruption stuff has been happening since October. Btw, rereading those threads at lightroomforums.net I was reminded that I've had THREE catalog corruptions, not just two. I forgot about the one in December.) The hardware test didn't reveal anything. I even took my computer to the Apple Store around that time as well, and the tech there said they couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Would it do any good to run it again?
Can you tell me how to get rid of the WD helper software as you and others have suggested?
I plan to get rid of that and get rid of the Tascam driver (I've talked to my husband; he and my daughter have another computer to use now). Also, I've ordered new RAM from Crucial. Even if it's not the RAM that's the problem, I'm doubling from 8 to 16 GB, so that will be good.
Any other suggestions?
WDDriveUtilityHelper Application (/Applications/WD Drive Utilities.app/Contents/Resources/WDDriveUtilityHelper.app)
As the address shows is located in your Applications folder, it is called WDDriveUtilityHelper. I am not sure if you can just delete it though, I would check with WD first.
The safest way is to copy the files from the external to the internal (for now), erase and reformat the external after removing the WD software, then put the files back. No need to ask WD about that procedure.
Hi Michele,
I would then accept the serviceability of your hardware as de facto and not, at this time, run it again. But it is good to remember that as lessons learnt, and store away in the memory bank for use later as and when required. I have just read the reply above from Csound, and he is correct in his analysis and execution plan to solve even more of the outstanding issues!
Just one tiny difference, the utility (program) might be called WD Utility, or WDDrive Utility. It might be grouped together with others in the Other folder under Applications.
Kindly inform us when you have and where you have found it. We will advise you about the best way to get rid of it.
But, meanwhile, Backup that data as suggested by Csound!
About OS X Memory Management and Usage
Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory & determine how much RAM is used
OS X Mavericks- About Activity Monitor
Understanding top output in the Terminal
The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.
Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently. It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster. What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent. It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.
Hi Michele,
After doing a bit of research, I found that WD have updated their software for the external disks. Confirm that you have done it?
This is the latest version WD Drive Manager v3.1.0 Software for your My Book for Mac and My Passport.
Likewise for both My Passport and My Book for Mac this should also have been done http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/firmware.asp?id=wdfMyPassport_Ma c_30&os=MAC Has it been done?
If it has been done on both, we will next focus on Tascam. I could not as yet locate any updates to the effect. Thus it will need to go
Can I go back to an older OS?
