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iMac is SLOW.

Problem description:

iMac slow to start-up, even with dropbox and google drive disconnected. Opening programs often takes 20-30 seconds to open. I brought the computer to a "Mac specia


EtreCheck version: 2.1.5 (108)

Report generated January 14, 2015 at 10:29:18 AM EST


Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Adware] links for help removing adware.


Hardware Information: ℹ️

iMac (24-inch, Early 2008) (Verified)

iMac - model: iMac8,1

1 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n


Video Information: ℹ️

ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro - VRAM: 256 MB

iMac 1920 x 1200


System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 0:15:51


Disk Information: ℹ️

Hitachi HDP725032GLA380 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 319.21 GB (22.01 GB free)

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


USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver


Configuration files: ℹ️

/etc/hosts - Count: 15


Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers


Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Applications/ScreenFlow.app

[not loaded] com.vara.driver.VaraAudio (1.0.2) [Support]


/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] org.fuse4x.kext.fuse4x (0.9.2 - SDK 10.5) [Support]


/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.flipvideo.IOUSBCameraMassStorage (1.0.1) [Support]

[not loaded] com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.39) [Support]

[not loaded] com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverVSP (0.0.39) [Support]


Startup Items: ℹ️

Qmaster: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Qmaster

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite


Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] org.fuse4x.autoupdater.plist [Support]


Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]

[invalid?] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Support]

[running] com.connecteddata.CDHelperApp.plist [Support]

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

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

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist [Support]

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

[running] com.rim.BBDaemon.plist [Support]


User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist [Support]

[running] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist [Support]


User Login Items: ℹ️

None


Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.7.17873 [Support]

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.1.2 [Support]

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6 [Support]

Silverlight: Version: 3.0.50106.0 [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.235 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 1.4 [Support]

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.235 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 16.0.0.257

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.7.17873 [Support]

npgtpo3dautoplugin: Version: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5 [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 8.3.1 [Support]

eMusicRemote: Version: Unknown [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.7 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

eMusic: Version: Unknown


User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Move-Media-Player: Version: npmnqmp 071505000006 [Support]

fbplugin_1_0_3: Version: Unknown [Support]

Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Support]


Safari Extensions: ℹ️

1Password [Installed]

iTube Studio [Installed]


Audio Plug-ins: ℹ️

DVCPROHDAudio: Version: 1.2


3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

3ivx MPEG-4 [Support]

Akamai NetSession Preferences [Support]

Flash Player [Support]

Flip4Mac WMV [Support]

Growl [Support]

MacFUSE [Support]

Perian [Support]

Tuxera NTFS [Support]


Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Destinations:

Glinda BU [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 53

Oldest backup: 2013-09-16 18:09:14 +0000

Last backup: 2015-01-13 21:05:29 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk size 0 B X 3)


Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

2% WindowServer

0% fontd

0% AppleSpell

0% aosnotifyd


Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

262 MB mds_stores

155 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

120 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

73 MB Safari

56 MB CalendarAgent


Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

1.87 GB Free RAM

1.43 GB Active RAM

481 MB Inactive RAM

516 MB Wired RAM

407 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs


Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Jan 14, 2015, 10:14:03 AM Self test - passed

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jan 14, 2015 8:04 AM

Reply
8 replies

Jan 15, 2015 10:46 AM in response to rswc90

DO NOT USE ANY SO CALLED APPS CLAIMING TO "CLEAN", "OPTIMIZE" OR "SPEED UP" YOUR MAC!!!! EVER!!!!


Apps like MacKeeper or any other maintenance apps like CleanMyMac 1 or 2, TuneUpMyMac, SpeedUpMyMac, MacCleanse or anything like these apps, installed on your Mac, while they appear to be helpful, can do too good a job of data "cleanup" causing the potential to do serious data corruption or data deletion and render a perfectly running OS completely dead and useless leaving you with a frozen, non-functional Mac.

Plus, these type of apps aren't really necessary OR needed. They really aren't.

There are manual methods to clear off unnecessary data off of your Mac that are safer and you have complete control over your Mac and not just leave a piece of auto cleaning software in charge of clearing off data off of your Mac. Their potential of causing OS X issues outweighs the implied good and benefits these types of hard drive or memory "cleaning" apps are written to do.

These types of system 'cleaning" apps are very poorly written and are really a scam to rob newbie and novice Mac users of their hard earned cash for a poorly written maintenance program that will do much more harm to a perfectly normal running OS X system than the good that the app developers purport these types of apps will do.

Plus, the software companies that write these apps make it hard to easily uninstall these apps if something DOES go wrong and these apps work in a way where you have no recovery or revert function to return your Mac back to its former, working state in the event something does go wrong.

It is best to never, EVER download and install these types of apps.

The risk to your system and important data is too great a risk!



Your hard drive free space is getting to the point where you should start considering doing some manual housecleaning to try and regain some additional space on your hard drive.


Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible


You should never, EVER let a computer hard drive get completely full, EVER!


With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.

If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.


Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.


Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?

If you use iPhoto or Aperture, both have its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.

If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.

If you are an iMovie/ Final Cut user, both apps have their own individual Trash location that needs to be emptied, too!

If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!

Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.

Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.

STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!

Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.

Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.

Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.

To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.


http://www.omnigroup.com/more


Also, Find Any File


http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/


Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.


http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadonyx.php


When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.

Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.

move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.

If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.


Moving iTunes library


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449


Moving iPhoto library


http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506


Moving iMovie projects folder


http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2289

Good Luck!

Jan 17, 2015 10:29 AM in response to rswc90

Upgrading to Yosemite will NOT solve your issues, it will just make them worse.

Upgrading an OS doesn't magically make all of your computer issues go away.

You'll still have all of these issues you have now and your Mac will run even slower than it does now.

Plus, you still have no real hard drive space left.

If you are reluctant to make all of these fixes and changes, your only option is to make a backup of all your important saved data, and erase your hard drive and use internet recovery mode and do a complete, clean install of your OS X first, reinstall all of your applications from scratch and then restore all of your data from the backup that you need to create.


OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

Jan 17, 2015 10:51 AM in response to MichelPM

Sorry - I wasn't clear. I have made changes. things seem to be better and faster. I created lots more space on the hard drive (70 GB!) and despite thatI had removed some of the software like cleanmymac, there were tidbits remaining. getting rid of this helped, too. after I cleaned things up, i decided to update to Yosemite because the update kept popping up. A couple of my programs seemed to be begging for the upgrade. So I got the drive into good shape before I started the upgrade. I didn't mean to panic you ;-)


Thanks again!

Jan 17, 2015 12:01 PM in response to rswc90

Okay!

Good!

You still need take some precautions with your next step. Upgrading to Yosemite.


Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you backup your current system to an external connected and Mac formatted Flash drive OR externally connected USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire 800, Mac formatted hard drive. Then, use either OS X Time Machine app to backup your entire system to the external drive OR purchase, install and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make an exact and bootable copy (clone) of your entire Mac's internal hard drive. This step is really needed in case something goes wrong with the install of the new OS or you simply do not like the new OS, you have a very easy way/procedure to return your Mac to its former working state.

iMac is SLOW.

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