Finder has recently slowed dramatically

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Level 1

10 points

Finder has recently slowed dramatically

Greetings all, I'm a somewhat new Mac user (since September of last year). In the last few days I have noticed a pretty big slowdown in my computer's performance. When I started looking for guidance I found out about EtreCheck, so I've installed that to capture the information attached below. I honestly don't see what could be the cause, but as I said I am new-ish to Macs.

My main use is for Photoshop, and the only plugin I have installed for PS is Perfect Studio 9 (just a few days ago, since the slowness).

The question I have is could it be that the HDD is too full? I've recently moved a lot of digital photos onto the drive because my external drive is NTFS formatted, so I can only read files from it, and I want to be able to edit some of these photos. I do intend to get a new external drive for the Mac... I just don't have one yet.

Thanks in advance for any insights/guidance.

RP

Problem description:

Finder is VERY slow responding while previewing RAW images. This is a new “development” in the last 7 to 10 days.

EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

Report generated February 25, 2015 at 20:57:55 GMT-5

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

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

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

Hardware Information: ℹ️

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) (Technical Specifications)

iMac - model: iMac14,2

1 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

24 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

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

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M - VRAM: 1024 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Time since boot: 8:57:52

Disk Information: ℹ️

APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 disk0 : (1 TB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (295.66 GB free)

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

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (2.1.0 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.0 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.avast.update-agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.avast.update.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] fi.polar.libpolar.plist [Click for support]

[running] fi.polar.polard.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.avast.home.userinit.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

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

Launch Nikon Message Center 2 Application (/Applications/Nikon Software/Nikon Message Center 2/Nikon Message Center 2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/Launch Nikon Message Center 2.app)

WebSync Application (/Applications/WebSync.app)

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

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.8 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

Avast Online Security

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

11% mds

7% firefox

4% WindowServer

1% fontd

0% com.avast.fileshield

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

309 MB firefox

180 MB WindowServer

155 MB com.avast.daemon

129 MB Finder

129 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

8.26 GB Free RAM

3.67 GB Active RAM

12.21 GB Inactive RAM

1.63 GB Wired RAM

26.40 GB Page-ins

11 MB Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Feb 25, 2015, 03:17:58 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Finder_2015-02-25-151758_[redacted].hang

Feb 25, 2015, 11:59:10 AM Self test - passed

Feb 23, 2015, 09:50:59 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-23-215059_[redacted].hang

Feb 23, 2015, 01:46:38 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Font Book_2015-02-23-134638_[redacted].crash

Feb 23, 2015, 01:44:42 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Font Book_2015-02-23-134442_[redacted].crash

Feb 23, 2015, 01:41:36 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Font Book_2015-02-23-134136_[redacted].crash

Feb 23, 2015, 01:34:14 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Font Book_2015-02-23-133414_[redacted].crash

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Feb 25, 2015 6:07 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

kahjot

Level 4

2,462 points

Feb 25, 2015 7:17 PM in response to rhp96

How long have you had Avast installed? It may be causing problems. Have you checked your hard drive with Disk Utility? You can run Disk Utility from the recovery partition.

Reply

Answer 2

BobHarris

Level 9

53,315 points

Feb 25, 2015 8:28 PM in response to rhp96

24 GB RAM Upgradeable

OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Time since boot: 8:57:52

26.40 GB Page-ins

11 MB Page-outs

You have 24GB of RAM (a nice amount), but for a system that has been up 9 hours, you have 26GB of page-ins. Luckily only 11MB of page-outs (trivial).

Understanding page-in stats is mostly "Voodoo", in that there are perfectly good reasons to have page-in, but generally page-in values are alot lower than 26GB in only 9 hours. For example, my Macbook Pro has been up for 19 days, and only has 9+GB of page-in activity.

One cause of page-in activity is utilities that purge RAM to get free pages, forcing read-only code of running programs out of RAM, such that when the program needs that code again, it has to page-in the code. Since the code is read-only, the operating system does not need to page-out the code, it just throws away the code, and will page-in from the executable program file when it needs it again. An aggressive utility that attempts to keep lots of free RAM will force a program to keep paging-in its code over and over again.

You might get the same behavior if Photoshop usage is processing some huge images such that the images being edited are consuming far more than your 24GB. This is always possible, since you went to the trouble to buy 24GB of RAM and image processing can be very RAM intensive. If you are trying to run other programs while Photoshop is processing the huge images, this might be what is forcing the operating system to throw read-only code out of RAM and then paging-it the code again, and again, etc...

Finally, I do not know how Photoshop read images into RAM nor how Photoshop manages it scratch files. It could be using memory mapped files, which would then be read into RAM by paging-in the file contents. HOWEVER, any modifications to a memory mapped file would result in page-out activity, and since you ONLY have 11MB, I find it hard to believe Photoshop is using memory mapped files, unless you "Look but Don't Touch" when using Photoshop.

Like I sais page-in activity analysis is "Voodoo" and not easy to quantify.

if you know you are running a utility to create free RAM, than that is most likely the cause. If you are running other programs while Photoshopping huge images, that might be the cause.

Now matter what the cause, 26GB of disk reading in 9 hours is an average of 50MB a minute non-stop. That is going to slow down any actions that involve accessing the disk.

Reply

Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

141,454 points

Feb 25, 2015 9:30 PM in response to rhp96

Uninstall Avast. Use the uninstaller included with its downloaded installation package, which will remove it completely.

If you no longer have it, download it again directly from Avast's website. Do not use any other method to eradicate it. Back up your system prior to making any changes.

The question I have is could it be that the HDD is too full?

No. If your boot volume should ever approach its maximum capacity, OS X will present an informative dialog. If that dialog should appear, do not ignore it.

Reply

Answer 4

rhp96 Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 26, 2015 4:19 AM in response to rhp96

Thanks for the replies so far.

So far I have followed the remove Avast advice and I'm going to see how the computer works during the day today as confirmation. 🙂

The thing I have been doing lately--and I wonder could this trigger all the paging of the VM?--is going through a lot of photos using finder, just getting a quick view of them and moving to the next one, looking for those to use in a composite project, and copying the one's I want to use to a second location. Could that be the source of my woes? Though I have rebooted more than once and the problem comes back pretty quickly.

BR,

RP

Reply

Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,454 points

Feb 26, 2015 6:41 AM in response to rhp96

Adobe products are notoriously inefficient, but there are better ways to correlate slow performance to specific activity than to infer anything in particular to the cumulative page-ins value. To do that use Console, select system.log, and leave it open while you observe your Mac's performance. Observe the log entries that appear when you perform the actions that cause the perceived slowness. Copy and paste them in a reply, if you think they're worth having someone interpret. Don't upload any information you consider personal.

Obviously Avast has to be removed since it conveys no benefit, can only cause or exacerbate poor performance, and even if it doesn't its presence will only complicate troubleshooting.

Reply

Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

684,069 points

Feb 26, 2015 8:59 AM in response to John Galt

Avast

Avast Un-install

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Answer 7

rhp96 Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 26, 2015 9:22 AM in response to rhp96

Well, after only a few hours of post-Avast-removal use of my Mac I have to agree with those of you who said "Avast, remove Avast." (or the like).

I also followed John Galt's advice and have had system.log running now for a few hours after the Avast removal. There are a number of small photoshop issues from anytime I opened an image to edit, but there have been no further issues with Finder.

I had been using Avast for about three months and only noticed slow-downs recently; and before I switched to a Mac last Fall, I had been using avast for years on a PC without problems so I thought I should try an AV solution with the Mac as well.

Thank you all for your replies. I appreciate your time and input.

BR

RP

Reply

Answer 8

BobHarris

Level 9

53,315 points

Feb 26, 2015 9:46 AM in response to rhp96

TheSafeMac.com

<http://www.thesafemac.com>

How does Mac OS X protect me?

<http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/>

Mac Malware Guide

<http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg/>

Reply

Answer 9

rhp96 Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 26, 2015 10:07 AM in response to BobHarris

I'll take a look at those resources, thanks!

RP

Reply

Answer 10

John Galt

Level 10

141,454 points

Feb 26, 2015 10:18 AM in response to rhp96

I had been using avast for years on a PC without problems so I thought I should try an AV solution with the Mac as well.

Draw no inferences between a Mac and a PC.

Avast may be perfectly appropriate for a PC; as are many other inconveniences, but it's one of the worst products you could install on a Mac. It always has been, but recent versions of Avast install what can only be described as adware.

Incredibly, it's only gone downhill from there, since at some point Avast also implemented a change to their software that intercepts security certificates and replaces them with their own, which are allegedly more easily decrypted than the ones they replaced.

This is a far worse outcome than any potential "viruses" that could affect a Mac, of which there are exactly none. It's also an excellent illustration of what I've been saying for years: Mac "anti-virus" software increases your exposure to unauthorized intrusion over that of an unmodified OS X installation. Never install such junk on a Mac.

By far Avast's best feature is its uninstaller. It will remove Avast completely, leaving no trace of its previous existence. Don't use any other technique to get rid of it.

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