Very slow 2012 iMac - I'd love some help

Question

We have an iMac that we immediately upgraded at purchase to 12GB of RAM a couple of years ago. With every major OS X release I have wiped and started from scratch hoping to speed this thing up, and it usually helped for a short amount of time (slow opening apps of all kinds - sometimes taking a couple of minutes to open something like pages or notes or iTunes). Is there anyone who would be able to take a look and give an opinion on how to speed this thing up?Thanks.ScottProblem description:Soloed applications as if RAM is severely taxed. 12GB RAM on 2.7GHz i5 should run faster than this….EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)Report generated 4/27/15, 11:37 PMDownload EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheckClick 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 (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) (Technical Specifications)    iMac - model: iMac12,1    1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core    12 GB RAM Upgradeable        BANK 0/DIMM0            2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok        BANK 1/DIMM0            2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok        BANK 0/DIMM1            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok        BANK 1/DIMM1            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/nVideo Information: ℹ️    AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 512 MB        iMac 1920 x 1080System Software: ℹ️    OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 2:2:2Disk Information: ℹ️    WDC WD1001FALS-403AA0 disk0 : (1 TB)        EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt; : 210 MB        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (233.19 GB free)        Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [Recovery]: 650 MB    HL-DT-STDVDRW  GA32N USB Information: ℹ️    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)    Western Digital My Book 1230 2 TB        EFI (disk2s1) &lt;not mounted&gt; : 210 MB        Konnichiwa (disk2s2) /Volumes/Konnichiwa : 2.00 TB (1.10 TB free)    Apple Inc. Keyboard Hub        Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard    Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller    HP Deskjet 1050 J410 series    Western Digital Ext HDD 1021 2 TB        Media (disk1s1) /Volumes/Media : 500.53 GB (20.88 GB free)        Old Reliable (disk1s2) /Volumes/Old Reliable : 1.50 TB (179.73 GB free)    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver    Apple Internal Memory Card ReaderThunderbolt Information: ℹ️    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_busGatekeeper: ℹ️    Mac App Store and identified developersLaunch Agents: ℹ️    [failed]    com.fujitsu.pfu.ScanSnap.AOUMonitor.plist [Click for support] [Click for details]Launch Daemons: ℹ️    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]    [running]    com.backblaze.bzserv.plist [Click for support]User Launch Agents: ℹ️    [running]    com.backblaze.bzbmenu.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)    Fantastical    Application  (/Applications/Fantastical.app)    ScanSnap Manager    Application  (/Applications/ScanSnap/ScanSnap Manager.app)    Dropbox    Application  (/Applications/Dropbox.app)Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]    Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10Safari Extensions: ℹ️    1Password    Evernote Web Clipper3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️    Backblaze Backup  [Click for support]    Flash Player  [Click for support]Time Machine: ℹ️    Auto backup: YES    Volumes being backed up:        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 766.16 GB    Destinations:        Old Reliable [Local]        Total size: 1.50 TB        Total number of backups: 4        Oldest backup: 2015-04-18 06:29:39 +0000        Last backup: 2015-04-27 06:43:40 +0000        Size of backup disk: Too small            Backup size 1.50 TB &lt; (Disk used 766.16 GB X 3)Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️         5%    WindowServer         3%    Finder         2%    fontd         0%    mdworker(14)         0%    launchservicesdTop Processes by Memory: ℹ️    1008 MB    Google Chrome Helper(10)    910 MB    kernel_task    344 MB    mds_stores    332 MB    mdworker(14)    221 MB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️    2.08 GB    Free RAM    10.00 GB    Used RAM    0 B    Swap UsedDiagnostics Information: ℹ️    Apr 27, 2015, 10:19:05 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Mail_2015-04-27-221905_[redacted].hang    Apr 27, 2015, 09:33:27 PM    Self test - passed

Linc Davis · Answer

When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.   These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn&#x27;t, select          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messagesfrom the log list on the left. If you don&#x27;t see that list, select          View ▹ Show Log Listfrom the menu bar at the top of the screen.Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.Please don&#x27;t indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.Please don&#x27;t post screenshots of log messages—post the text.Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That&#x27;s a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.