Why is the new Photos app so slow on my Mac?

Hello there,

Can you please look at this EntreCheck report and see why my computer runs so slowly when Photos is open? I ran the diagnostic when Photos was also running so they were both bogged down. It might be interesting to see what happens when I run EntreCheck without Photos slowing it down.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2018-01-26 17:36:07

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 12:29

Performance: Poor

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Problem: Other problem

Description:

My iMac is very slow when Photos is running

Hardware Information:ⓘ

iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac12,2

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2500S) CPU: 4-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

Empty

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

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

Video Information:ⓘ

AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

Disk Information:ⓘ

ST31000528AS disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted>
[EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) /
[Startup]: 999.35 GB (666.94 GB free)

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

HL-DT-STDVDRW
GA32N
()

USB Information:ⓘ

USB20Bus

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

hub_device

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB20Bus

hub_device

Brother DCP-L2520DW

LG Electronics Inc. LGE Android Phone

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra
10.13.1 (17B1003) - Time since boot: about 15 days

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungComposite (1.2.63 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions/ssuddrv.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMControl (1.2.63 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMData (1.2.63 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP (1.2.63 - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.devguru.driver.SamsungSerial (1.2.63 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 168 Apple tasks

[running] 81 Apple tasks

[killed] 30 Apple tasks

30 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 35 Apple tasks

[loaded] 175 Apple tasks

[running] 87 Apple tasks

[killed] 33 Apple tasks

33 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

[running] com.brother.LOGINserver.plist (? a1772de2 41ad4933 - installed 2017-05-02) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.divx.dms.agent.plist (? bf9bdaf7 bc61887a - installed 2016-04-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.divx.update.agent.plist (DivX, LLC - installed 2016-04-15) [Lookup]

[running] com.kodak.BonjourAgent.plist (? 53346a69 943c569 - installed 2016-07-22) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 0 - installed 2012-05-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 765928be - installed 2016-08-29) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-11-10)

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2016-11-02) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (? 560d19c8 7b48b8a6 - installed 2017-11-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.kodak.KODAK AiO Annual Opt.plist (? 6a5dad3d 7eab7bc3 - installed 2016-07-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.kodak.KODAK AiO Firmware Updater.plist (? ea00aeda ae0b2f6a - installed 2018-01-19) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.kodak.KODAK AiO Software Updater.plist (? 68ee8fcd 38b6b657 - installed 2018-01-19) [Lookup]

User Login Items:ⓘ

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist MachInit - Hidden

(/etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist)

Mach Init items are deprecated

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 (installed 2016-09-18) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-10-25)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.23 (installed 2017-11-16) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.23 (installed 2017-11-16) [Lookup]

DivX Web Player: 3.5.5.3 (installed 2016-03-29) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 (installed 2016-09-18) Outdated! Update

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.2.0.16
(installed 2013-11-23) [Lookup]

OVSHelper: 1.1 (installed 2016-04-15) [Lookup]

Silverlight: 5.1.10411.0 (installed 2013-01-23) [Lookup]

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2012-02-08) Check version

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2016-08-29) [Lookup]

Flip4Mac WMV (installed 2013-03-29) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 332.41 GB

Destinations:

[redacted]'s backup [Local]

Total size: 749.81 GB

Total number of backups: 50

Oldest backup: 2012-01-24, 11:45 AM

Last backup: 2017-11-12, 9:23 PM

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 749.81 GB < (Disk used 332.41 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

28%
Photos

3%
WindowServer

3%
kernel_task

1%
iTunes

1%
coreaudiod

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

1008 MB
Photos

522 MB kernel_task

120 MB Google Chrome Helper

93 MB Google Chrome

65 MB Google Chrome Helper

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

18 MB 9 MB mDNSResponder

69 KB 33 KB netbiosd

27 KB 59 KB apsd

0 B 10 KB SystemUIServer

1 KB 503 B Unknown

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

95.10 Photos

11.12 WindowServer

8.16 photoanalysisd

4.38 photolibraryd

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

822 MB Available RAM

30 MB Free RAM

3.20 GB
Used RAM

792 MB Cached files

311 MB Swap Used

It seems this is the post to comment on if you're having the same problem with Photos being extremely slow. Photos on my MBP has become unusable. It took almost three minutes for the image to update after I moved the exposure slider to the top end of the range. I am including the etrecheck report below. Any advice would be most appreciated.

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2018-02-08 21:43:14

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 4:57

Performance: Good

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Problem: Computer is too slow

Description:

Photos is extremely slow.

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,3

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-4850HQ) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 3

iCloud Quota: 1.72 TB available

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel Iris Pro - VRAM: 1536 MB

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - VRAM: 2 GB

PA271W 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0512F disk0: (500.28 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 500.07 GB

USB Information: ⓘ

USB30Bus

Burr-Brown from TI USB audio CODEC

USB2.0 Hub

USB2.0 Hub

hub_device

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

NEC PA271W

USB30Bus

Samsung Portable SSD T5

Portable SSD T5 disk2: (1 TB)

EFI (disk2s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk2s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 1000.00 GB

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Promise Technology, Inc. Pegasus R-Series

LaCie d2 TBT2 USB3

Belkin International, Inc. Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD

ST4000DX000-1CL160 disk4: (4 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk4s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Time Machine (disk4s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Time Machine : 4.00 TB (553.75 GB free)

Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 500.07 GB (194.31 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB (194.31 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB

Samsung T5 (disk3s1 - APFS) /Volumes/Samsung T5 : 1000.00 GB (587.96 GB free)

Physical disk: disk2s2 1000.00 GB (587.96 GB free)

Promise Pegasus (disk5s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Promise Pegasus : 15.00 TB (12.49 TB free)

Physical disk: Pegasus R6 15.00 TB (12.49 TB free)

System Software: ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47) - Time since boot: about one day

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.promise.driver.stex (6.2.9 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.promise.r2p.icon (1.0.7 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.MCCI.SEKONIC_Lightmeter (V1.02.2) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.palm.ClassicNotSeizeDriver (3.2.1) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (Wacom Tablet 6.3.3-3) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 160 Apple tasks

[running] 122 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 34 Apple tasks

[loaded] 182 Apple tasks

[running] 116 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-07-19) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-27) [Lookup]

[running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist (EPSON - installed 2016-06-15) [Lookup]

[failed] com.epson.ecrp.launcher.plist (EPSON - installed 2016-06-08) [Lookup]

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist (Seiko Epson Corporation - installed 2017-04-24) [Lookup]

[running] com.epson.scannermonitor.plist (Seiko Epson Corporation - installed 2017-04-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist (? 9e9edb5e 32875253 - installed 2012-08-06) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.xrite.colormunkid.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2014-10-24) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.xrite.colormunkitray.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2016-11-30) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.xrite.device.message.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2014-10-24) [Lookup]

[running] jp.co.canon.SELPHYCP.BG.plist (? 6c0813be a7990858 - installed 2014-03-18) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.apple.aelwriter.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2012-09-26)

[running] com.backblaze.bzserv.plist (Backblaze - installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-10-14) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2017-05-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e afb3bef0 - installed 2010-08-25) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2016-02-12) [Lookup]

[running] com.promise.BGPMain_R.plist (? ceaa4c1d 12fcf499 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.promise.bgasched.plist (? 7ceca670 6bf61e31 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

[running] com.promise.diskmonitor.plist (? e597ca5a bef792e2 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.promise.emaild.plist (? cd3a9059 b102d131 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2016-09-06) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-28) [Lookup]

[running] com.backblaze.bzbmenu.plist (Backblaze - installed 2018-02-07) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-10) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

PromiseUtilityDaemon Application

(/Applications/Promise Utility.app/Contents/Resources/PromiseUtilityDaemon.app)

Amazon Drive Application

(/Applications/Amazon Drive.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-23)

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

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

WacomNetscape: 1.1.1-1 (installed 2012-08-06) [Lookup]

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2015-12-15) [Lookup]

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.2.7 (installed 2010-10-20) [Lookup]

WacomTabletPlugin: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 (installed 2012-08-06) [Lookup]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

Silverlight: 5.1.41105.0 (installed 2015-12-12) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-02-01)

Flash Player: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2015-12-11) [Lookup]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.1 (installed 2016-03-04) [Lookup]

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (installed 2013-04-27)

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2012-07-26) Check version

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Backblaze Backup (installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

Flash Player (installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: YES - System files not being backed up

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 500.07 GB Disk used: 305.76 GB

Samsung T5: Disk size: 1000.00 GB Disk used: 412.04 GB

Promise Pegasus: Disk size: 15.00 TB Disk used: 2.51 TB

Destinations:

LaCie 4TB [Local]

Total size: 4.00 TB

Total number of backups: 35

Oldest backup: 1/22/18, 11:52 AM

Last backup: 2/8/18, 9:12 PM

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 4.00 TB < (Disk used 3.22 TB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

174% Photos

12% kernel_task

1% promiseutil

1% promiseutil

1% Adobe CEF Helper

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

2.14 GB Photos

1.58 GB kernel_task

488 MB mds_stores

385 MB photolibraryd

353 MB WindowServer

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

29 MB 172 KB mDNSResponder

1 MB 291 KB apsd

815 KB 76 KB Mail

426 KB 46 KB netbiosd

0 B 64 B SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

136.60 Photos

0.76 Adobe CEF Helper

0.56 Adobe CEF Helper

0.36 Creative Cloud

0.18 WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

3.65 GB Available RAM

16 MB Free RAM

12.35 GB Used RAM

3.63 GB Cached files

132 MB Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ

Promise Pegasus2 R2 ICON Driver: (installed 2018-01-12)

R2ICON: (installed 2018-01-12)

Promise Pegasus Software: (installed 2018-01-12)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-01-15)

RAW Power: 1.4 (installed 2018-01-22)

Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2018-01-23)

DiskMark: 1.15 (installed 2018-01-23)

RAW Power: 1.4.1 (installed 2018-01-31)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-02-06)

Google Earth: (installed 2018-02-07)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ

2018-02-07 22:11:08 findmydeviced Crash [Open]

Files deleted by EtreCheck: ⓘ

2018-02-07 12:48:41 - /Library/LaunchAgents/com.epson.esua.launcher.plist - Unknown

2018-02-07 12:48:41 - /Library/LaunchAgents/com.xrite.device.softwareupdate.plist - Unknown

2018-02-07 12:48:41 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nalpeiron.netpro.plist - Unknown

2018-02-07 12:48:41 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.xrite.device.xrdd.plist - Unknown

Hi Old Toad

Downloaded and used FAF as above to remove CleanMyMac. After uninstalling CMM found 13 files containing 'cleanmymac'. Of these, 11 have been deleted easily. The remaining 2 are 'playlist' docs in 'BootCaches' folders and I can not get rid of them by dragging then from FAF results window to desktop and then trashing them. What do I need to do?

Oh yeah. That's exactly what I meant, to uninstall them. I've looked into how to do it and checked all the files that may have been left. So far I uninstalled Mackeeper and all its components, which seemed to be the culprit. No traces of Mackeeper now, I restarted and it seems to have done the trick. Photos seems to be working just fine like it was before.

I'll keep observing and report if the problem reappears.

Thank you so much for the advice guys!

1 - you have the bare minimum RAM and can not upgrade so at best you will be very tight and not as fast as if you have a bigger machine

2 - you have lots of adware installed - all of this slows things down especially combined with minimum RM - get rid of all the adware

3 - and most importantly you are very low on disk - you need a minimum of 10GB of free disk just for normal operations - free up adequate disk and get rid of all the Adware and you will have better operation

LN

In addition to what Larry recommended getting rid of remove bittorrent. That's probably what got the adware installed. Only download software from the App Store or the developer's site.

Since you have the minimum memory don't put anything in the System/Users & Groups/Launch Items for automatic launching when booting. Only launch the software when needed and close when finished.

Rerun Etrecheck and clink on the Remove links associated with the adware to remove them.

Also you shouldn't need the WD software to manage external WD hard drives. it only messes up the system's built in handling and can compromise performance. Remove the WD software if the WD ext4ernal HD is being used as a normal external HD.

System Software: ⓘ

OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F2511) - Time since boot: about 21 days

You should reboot once a day to clear out old caches and temp files which will speed up the iMac. The following is from this article from the Mac Observer: The Benefits of a 32GB Mac For Average Users

If I were to reboot my Mac every morning I have no doubt I could live with 16GB or even 8GB without experiencing most of the aforementioned symptoms

Hey! It's me again. I did un-installed CleanMyMac and MacKeeper as you guys suggested but the issue with photos persisted. Yesterday I upgraded to the new OS High Sierra with the hope that the new version of Photos the issue would be solved. Sadly it wasn't the case. After opening Photos and try the new features, the whole system started lagging, rainbows spinning balls all the time and taking way too long to even open a single pic. Had to force quit and even then the computer remained slow. Had to restart a couple of times.

Note: it only happens when I open Photos. All other programs seem to be running as they should

Do you have any other suggestion? Any help will be appreciated

Thank you!

Avast? I can't even find it in my Mac. These suckers are well hidden😟 I don't have the avast app. Maybe I downloaded it once and deleted it incorrectly or something.

Should I download it again in order to uninstall it through their application? Is that even a good idea?

First try the following: to check to see if you've removed all of the files by downloading and running Find Any File to search for any files with the application's name and the developer's name in the file name. For example for Avast you'd do the following search:

1 - Name contains avast

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.

That's the problem with many jumping into a topic it's hard to sort the different user's comments. Avast was installed by the original posted to this topic. Sorry about that.

How's the Mac running since you got rid of the malware?

Oh! No worries!

Well, the iMac runs well as long as I don't open Photos. Even after uninstalling the malware. When I do open it, the app becomes unbearably slow, to the point that I can't open a single picture or delete one or practically do anything with my photos. I have to force quit but then the whole system has gotten sluggish as well.

Any ideas? I don't know what to do

As a test launch Photos with the Option key held down and try to create a new, test library. Can you?

If not then it appears that Photos is damaged. You'll need to boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down) and reinstall the system.

Okay. I did the test you suggested and apparently everything's working now.

1. I was able to create a new Photos Library holding the option key like you said

2. Such library was empty (of course!)

2. I quit and repeated the steps only this time selecting my previous Library and after waiting a few minutes (not sure how many because I had to leave for a moment) when I returned everything was working as it should

Thank you so much Allan and Old Toad for taking the time and answering my questions!

Let's hope it keeps working!

Thanks again guys!

Edit to add: okay, here's what I noticed -->> After opening Photos I had to let it run for approximately 20 minutes! before everything starts working normally. Still it's a los of time of waiting. Could it be lack of RAM?

The library is processing a number of things in the background at the beginning.

Where is your library located? If it's on an external HD that drive must be formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and connected directly to the Mac, i.e. no wireless connection. It would also be advantageous to have ownership ignored on that drive.