El Capitan running slowly?

There is no need for you to erase your Mac. Fix what's wrong with it.

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Okay i have similar issues but here's what i have happening.

The Read/Writes go to zero for like 1-3 minutes and then they start up again.

I have a macbook that has fought me the whole way but finally got it running right with the Pram

But the Imac, which i flattened installed Yosemite then upgraded to el Capitan, is the one with the issue.

you may be right that the mail is the issue but i'm not sre why that's tied to the read write stopage.

Any input would be awesome.

I hope you've reset the PRAM. That fixed everything for me on my iMac. On my MacBook Pro Retina, I just started the installation download and let it update itself overnight. Ran beautifully the next morning. Don't get impatient with the very slow progress bar, just let it be and go do something else. Hope this helps. Robert G Spinks Spinks Business Graphics 265 Grand Blvd Bedford OH 44146 216 650 0640 www.spinksbusinessgraphics.com

Okay never had an issues with my iMac so Im not up on fixing things on it, so my silly question is- What is the PRAM?

Have been dealing with the spinning beach ball & slow running Mac mini (intel, 16gb memory) since I installed El Capitan last Friday (10/9). I also upgraded my Mac Air at the same time, but it has not had any of these issues, go figure, and the two Macs are only about 8 months between purchase of each.

Found this thread today & started going through the list to find what would fix the issue for the Mini...

1. Tried reboot ... Nope

2. Ran First Aid on disk ... Found no issues

3. Reset the SMC ... noticed a very small improvement in speed, but beach balls still popping up

4. Rebooted again ... No improvement

5. Look at Mail logs ... I had killed mail when it showed up after the upgrade because I use Postbox. Log files were small, but deleted (moved to trash) them anyway

6. Reboot again ... No improvement

7. Played with Spotlight ... initially it took awhile to find anything, then it was finding searched items, but still slow

8. Reboot again ... No improvement from step 7

9. Test Microsoft Apps ... Launched Excel, got message about critical update for Office, ran it .... and viola, without rebooting, I now seem to be back to normal (pre-El Capitan) speed. Have opened a bunch of other apps to check performance, all good! Just emptied the trash of the Mail logs and it was screaming-fast doing the removal, which it has never been on Yosemite.

Hmm, just opened one of my resource hogs ... Pixelmator and got the spinning beach ball, and it took about 25 secs to load. Closed it and reopened it, & it was a near-instantaneous load. Same happened with Affinity designer.

Just tried Word & Excel, while all of the above are still open, instant-loads.

Not sure if improvement came from MS Update or Spotlight running or combo of both, but problem is solved.

PRAM = Parameter RAM. The "PRAM" designation actually refers to Mac systems running versions of the Mac OS earlier than OS X. In OS X, it's referred-to as "NVRAM", but the concept is the same. It's simply a small amount of your computer’s memory that stores certain settings in a location that OS X can access quickly. The settings that are stored in NVRAM depend on the type of Mac you're using, and the types of devices connected to it. For example, if you have multiple bootable drives attached to your Mac, the "Startup Drive" value is saved there. It also stores things like speaker volume and screen resolution, among other parameters.

Sometimes, it is necessary to reset the NVRAM to get things working normally. To do so, restart your Mac and wait for it to "chime". When it begins its chime, press down and hold the COMMAND - OPTION - P - R keys. Continue holding until your Mac reboots and chimes again.

For further information, you can go to this KB article:

How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Please explain how pushing keys on your keyboard when your Mac is shut down does anything?

Hi Cmykman -

The keyboards on a Mac (or MacBook) are never entirely un-powered, unless the power-cord has been unplugged from a Mac, or the battery has been removed from a Macbook. Some years ago, Apple keyboards included a "power-on" button on the keyboard itself.

FYI, this is a documented process called the SMC reset. Here's an Apple KB article that fully documents to procedure: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

Thank you for the support link... very helpful information. 🙂

Well, I forgot to mention in a previous post (which I can no longer see listed -erased?) that I am running two iMacs with El Capitan. The older one, a 12 inch from 2007 has no problems, runs fine. But the newer one, a 27 inch late 2012 runs like a snail on Super Glue

Hello, I went to System Preferences --> Spotlight (unchecked Mail and Messages and Movies, and Bing Web Services). Then, went to the Activity Monitor and double clicked on DropBox program that was running and Quit it. This really sped things up to almost normal. Not sure if it will work for anyone else, or I just clicked the lucky buttons. Oh, and I ran the First Aid utility after (no problems found, but that was my order of operations).

Hi, I tried the EntreCheck. Please see the result in below. Will wait for your advise. Thanks in advance.

EtreCheck version: 2.5.5 (215)

Report generated 10/15/15, 8:54 AM

Runtime 5:37

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: (What does this mean?)

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

[Click for Technical Specifications]

[Click for User Guide]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

10 GB RAM Upgradeable

[Click for upgrade instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

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

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 236 - SN = 9G44106JND3MB

Video Information: (What does this mean?)

Intel HD Graphics 4000

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software: (What does this mean?)

OS X El Capitan 10.11 (15A284) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: (What does this mean?)

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS41N ()

APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362 disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

Datas (disk0s4) /Volumes/Datas : 374.02 GB (201.23 GB free)

MAC OS X (disk1) / : 124.72 GB (82.40 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 125.10 GB Online

USB Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files: (What does this mean?)

System Integrity Protection status: enabled (Custom Configuration)

Gatekeeper: (What does this mean?)

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: (What does this mean?)

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

[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (2.1.0 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

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

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.0 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/NoEjectDelay

[loaded] org.pqrs.driver.NoEjectDelay (7.0.0 - SDK 10.11) [Click for support]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.globaldelight.driver.Boom2Device (1.1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs (382.0.14 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]

/Volumes/Datas/### Important Apps/TechTool Pro 8.app

[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel-10-8 (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/Volumes/Datas/Installed Apps/Viscosity.app

[not loaded] com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity.tap (1.0) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity.tun (1.0) [Click for support]

System Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist - Invalid signature!

[loaded] com.apple.screensharing.MessagesAgent.plist - Invalid signature!

[loaded] com.apple.screensharing.agent.plist - Invalid signature!

System Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.apple.FileSyncAgent.sshd.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.airplaydiagnostics.server.mac.plist - /AppleInternal/Applications/AirPlayDiagnostics.app/Contents/Resources/AirPlayDi agnosticsServer: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.apple.configureLocalKDC.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.efax.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.emlog.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.gkreport.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.locate.plist - No signature!

[failed] com.apple.logd.plist [Click for details]

[loaded] org.apache.httpd.plist - No signature!

[loaded] org.cups.cupsd.plist - Invalid signature!

[loaded] org.net-snmp.snmpd.plist - No signature!

[running] org.ntp.ntpd.plist - No signature!

[loaded] org.postfix.newaliases.plist - No signature!

[loaded] ssh.plist - No signature!

Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

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

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

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotifyagent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.paragon.updater.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[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.creativebe.MainMenuHelper.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.iobit.AMCDaemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.launch.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] net.sourceforge.MonolingualHelper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.pqrs.NoEjectDelay.load.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

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

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

[running] com.iobit.MacBoosterMini.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: (What does this mean?)

CheatSheet Application (/Applications/CheatSheet.app)

Android File Transfer Agent Application (~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

Skype Application (/Applications/Skype.app)

Viber Application Hidden (/Applications/Viber.app)

iPulse Application (/Applications/iPulse.app)

Other Apps: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000004.MainMenu Pro

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000007.Chatty

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000009.iPulse

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000a.Skype

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000b.Viber

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000d.CheatSheet

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000f.FolxAgent

[loaded] com.avast.account

[loaded] com.avast.crashreport

[running] com.avast.daemon

[running] com.avast.fileshield

[running] com.avast.helper

[running] com.avast.proxy

[running] com.avast.service

[running] com.eltima.Folx3.30112

[loaded] com.eltima.FolxAgent.137312

[running] com.etresoft.EtreCheck.137632

[running] com.google.android.mtpagent.68832

[loaded] com.iconfactory.mac.iPulse.5472

[loaded] com.skype.skype.24992

[loaded] com.viber.osx.19552

Internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

MeetingJoinPlugin: Version: Unknown - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.3 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 45 Check version

Default Browser: Version: 601 - SDK 10.11

User internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

Folx3Plugin: Version: 4.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: (What does this mean?)

Java [Click for support]

Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X [Click for support]

Time Machine: (What does this mean?)

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: (What does this mean?)

7% mds_stores

3% Chatty

3% mdworker(23)

2% com.avast.proxy

1% WindowServer

Top Processes by Memory: (What does this mean?)

891 MB kernel_task

471 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(6)

379 MB Chatty

328 MB mdworker(23)

246 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information: (What does this mean?)

2.51 GB Free RAM

7.49 GB Used RAM (5.47 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: (What does this mean?)

Oct 15, 2015, 08:20:45 AM Self test - passed

Update...

Thought things were back to normal, but that was short-lived.

FRKN SLOWWWWWW! Again!! Ready to chuck the Mini out the window!

Have rebooted in Safe Mode and it is the same there, so it has nothing to do with any programs on the computer.

Be sure to check on the health of your internal drive and test performance with all attached external drives disconnected. Disconnect them, reboot and try again. (By the way, an impaired Time Machine backup drive will cause ALL memory to become dedicated to the attempt to back up the machine. El Capitan or not, you will be treated to perpetual beach balls and astoundingly slow performance, even in the Finder).

So many possibilities...

I am coming around to the opinion that anyone upgrading to El Capitan should probably run all of the suggested performances fixes and drive integrity tests BEFORE they even bother to upgrade.

🙂 THANKS! THis definitely did it for me! I'm new with my MacBook Pro and I was so disappointed when i was slow but that helped 1,0000 times!