Beachball slowdown in Powerpoint

Question

Level 1

43 points

Beachball slowdown in Powerpoint

I am running Powerpoint on an iMac and a MacBooPro, both from about 2011. I have gotten the spinning beachball on the iMa, but doing a Rebuild with DiskWarrior and doing First Aid with DiskUtility seems to clear the problem, at least for a few weeks. On the MacBook Pro, I can't clear the problem. There must be something running in the background that comes and goes.

Any suggestions for a Cleanup utility that might remove unneeded files and that might find any unexpected programs running in the background?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), 8GB Ram, 2.2GHz Intel Core i7, 1TB

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 5:39 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Mar 24, 2016 6:02 AM in response to PianomanDave

basics.

1. has it always been this way? If not, what changed?

2. Have you checked disk integrity?

3. What anti-virus are you running ( correct ansewrer: none)

4. Have you used activity monitor to see what processes are using the most CPU when it occurs?

5. Have you used activity monitor to see your memory pressure?

Grant

Reply

Answer 2

PianomanDave Author

Level 1

43 points

Mar 24, 2016 6:51 AM in response to Grant Lenahan

Grant,

For a long time, every few weeks both computers would slow down (going to spinning beach ball) which I could clear by running DiskWarrior and Rebuilding the Directory. I was too lazy to find out why it kept happening. Recently on my MacBook Pro is has gotten worse, since I now can't resolve he problem with DiskWarrior and Disk Utility First-Aid.

I don't know what you refer to about checking disk integrity. First Aid does not report a hardware problem and DiskWarrior says that the hardware seems ok. Is there a specific Disk integrity check that you are referring to?

I am not using any anti-virus right now (that I know of). Over the years, though I have used Symantec Anti-Virus, and probably a few others. I think they are either gone or turned off.

I did look at the Activity Monitor and was surprised to not see anything tying up the CPU.

I don't know what you refer to as "Memory Pressure".

Also note, that for a period of time (about six months ago, my computer would just go black and restart on a fairly regular basis - every few days. The Apple Genius Bar checked it out and could not find anything wrong. That problem has reduced to occurring only about once a month.

I am trying to avoid a clean OS install and a reloading of all software. That takes so much time. I am looking for some way to "clean-out" all things that accumulate over the years, but are no longer needed.

Is there any way to do that, or to find what could be in the background. I saw some note about people using Kapersy security and CleanMyMac. I don't have either to these. I have used MaKeeper, but I think I got it all out. I have an old copy of cocktail installed and was thinking about upgrading. I do have Malwarebytes installed but noticed no problems when I installed it. It does seem to help if I begin to see ads popping up on my computer. I just noticed that i have Smart Utility installed, but never purchased the license, so it doesn't work, but I don't know how to fu uninstall it. I also have TechTool Pro 7 installed, but have not used it recently. Over the years, I have installed many utilities and have never properly uninstalled them when I stopped using them.

Is there any utility worth using?

Thanks,

Dave

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 24, 2016 12:32 PM in response to PianomanDave

I don't know what you refer to about checking disk integrity. First Aid does not report a hardware problem and DiskWarrior says that the hardware seems ok. Is there a specific Disk integrity check that you are referring to?

--> first aid is probably sufficient. if a disk passes software tests, the hardware is typically ok.

I don't know what you refer to as "Memory Pressure".

--> learn about the new memory management (search my name if you want, on these forums). Apple implemented a cool new memory management approach based on compression. But short answer is go to activity monitor, click on the memory tab, and see if its green. if so, all's ok. If not, get RAM.

Also note, that for a period of time (about six months ago, my computer would just go black and restart on a fairly regular basis - every few days. The Apple Genius Bar checked it out and could not find anything wrong. That problem has reduced to occurring only about once a month.

--> that is just weird and confusing and suggests a larger problem. Hardware? major software issue? Who knows? Run diagnostics (i think its called apple hardware diagnostics or ???)

I saw some note about people using Kapersy security and CleanMyMac. I don't have either to these. I have used MaKeeper, but I think I got it all out.

--> these are all bad actors

Is there any utility worth using?

--> not many. the others you mention (cocktail, malware bytes) are at worst useless - none are harmful. I've played with them. truly not needed though.

Good luck. Sounds like you have a) a potentially major unknown issue, b) maybe some remnants of bad stuff, c) more sleuthing to be done with activity monitor.

Again though - what changed when this began? and separately, have you ensured that all the programs you have are updated for el cap? It breaks a lot of stuff....

Reply