I've spent hours on web sites looking for tips to clean up my iMac - they've all been dead ends. I did send a question to this 'community' first but must have done it wrong because there was no trace of it. I have the beach ball effect on this comp

Question

Level 1

8 points

I've spent hours on web sites looking for tips to clean up my iMac - they've all been dead ends. I did send a question to this 'community' first but must have done it wrong because there was no trace of it. I have the beach ball effect on this comp

I've spent hours on web sites looking for tips to clean up my iMac - they've all been dead ends. I did send a question to this 'community' first but must have done it wrong because there was no trace of it. I have the beach ball effect on this computer now. Aren't there places I can delete cookies etc. to help out? Thank you for your help.

horse8905

iMac, iOS 10, OSX version 10.9.4

Posted on Sep 18, 2016 1:26 PM

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Answer 1

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Sep 18, 2016 2:33 PM in response to horse8905

Not sure what's going on, you don't give much information, but if you are experiencing constant beachballing (spinning wait cursor), that might mean the hard drive is dying.

Open Console.app in Applications>Utilities. In the filter field called "String Matching," upper right corner, enter "I/O" no quotes. What comes up when you do that?

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Sep 19, 2016 9:35 AM in response to horse8905

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

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Answer 3

horse8905 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2016 10:30 AM in response to WZZZ

Sorry to take so long. I finally found the app location to mentioned. Nothing shows up when I put i/o. What does this mean? Thank you.

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Answer 4

horse8905 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2016 10:46 AM in response to horse8905

WHat other info would be helpful to trouble shoot my problem? Thanks.

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Answer 5

stedman1

Level 10

265,078 points

Sep 19, 2016 10:50 AM in response to horse8905

Please post the Etrecheck report.

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Answer 6

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Sep 19, 2016 11:28 AM in response to horse8905

That's a good sign, which most likely means that the beachballing isn't being caused by a drive that's dying.

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Answer 7

horse8905 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Eric Root

I Chose my problem and tried to explain it further as the app asked for but it shut down 2 times with the beach ball. I'm doing the scan now.

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Answer 8

horse8905 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2016 11:51 AM in response to Eric Root

EtreCheck version: 3.0.3 (307)

Report generated 2016-09-19 14:47:56

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 1:26

Performance: Excellent

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

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

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information:ⓘ

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

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

iMac - model: iMac14,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

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

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel Iris Pro

iMac 1920 x 1080

System Software:ⓘ

OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: about 6 days

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (869.65 GB free)

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

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

USB Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 5 Apple tasks

[loaded] 136 Apple tasks

[running] 43 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 50 Apple tasks

[loaded] 133 Apple tasks

[running] 64 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]

[loaded] jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (2015-06-15) [Support]

User Login Items:ⓘ

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

Garmin Express Service Application (/Applications/Garmin Express.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Garmin Express Service.app)

CIJSUAgent SMLoginItem (/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Scan Utility/Canon IJ Scan Utility2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CIJSUAgent.app)

Photo Stream URL SMLoginItem (/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PhotoStreamAgent.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-10) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-14) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-10) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-08-12)

Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-14) [Support]

Default Browser: 537 - SDK 10.9 (2014-09-30)

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.105 (2013-04-25) [Support]

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-08-29) [Support]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

4% fontd

2% kernel_task

2% WindowServer

2% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)

2% coreaudiod

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

885 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)

773 MB kernel_task

434 MB Finder

385 MB Safari

156 MB softwareupdated

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

1.26 GB Free RAM

6.58 GB Used RAM (2.17 GB Cached)

94 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

Sep 19, 2016, 02:34:39 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/EtreCheck_2016-09-19-143439_[redacted].crash

com.etresoft.EtreCheck - /Users/USER/Downloads/EtreCheck.app/Contents/MacOS/EtreCheck

Sep 19, 2016, 02:33:47 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/EtreCheck_2016-09-19-143347_[redacted].crash

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Answer 9

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Sep 19, 2016 12:04 PM in response to horse8905

Try a restart since you haven't restarted in 6 days. That may clear things up.

There is no software in the report that is known to cause beach balling.

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Answer 10

WZZZ

Level 6

13,238 points

Sep 19, 2016 2:18 PM in response to Eric Root

Or the OP can shut down completely, then startup again with the Shift key down, which will boot into safe mode. Doing that may clear some problematic caches. Leave it in safe boot for a few minutes without opening any applications, then restart normally.

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Answer 11

BobHarris

Level 9

57,029 points

Sep 19, 2016 7:16 PM in response to horse8905

You are using Swap space, which is an indication that you are asking the Mac to do things that could use more RAM.

However, your model Mac is a pain to add additional RAM, so I'm not going to push on that too much.

<http://blog.macsales.com/15932-what-does-it-take-to-upgrade-a-2012-imac-21-5>

Since you do not have a lot of 3rd party stuff, and what you have is not known to cause performance problems, I would like to suggest you make a Genius Bar appointment at your local Apple store, and see about having them evaluate your system (this part is free). What I'm worried about is that maybe your disk is starting to generate lots of silent retries. I am totally guessing, but a failing disk drive can cause this kind of situation.

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