horse8905

Q: 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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Q: 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 th ... more

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  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Sep 18, 2016 2:33 PM in response to horse8905
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    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?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 19, 2016 9:35 AM in response to horse8905
    Level 9 (71,467 points)
    iTunes
    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

  • by horse8905,

    horse8905 horse8905 Sep 19, 2016 10:30 AM in response to WZZZ
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    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.

  • by horse8905,

    horse8905 horse8905 Sep 19, 2016 10:46 AM in response to horse8905
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 10:46 AM in response to horse8905

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

  • by stedman1,

    stedman1 stedman1 Sep 19, 2016 10:50 AM in response to horse8905
    Level 9 (73,747 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 19, 2016 10:50 AM in response to horse8905

    Please post the Etrecheck report.

  • by WZZZ,Solvedanswer

    WZZZ WZZZ Sep 19, 2016 11:28 AM in response to horse8905
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    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.

  • by horse8905,

    horse8905 horse8905 Sep 19, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    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.

  • by horse8905,

    horse8905 horse8905 Sep 19, 2016 11:51 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    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

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 19, 2016 12:04 PM in response to horse8905
    Level 9 (71,467 points)
    iTunes
    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.

  • by WZZZ,

    WZZZ WZZZ Sep 19, 2016 2:18 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 6 (13,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    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.

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Sep 19, 2016 7:16 PM in response to horse8905
    Level 6 (19,457 points)
    Mac OS X
    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.