As the title says, my mid-2013 macbook air is beginning to slow down and I'm not sure why. I only have about 2GB left of space, do I need to clear some things off to make it run better?
MacBook Air
2 GB of free space is insufficient to run macOX.
You are going to have to move or delete enough of your data to free up at least 10 times that much if you want it to run well.
Your first step in this project should be a backup of everything.
Will do that right away. Anything else that I can do to help improve performance?
After clear off at least 20 GB of free space, you can download and install EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com/
Run it and post the report here. After we have a chance to analyze the report we might be able to make some other suggestions.
I now have 17.4 GB free. Here is the report from EtreCheck:
EtreCheck version: 3.0.6 (315)
Report generated 2016-10-08 23:31:00
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 2:25
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: ⓘ
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,1
1 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 627
Video Information: ⓘ
Intel HD Graphics 5000
Color LCD 1366 x 768
System Software: ⓘ
OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 (15F34) - Time since boot: about one hour
Disk Information: ⓘ
APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 120.47 GB (17.49 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers
Unknown Files: ⓘ
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.ea.origin.WebHelper.plist
/Applications/Origin.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.ea.origin.WebHelpe r
One unknown file found. [Check files]
Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.7 (26999) - SDK 10.4 - 2016-10-08) [Support]
/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.7 (26999) - SDK 10.4 - 2016-06-23) [Support]
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.7 (26999) - SDK 10.5 - 2016-06-23) [Support]
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.7 (26999) - SDK 10.4 - 2016-06-23) [Support]
System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks
[loaded] 151 Apple tasks
[running] 77 Apple tasks
[killed] 3 Apple tasks
3 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 46 Apple tasks
[loaded] 159 Apple tasks
[running] 79 Apple tasks
[killed] 6 Apple tasks
6 processes killed due to insufficient RAM
Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2016-05-20) [Support]
Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]
[loaded] com.ea.origin.ESHelper.plist (2016-09-20) [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2016-05-20) [Support]
[running] com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist (2013-10-11) [Support]
User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[failed] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2014-10-06) [Support]
[loaded] com.ea.origin.WebHelper.plist (2016-09-22) [Support]
[loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist (2014-08-09)
[not loaded] com.seagate.dashboard.plist (2016-10-08) [Support]
[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2016-10-08) [Support]
User Login Items: ⓘ
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Spotify Application (/Applications/Spotify.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-13) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-05-21)
Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-13) [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 101 build 13 (2016-09-10) Check version
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-05-21)
Safari Extensions: ⓘ
AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (2016-09-05)
eBay for Safari - eBay Inc - http://anywhere.ebay.com/browser/safari/ (2016-09-05)
Pin It Button - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (2016-05-24)
3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (2016-08-29) [Support]
Java (2016-09-10) [Support]
Seagate Dashboard for Mac OSX (2016-06-27) [Support]
Time Machine: ⓘ
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 120.47 GB Disk used: 102.99 GB
Destinations:
Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local]
Total size: 0 B
Total number of backups: 0
Oldest backup: -
Last backup: -
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 0 B < (Disk used 102.99 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
11% kernel_task
8% Finder
7% WindowServer
3% pkd
3% hidd
Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
509 MB kernel_task
250 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)
233 MB Safari
147 MB Finder
139 MB iTunes
Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
102 MB Free RAM
3.90 GB Used RAM (918 MB Cached)
18 MB Swap Used
Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
Oct 8, 2016, 09:44:02 PM Self test - passed
Mid-2013 Macbook Air becoming slow
