Any way to speed up an old iMac?

Thanks to everyone for the help. It took a few tries (I couldn't get the new modules pushed in fully at first), but my iMac now has 12GB of RAM and is much happier. No beachballs yet!

Etrecheck, I didn't come to the forums before getting new storage because I didn't have any questions about that. I didn't want to put a lot of money (i.e., an SSD drive) into a six-year-old computer. You make a good point that I wouldn't have had to get a 1TB SSD and thus could possibly have gotten something smaller that would have been comparable in cost to a 1TB HD, but neither the Mac shop nor I thought of that. Oh well, the new HD and expanded memory should suffice.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I've attached the EtreCheck report below in case it shows anything that needs attention beyond a RAM shortage. I was pleased to see that "beachballing" was one of the available problem options for EtreCheck's analysis!

From the link posted by den.thed, it appears that it won't cost me much to add another 4GB of memory, which seems like a good place to start. How can I tell whether to add 8GB instead (for a total of 12GB)? I remember reading that it's easy to add RAM to these machines, so at least I don't have to drag the iMac to a shop to do it.

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EtreCheck version: 3.4.1 (435)

Report generated 2017-07-20 15:23:55

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 5:01

Performance: Below Average

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.

Problem: Beachballing

Hardware Information: ⓘ

iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)

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

iMac - model: iMac12,2

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2500S) CPU: 4-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

Empty

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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

iCloud Quota: 3.71 GB available

Video Information: ⓘ

AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

Disk Information: ⓘ

TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 999.35 GB (882.48 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H ()

USB Information: ⓘ

USB20Bus

hub_device

hub_device

Generic Mass Storage Device

Drive AU_USB20 disk5: (1.05 GB)

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Card Reader

USB20Bus

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

hub_device

American Power Conversion Back-UPS ES 750 FW:841.I3 .D USB FW:I3

Seagate BUP Slim Mac SL

BUP Slim Mac SL disk1: (1 TB)

EFI (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Backup 2 (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Backup 2 : 746.64 GB (440.08 GB free)

Seagate (disk1s3 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Seagate : 253.09 GB (70.12 GB free)

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ

PW USB (disk5 - MS-DOS FAT16) /Volumes/PW USB : 1.05 GB (589 MB free)

Physical disk: Drive AU_USB20 1.05 GB (589 MB free)

System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.5 (16F73) - Time since boot: about 42 days

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Clean up: ⓘ

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist

/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resou rces/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent -runMode ifneeded

Executable not found!

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/MacOS /GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon

Executable not found!

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[redacted]@me.com-SharedSer vices.Agent.plist

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/OSServices.framewo rk/Versions/A/Support/CSConfigDotMacCert -l ~/Library/Logs/CSConfigDotMacCert.log -u [redacted]@me.com -t SharedServices -s

Executable not found!

3 orphan files found. [Clean up]

Startup Items: ⓘ

Sudochmod: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Sudochmod

Startup items no longer function in OS X Yosemite or later

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 171 Apple tasks

[running] 76 Apple tasks

[killed] 27 Apple tasks

27 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 41 Apple tasks

[loaded] 167 Apple tasks

[running] 90 Apple tasks

[killed] 18 Apple tasks

18 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 c85ba378 - installed 2011-06-18) [Lookup]

[running] com.amazon.sendtokindle.launcher.plist (Shell Script d18c2039 - installed 2013-11-18) [Lookup]

[failed] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (? 2ee7ccba 0 - installed 2015-08-04) [Lookup] - /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resou rces/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent: Executable not found!

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2015-05-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 0 - installed 2011-06-18) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 18a4fa69 - installed 2017-06-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.bombich.ccc.plist (? 41245744 5174fac0 - installed 2017-01-10) [Lookup]

[failed] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (? 6ee2490f 0 - installed 2015-08-04) [Lookup] - /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/MacOS /GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e 442fdde9 - installed 2011-03-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.raynersw.nshctldo.plist (Rayner Software - installed 2015-03-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.raynersw.nshfixer.plist (Rayner Software - installed 2015-03-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.tcpdump.chmod_bpf.plist (Shell Script a9f8244f - installed 2012-07-06) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[redacted]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (? ? ? - installed 2011-06-12) - /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/OSServices.framewo rk/Versions/A/Support/CSConfigDotMacCert: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-07-10) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

Default Folder X Application

(/Applications/Default Folder X.app)

Macs Fan Control Application - Hidden

(/Applications/Macs Fan Control.app)

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist MachInit - Hidden

(/etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist)

Mach Init items are deprecated

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

Google Earth Web Plug-in: 7.1 (installed 2013-10-07) [Lookup]

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.4.4.2 (installed 2013-06-30) [Lookup]

RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (installed 2012-04-07) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.10 (installed 2015-01-24) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 26.0.0.137 (installed 2017-07-11) [Lookup]

Silverlight: 5.1.40416.0 (installed 2015-05-20) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-05-25)

Flash Player: 26.0.0.137 (installed 2017-07-11) [Lookup]

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.16 (installed 2012-07-06) [Lookup]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.2.0 (installed 2012-04-18) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.10 (installed 2015-01-24) [Lookup]

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (installed 2012-04-05)

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2012-06-14) Check version

User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.94 (installed 2013-02-05) [Lookup]

WebEx64: 1.0 (installed 2012-10-29) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[not loaded] AdBlock - Michael Gundlach - http://safariadblock.com (installed 2014-10-05)

[not loaded] AllMyTube - Wondershare Software Co., Ltd. - http://www.wondershare.com (installed 2013-01-25)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-06-23) [Lookup]

Flip4Mac WMV (installed 2012-05-15) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 116.87 GB

Destinations:

Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 42

Oldest backup: 12/24/16, 1:11 AM

Last backup: 7/9/17, 10:36 AM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk used 116.87 GB X 3)

Backup 2 [Local]

Total size: 746.64 GB

Total number of backups: 67

Oldest backup: 12/28/16, 10:24 PM

Last backup: 7/20/17, 2:39 PM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 746.64 GB > (Disk used 116.87 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

10% MacsFanControl

7% mds

5% WindowServer

2% firefox

2% mdworker

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

656 MB kernel_task

309 MB firefox

75 MB Finder

68 MB Mail

51 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

11 MB 1 MB mDNSResponder

3 MB 383 KB netbiosd

2 MB 867 KB Mail

505 KB 1 MB apsd

358 KB 366 KB ntpd

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

7.74 WindowServer

6.60 firefox

2.66 Activity Monitor

2.42 Adobe Photoshop CS5.1

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

533 MB Available RAM

21 MB Free RAM

3.48 GB Used RAM

512 MB Cached files

2.79 GB Swap Used

Software installs: ⓘ

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-07-11)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

2017-07-18 17:21:27 Mail.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2017-06-08 20:37:10 Last shutdown cause: 0 - Power loss

Sounds like a plan, thanks macjack and den.thed!

If I understand this information on the Apple website:

"i5 and i7 Quad Core iMac computers come with both top memory slots populated. These computers will not start up if only a single DIMM is installed in any bottom slot; these computers should operate normally with a single DIMM installed in any top slot."

[My emphasis.]

That means I should get two 4GB modules and put one in each bottom slot, instead of a single 8GB module, correct?

Thanks for verifying the two-module requirement, and for making sure that I checked the model number. The built-in system report says that this is a model "iMac12,2", which matches the models on the OWC page that you folks pointed me to.