Macs getting slower

Question

Level 1

8 points

Macs getting slower

I'm an Apple Business customer and I've gradually migrated the laptops my employees use away from PCs and to MacBook Pros. At first, the Macs were all stunningly fast compared to PCs. Now, I get complaints from employees every week saying that their computer needs to be replaced because everything is slowing down. We use Outlook for Mac and even on my new Mac mini and MacBook, it has slowed down significantly. Lot's of time is being spent looking at the spinning color wheel –pretty much like watching the hourglass in the old PC world. Help me! I know Apple is better than this!

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 7:11 AM

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Answer 1

Bernie N Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2017 9:06 AM in response to Lexiepex

Here's the Entrecheck report:

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2017-12-11 12:00:47

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 8:00

Performance: Below Average

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

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

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information:ⓘ

Mac mini (Late 2014)

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

Mac mini - model: Macmini7,1

1 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4260U) 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

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en1: Unknown

iCloud Quota: 169.73 GB available

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 5000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

LED Cinema Display 2560 x 1440

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362 disk0: (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

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

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 499.25 GB

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

USB Information:ⓘ

USB30Bus

Apple, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

hub_device

HGST G-DRIVE mobile USB

mobile USB disk2: (1 TB)

EFI (disk2s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

[redacted]'s external file storage (disk2s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Bernie's external file storage : 999.86 GB (949.96 GB free)

Apple Inc. Apple LED Cinema Display

Apple Inc. Display iSight

Apple Inc. Display Audio

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks:ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 498.89 GB (366.29 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 (17C88) - Time since boot: about 2 hours

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Applications/zoom.us.app

[not loaded] zoom.us.ZoomAudioDevice (1.1 - SDK 10.8) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 167 Apple tasks

[running] 94 Apple tasks

[killed] 20 Apple tasks

20 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 37 Apple tasks

[loaded] 179 Apple tasks

[running] 96 Apple tasks

[killed] 18 Apple tasks

18 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-12-06) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 defea098 - installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-12-06) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-09) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (Citrix Online LLC - installed 2017-09-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.logmein.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (Citrix Online LLC - installed 2017-12-08) [Lookup]

User Login Items:ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-12-08)

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

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-15) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-12-08)

Flash Player: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-15) [Lookup]

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

ZoomUsPlugIn: 4.1.9338.0929 (installed 2017-10-13) [Lookup]

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

24% photoanalysisd

19% photolibraryd

6% WindowServer

5% com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing.Service

2% kernel_task

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

541 MB kernel_task

325 MB Microsoft Outlook

110 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

98 MB Microsoft Word

88 MB Microsoft Excel

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

4 MB 1 MB kernel_task

1 MB 54 KB mDNSResponder

139 KB 15 KB netbiosd

7 KB 5 KB apsd

6 KB 1 KB com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing.Service

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

22.18 mds_stores

7.48 WindowServer

0.58 Microsoft Outlook

0.12 mds

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

921 MB Available RAM

16 MB Free RAM

3.10 GB Used RAM

905 MB Cached files

43 MB Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days):ⓘ

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-11-15)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2017-11-16)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2017-11-16)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2017-11-16)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-11-16)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2017-11-16)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-12-04)

Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2017-12-06)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2017-12-06)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2017-12-06)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2017-12-06)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2017-12-06)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2017-12-06)

Install information may not be complete.

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Answer 2

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 11, 2017 7:31 AM in response to Bernie N

Uninstall all antivirus apps!!! they are counterproductive on a mac. Also uninstall optimizers, boosters, keepers, cleaners, protectors, doctors, accelerators, extenders, tune-ups, defragmenters, firewalls, defenders, guardians, toolbars, enhancers, utilities, and such crap. Not only counterproductive, but can be harmful. the most advertized are MacKeeper, CleanMyMac which are extreme scams.

Use the uninstallers delivered with these apps, or the uninstall instructions of the developers.

If you want to have an idea or more specific advice, run an etrecheck tool, that give an anonymised list of the mac in question. Run that list on one mac and post that list here. etrecheck.com

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Answer 3

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 11, 2017 8:18 AM in response to Bernie N

Good.

Please send me the etrecheck list of of one tat is giving much trouble. It must be a general problem as far as I gather from your post, but without any idea of how these are set up, it is difficult to give help. Maybe a short description of the network too.

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Answer 4

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 11, 2017 9:59 AM in response to Bernie N

Two remarks,

1. Citrix has been an ongoing brake, but I suppose you can not uninstall it in your situation. It is probably not (or not fully) compatible with HighSierra.

2. You do not have enough Ram, for this system and the Office apps running together. I propose to go to 8GB ram at the least.

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Answer 5

Bernie N Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 15, 2017 7:47 AM in response to Lexiepex

New information from my IT guy: It appears that Safari and other browsers are memory hogs. They continue to absorb memory no matter how much is added. The easiest way to free memory for other application is to completely close the browser application after using it, rather than just letting it run in the background. I tried this and it does improve the performance of the other applications. I'm not sure Id like to call this problem solved, but that's the only thing that's worked so far.

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Answer 6

Dec 15, 2017 7:52 AM in response to Bernie N

Unused memory is wasted memory. Newer operating systems use all available memory and manage that memory when another app requires it. So you will never see much unused memory in a newer Mac computer running a modern operating system

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Answer 7

Dec 15, 2017 9:58 AM in response to Bernie N

Readers here would tell you that ElCapitan and later versions of MacOS require "more than 4GB of RAM" to operate responsively. The additional required RAM is simulated on your boot drive, which can be quite slow.

The best solution to improve responsiveness would be to add more RAM, but that does not appear to be possible on that Mac, as there are no RAM sockets.

A second-best solution would be to upgrade the boot drive to an SSD drive. There are two potential "slots" inside, one for a standard 2.5-in form factor drive, and one for a 'stick' form factor drive.

No drives appear to be available for the 'stick' form factor slot, and the cable may not be present unless the unit had the Fusion drive option. OtherWorldComputing (online at MacSales.com) shows a 'stick' form factor drive option as "coming soon".

OWC SSD Upgrade Kits for Apple Mac mini (2005 - 2014)

.

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Answer 8

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 15, 2017 11:43 AM in response to Bernie N

"It appears that Safari and other browsers are memory hogs. They continue to absorb memory no matter how much is added." This is B*lls*t. You can read what Safari does in your etrecheck list. And you get even more information in Activity Monitor /in Applications/Utilities). Safari is not growing more Ram during use. It uses the Ram it needs, not more.

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