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iMac suddenly running slow?

Hi

Over the last few days my iMac has started running really slow. The whirling disk appears after not even five minutes and its just taking a long time to do anything. I am running macOS Sierra version 10.12.6. It will be something simple but its getting to point now where i struggle to do anything without waiting an age for it. I've deleted a lot of stuff and i mean like thousands of files but it doesn't seem to have made a difference I have been reading up and do i need to download mac high sierra? or something like mackeeper to clean it up? Also how do i change my startup options as i have been reading that can slow your mac down?


Any advice appreciated have been a mac user for years and never had an issue which makes me think it will be something straightforward.


Thanks

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 11:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 12:10 PM

Mackeeper should be avoided as should any application that claims to 'clean' your Mac. Frankly most of those apps are selling snake oil. Those apps can also manipulate your system to make it look like it is doing something when it isn't, like finding thousands of 'issues' on a scan that it claims it can remedy after you buy the app.


If you want to show us what is installed on your Mac post an Etrecheck report. That can list all the installed applications & help highlight issues. It also lists the spec which allows us to work out if the Mac should work OK with the OS etc.

http://etrecheck.com/ <- This app was created to help with posts on these forums


Some other options are…


  1. Set the startup disk under System Preferences > Startup disk. That can cause a slower startup but will not cause the slow OS you describe.
  2. Test by removing ALL third party devices & only use the Apple mouse & keyboard to see if you have issues with some external hardware.
  3. Repair the HD in recovery mode - it may not do much but it shouldn't hurt & can highlight issues. Use Disk Utility & the first aid tab. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
  4. Try booting in safe mode to see if the issue goes away - bear in mind that many Apple extensions are disabled so some graphics & other features may not work well, just test as much as possible. Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support
  5. Login with another user account to see if the issue is just in your own user account settings.


If you do these tests please number the results as above.

17 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Dec 11, 2017 12:10 PM in response to jdocherty

Mackeeper should be avoided as should any application that claims to 'clean' your Mac. Frankly most of those apps are selling snake oil. Those apps can also manipulate your system to make it look like it is doing something when it isn't, like finding thousands of 'issues' on a scan that it claims it can remedy after you buy the app.


If you want to show us what is installed on your Mac post an Etrecheck report. That can list all the installed applications & help highlight issues. It also lists the spec which allows us to work out if the Mac should work OK with the OS etc.

http://etrecheck.com/ <- This app was created to help with posts on these forums


Some other options are…


  1. Set the startup disk under System Preferences > Startup disk. That can cause a slower startup but will not cause the slow OS you describe.
  2. Test by removing ALL third party devices & only use the Apple mouse & keyboard to see if you have issues with some external hardware.
  3. Repair the HD in recovery mode - it may not do much but it shouldn't hurt & can highlight issues. Use Disk Utility & the first aid tab. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
  4. Try booting in safe mode to see if the issue goes away - bear in mind that many Apple extensions are disabled so some graphics & other features may not work well, just test as much as possible. Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support
  5. Login with another user account to see if the issue is just in your own user account settings.


If you do these tests please number the results as above.

Dec 12, 2017 11:15 AM in response to jdocherty

from a hardware standpoint:

you have an iMac with 4GB RAM struggling to run the OS

your mac is expandable to 32GB.

8GB or more would speed things up dramatically

OWC Performance Upgrades for iMac 2010

you have a rotational HDD. Swapping it out for an SSD would again speed up things dramatically.

OWC SSD Upgrade Kits For 21.5-Inch iMac 2010


If you had to choose between RAM and SSD I would go for the SSD, however your runtime suggest your HDD may be on it's last legs and may be on it's way out. Hard Drives have a limited lifetime and 7 years is a fairly long time for a rotational HDD.


If you choose RAM you need to get RAM that claims it works in that Mac. RAM with the same timing, latency, form factor, etc that your friend can get you on eBay for $50 cheaper or likely will not work unless it states it works in THAT model Mac.

I posted links to Macsales.com, they are not the only reseller. I happen to like them, that's all.


From a software standpoint:

your system is littered with adware, either use Etrecheck to clean it up or use malwarebytes for mac (www.malwarebytes.com) or use both

then repost after cleaning it up and see if the runtime comes down and figure out if the drive breaking down which if it is; it is contributing to these other problems.


remove worthut which is erroneously called a virus in this article

How to get rid of Search.worthut.com Redirect (Mac) - Virus removal guide


shut off findmydeviced which requires you to go to >System Preferences

choose iCloud

User uploaded file

uncheck the option for find my mac

User uploaded file

then Shut down


Disconnect all external devices

Mac Mini: all but video, mouse, keyboard

iMac: all but OEM mouse, keyboard

Laptop: all devices


Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

repeat 2/3 times


Reset the nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM)

(OPTION+COMMAND+p+r at Startup)

How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

repeat 2/3 times


Then use safeboot (SHIFT at Startup)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


Then reboot normally with devices disconnected.

Dec 12, 2017 10:49 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Report any advice regarding beachballing appreciated


EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2017-12-12 17:46:54

Download EtreCheck fromhttps://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 20:54

Performance: Poor


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

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

Click the [Remove/Report] links to remove adware or update the whitelist of legitimate software.

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


Problem:Beachballing


Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)

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

iMac - model: iMac11,2

1 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 (i3) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM0

Empty

BANK 0/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

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

iCloud Quota: 2.00 TB available


Video Information:

ATI Radeon HD 4670 - VRAM: 256 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080


Disk Information:

ST3500418AS disk0: (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

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

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (260.02 GB free)

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


HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N ()


USB Information:

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

USB20Bus

hub_device

Generic Mass Storage

Flash Disk disk1: (4.03 GB)

Untitled (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) /Volumes/Untitled : 4.03 GB (3.99 GB free)

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller


System Software:

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


Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers


Possible adware:

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Smokyashan.update.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Worthut.AppVemoral.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Worthut.btvlit.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Worthut.disable.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Worthut.dolnwoad.plist

Adware: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Worthut.uadpte.plist

6 possible adware files found. [Remove/Report]


Clean up:

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist

/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/ACC/Creative Cloud.app/Contents/MacOS/Creative Cloud --showwindow=false --onOSstartup=true

Executable not found!

~/Library/LaunchAgents/amUpdater.plist

/Applications/Archive Manager.app/Contents/Resources/appUpdater am 1000

Executable not found!

2 orphan files found. [Clean up]


System Launch Agents:

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 171 Apple tasks

[running] 63 Apple tasks

[killed] 47 Apple tasks

47 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] 36 Apple tasks

[loaded] 188 Apple tasks

[running] 74 Apple tasks

[killed] 33 Apple tasks

33 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-06-03) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (? faec172d 0 - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]- /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/ACC/Creative Cloud.app/Contents/MacOS/Creative Cloud: Executable not found!


Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 856489a3 0 - installed 2017-06-03) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 defea098 - installed 2017-10-26) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-14) [Lookup]

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


User Launch Agents:

[loaded] Smokyashan.update.plist (? ab7154b4 f8e70dde - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Smokyashan/Smokyashan.app/Contents/MacOS/AppNOS

[loaded] Worthut.AppVemoral.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Worthut/Worthut.app/Contents/MacOS/AppRC

[loaded] Worthut.btvlit.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Worthut/Worthut.app/Contents/MacOS/AppRC

[loaded] Worthut.disable.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Worthut/Worthut.app/Contents/MacOS/AppRC

[loaded] Worthut.dolnwoad.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Worthut/Worthut.app/Contents/MacOS/AppRC

[loaded] Worthut.uadpte.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-11-10) Adware! [Remove/Report]

~/Library/Application Support/Worthut/Worthut.app/Contents/MacOS/AppRC

[failed]amUpdater.plist (? ab438be2 0 - installed 2016-07-01) [Lookup]- /Applications/Archive Manager.app/Contents/Resources/appUpdater: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2017-12-04) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 63023cb9 6db598b5 - installed 2017-12-12) [Lookup]


User Login Items:

iTunesHelper Application (? 0 - installed 2017-12-07)

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

AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application

(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.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:

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-20) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-12-01)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 18.009.20050 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-20) Outdated! Update

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.3 (installed 2017-04-14) [Lookup]


Safari Extensions:

[not loaded] MacSmart - Ivo Nedelko - http://www.MacSmart.info (installed 2014-10-20)


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2017-10-26) [Lookup]


Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

13% kernel_task

6% system_profiler

4% Safari

3% WindowServer

3% trustd


Top Processes by Memory:

560 MB kernel_task

481 MB Safari

80 MB system_profiler

24 MB routined

23 MB coreduetd


Top Processes by Network Use:

Input Output Process name

103 KB 81 KB mDNSResponder

7 KB 11 KB apsd

2 KB 2 KB netbiosd

0 B 256 B SystemUIServer

0 B 0 B racoon


Top Processes by Energy Use:

4.94 system_profiler

4.88 WindowServer

3.82 Safari

1.10 trustd


Virtual Memory Information:

218 MB Available RAM

17 MB Free RAM

3.79 GB Used RAM

201 MB Cached files

8.03 GB Swap Used


Software installs (last 30 days):

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.009.20044): (installed 2017-11-15)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-11-20)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.009.20050): (installed 2017-11-30)


Install information may not be complete.


Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events):

2017-12-12 17:19:36 Worthut.app Crash [Open]

2017-12-12 12:13:28 Safari High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2017-12-11 23:02:11 Safari.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2017-12-11 12:55:36 findmydeviced Crash [Open]




Thanks

Dec 14, 2017 12:16 PM in response to Drew Reece

Latest report - thanks for the help on this all advice welcome

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2017-12-14 19:55:41

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 10:56

Performance: Poor


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

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


Problem: Beachballing


Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)

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

iMac - model: iMac11,2

1 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 (i3) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM0

Empty

BANK 0/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

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

iCloud Quota: 2.00 TB available


Video Information:

ATI Radeon HD 4670 - VRAM: 256 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080


Disk Information:

ST3500418AS disk0: (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

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

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (292.10 GB free)

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


HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N ()


USB Information:

USB20Bus

hub_device

Generic Mass Storage

Flash Disk disk1: (4.03 GB)

Untitled (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) /Volumes/Untitled : 4.03 GB (3.99 GB free)

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight


System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 (17C88) - Time since boot: less than an hour


Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers


Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection (3.1 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup]


System Launch Agents:

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 179 Apple tasks

[running] 53 Apple tasks

[killed] 49 Apple tasks

49 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] 36 Apple tasks

[loaded] 189 Apple tasks

[running] 64 Apple tasks

[killed] 42 Apple tasks

42 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-06-03) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.frontend.agent.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-12-13) [Lookup]


Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 856489a3 0 - installed 2017-06-03) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 defea098 - installed 2017-10-26) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-12-13) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.settings.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-12-13) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-14) [Lookup]

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


User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2017-12-04) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 63023cb9 6db598b5 - installed 2017-12-12) [Lookup]


User Login Items:

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:

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-02-23) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-20) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-12-01)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 18.009.20050 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 27.0.0.187 (installed 2017-11-20) Outdated! Update

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.3 (installed 2017-04-14) [Lookup]


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2017-10-26) [Lookup]


Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

98% kernel_task

88% Safari

5% coresymbolicationd

4% WindowServer

2% RTProtectionDaemon


Top Processes by Memory:

587 MB Safari

424 MB kernel_task

26 MB Finder

25 MB Spotlight

22 MB soagent


Top Processes by Network Use:

Input Output Process name

26 KB 25 KB apsd

19 KB 12 KB mDNSResponder

522 B 354 B netbiosd

0 B 96 B SystemUIServer

0 B 0 B racoon


Top Processes by Energy Use:

5.30 Safari

4.68 WindowServer

1.48 mdworker

1.10 opendirectoryd


Virtual Memory Information:

211 MB Available RAM

5 MB Free RAM

3.79 GB Used RAM

206 MB Cached files

301 MB Swap Used


Software installs (last 30 days):

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.009.20044): (installed 2017-11-15)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-11-20)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.009.20050): (installed 2017-11-30)

Malwarebytes for Mac: (installed 2017-12-13)


Install information may not be complete.


Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events):

2017-12-13 09:05:34 Worthut.app Crash [Open]

2017-12-12 18:24:26 akd Crash [Open]

Cause: XPC API Misuse: Underflow of transaction count.

2017-12-12 12:13:28 Safari High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2017-12-11 23:02:11 Safari.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]


Files deleted by EtreCheck:

2017-12-13 16:13:01 - /Library/LaunchAgents/com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist - Unknown

Dec 11, 2017 11:55 AM in response to jdocherty

A great place to start is with a snapshot of your configuration. That will also give us the technical details about your iMac that are lacking now.


Posting your configuration can ofter allow us to quickly resolve a problem. Fortunately there is a safe and secure way to do that.


A respected and long-serving member of these communities has created a simple utility that will take that "snapshot" of your configuration without revealing any sensitive information about you and your computer. It does not run in the background and therefore creates no performance penalties. It is Etrecheck, and is available here:


http://etrecheck.com/


Run it and, when its report displays, click Etrecheck's "Share Report" icon and then "Copy Report" from the resulting dropdown. Paste the entire report into a response to your own thread here.

Dec 12, 2017 11:38 AM in response to jdocherty

As JimmyCMPIT mentioned…


Use Malwarebytes or Etrecheck to remove the adware.

http://malwarebytes.com/ (I'd run this for a second opinion incase Etrecheck missed anything).


Also remove the macsmart Safari extension that seems to be adware too…

Remove "Ads by MacSmart" virus from Apple Mac OS X


Reboot, rerun Etrecheck see if the OS responds better.


Use it for a few hours to see if it remains OK (the report says the run time was 2 hours so take another report after roughly the same amount of time).


It seems like your Mac has used too much RAM which explains why it was slow - moving memory to disk & reading it back is a slow process & can cause the 'wait' cursor a.k.a. spinning beach ball.

Dec 12, 2017 11:56 AM in response to jdocherty

Your iMac is definitely starved for RAM.

Your hard drive runtime might get a little better once you remove the adware.


Your year and model iMac can ONLY take 16 GBs of RAM, max.

The late 2009- 2011 duo-core CPU Macs can only take up to 16 GBs of RAM.


You MUST use THE EXACT RAM that your model iMac is spec'd for.

and reliable Mac RAM can ONLY be purchased from online Mac RAM sources Crucial memory (crucial .com) or OWC, aka, Other World Computing (macsales.com).

When buying RAM for Macs from Crucial memory, purchase ONLY directly from the Crucial memory website. NOT from some other online source.


RAM modules are, relatively, easy to install.


Good Luck!

Dec 13, 2017 5:35 PM in response to jdocherty

You have some basic options for checking RAM usage…


Rerun Etrecheck and see what the 'swap' figure reports, that is a rough guide of memory that has exceeded your hardware. The list of apps that used RAM are also a rough guide.


A better option is to use Activity Monitor (found in /Applications/Utilities). That has a memory tab. Look at the graph at the bottom for a general overview, if that has a green line all is OK. If that is orange the OS is starting to run out of memory but is still OK. If the graph is red then the OS has used all available memory & been forced to use the disk to store that info (the memory may be needed again later so it could re read it from the disk too - another slow step).


This has the gory detailed explanation of modern memory handling on Macs…

OS X 10.9 Mavericks: The Ars Technica Review | Ars Technica

The second image shows the graph just beginning to use swap - the thin red part.


Once you see if the memory is the issue then you can decide to either install more modules or quit the Apps that are using all the memory.


The 'wait cursor' may also be because of other reasons, like a failing CPU, damaged disk etc. You should probably consider those too as all hardware will eventually fail.


Personally I find that all Macs with a spinning hard disk will show the spinning beach ball, it is partially the nature of those disks. Upgrading to a SSD may help, provided the other hardware is OK.

Dec 14, 2017 8:18 AM in response to jdocherty

Hello

Memory pressure is a red block and it's saying I've used 3.76 of 4GB ram? Can I delete cached files. Should I use time machine to go back to an earlier date? Or should I just reset the whole memory? I've deleted literally thousands of files and I'm now running high sierra OS X so everything seems to be up to date but it's not really made any difference, I've ran ethercheck and macbytes which have cleaned it up. The beachballing always appears after 5/10 mins no matter what.

Dec 14, 2017 11:51 AM in response to jdocherty

The 'memory pressure' cannot be altered by deleting files.


You are confusing memory & storage, a common mistake with computers.


Storage is all your files & the apps stored on the disk (or other USB, SD card storage etc). That data exists beyond reboots & is effectively permanent (until you choose to delete it).


Memory is the information the processor is working on it is not permanent. That is lost when you reboot & it gets recalculated or reloaded as required. That info is stored on memory chips that are much faster than hard disks but cost more to make.


The only way to reduce the amount of memory used is to do less with the Mac. Every app that is running uses some memory to 'think' about the tasks it is doing,


For example, Safari is storing the info about each open browser window, each open web page, each image, the scripts on the sites etc. Closing or quitting Safari should cause most of the memory to be released to other tasks.


If you want to post another Etrecheck report we can take another look to see if there are any things left behind or if there are any apps to consider removing or disabling on startup. I suspect it may simply be that 4GB of memory is too little for the tasks your Mac is running, have you looked at the RAM upgrade links posted earlier?

Dec 14, 2017 1:34 PM in response to jdocherty

Clearing data off of your Mac's hard drive is NOT the issue.

You need to purchase and install more RAM!

Newer versions of the Mac OS need a minimum, base RAM amount of 8 GBs, now!

The more RAM installed beyond this minimum amount, the better.

As I stated previously, your year and model iMac can take up to 16 GBs of RAM.

If you purchase and install (2) 4 GBs RAM modules, your iMac will have a total of 12 GBs of RAM!

This will make a difference in overall Mac performance.



Good Luck to You!

Dec 14, 2017 2:27 PM in response to jdocherty

I don't see much in the report that can alter your situation, there isn't a lot of items running on login or startup.


I would check Flash for updates as it appears there is an old copy installed. Check the Flash preferences pane in System Preferences. Personally I don't have Flash player installed anymore.


Also remove the login item as it appears to be out of date, there should be an 'Adobe switchboard monitor' item to remove in System Preferences > Users & groups, select your user account & then edit the login items.


The kernel (the part of the system that talks to the hardware) & Safari are the two largest processes that use up the memory. Quitting Safari may improve things a little but I suspect that is probably why you use the Mac. The kernel can't be altered so more memory is the best option if you can manage to do that (or find somewhere to fit it for you).

iMac suddenly running slow?

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