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User profile for user: jasonline
jasonline Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

MacBook Pro (mid-2010) on Sierra is running extremely slow. Is this normal and expected?

Below is the EtreCheck report generated from my laptop. My laptop boots up very slow (> 5 minutes), often hangs during boot up and I have to restart it and the second time, always boots up successfully although still slow (> 5 minutes). Running an application or opening a file (e.g. in Excel) takes a lot of time (e.g. maybe 30 seconds at least). I also notice Chrome having several tabs consumes a lot of memory and may have contributed to the slowness, though my laptop only has 4 gb of RAM. I feel the higher the OS version becomes, the greater hardware it requires thus slowing down my laptop. Is this also what everyone feels? If not, can someone advise what could be the problem from the EtreCheck below? I had already reformatted my macOS a few months back but after a few days, it became slow again. I know my machine is a bit old but I didn't expect it to be this slow.

EtreCheck version: 4.1.3 (4A188)

Report generated: 2018-03-21 21:46:26

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 8:09

Performance: Below Average


Problem: Computer is too slow


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.


Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Low performance - EtreCheck report took over 5 minutes to run. This is unusual.

Vintage hardware - This machine may be considered vintage.


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) - Vintage!

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro7,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Duo) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 491


Video Information:

NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800


Drives:

disk0 - Hitachi HTS545025B9SA02 250.06 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 1.5 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 249.20 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB


Mounted Volumes:

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD 249.20 GB (98.15 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /


Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en3: iPhone

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en2: Bluetooth PAN

iCloud Quota: 1.08 GB available


System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)

Time since boot: About an hour

System Load: 2.14 (1 min ago) 3.34 (5 min ago) 3.24 (15 min ago)


Security:

SystemStatus
GatekeeperMac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity ProtectionEnabled


Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ReceiverHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/ReceiverHelper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ServiceRecords.app/Contents/MacOS/ServiceRecords

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.citrix.ctxusbd.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver/ctxusbd

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/AuthManager_Mac.app/Contents/MacOS/AuthManager_Mac

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK


Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver

[Not Loaded] CitrixGUSB.kext (Citrix Systems, Inc., 12.4.0 - SDK 10.9)


System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 172 Apple tasks
[Running] 110 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 37 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 182 Apple tasks
[Running] 112 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[Running] com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist (? 8e6543d - installed 2016-11-10)
[Loaded] com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist (? 1ce99fae - installed 2016-11-10)
[Running] com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist (? bbfad3f1 - installed 2016-11-10)


Launch Daemons:

[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e - installed 2010-08-25)
[Loaded] com.citrix.ctxusbd.plist (? 44dc9c9f - installed 2016-11-10)


User Launch Agents:

[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-02-04)
[Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-12-27)


User Login Items:

Skype Application

(/Applications/Skype.app)

CleanMyMac 3 Menu Application (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-12-27)

(/Applications/CleanMyMac 3.app/Contents/MacOS/CleanMyMac 3 Menu.app)

Google Chrome Application (Google, Inc.

(/Applications/Google Chrome.app)


Internet Plug-ins:

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.0.0 (installed 2010-08-26)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-02-18)

CitrixICAClientPlugIn: 12.4.0 (installed 2017-02-09)


Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count)Source% of CPU
sandboxdApple14
kernel_taskApple11
Google Chrome Helper (20)Google, Inc.9
Google ChromeGoogle, Inc.5
WindowServerApple2


Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count)SourceRAM usage
Google Chrome Helper (20)Google, Inc.1.62 GB
kernel_taskApple466 MB
Google ChromeGoogle, Inc.189 MB
mdworker (9)Apple158 MB
Skype60 MB


Top Processes by Network Use:

ProcessSourceInputOutput
Skype37 KB42 KB
mDNSResponderApple59 KB14 KB
apsdApple7 KB10 KB
netbiosdApple2 KB2 KB
SystemUIServerApple0 B128 B


Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count)SourceEnergy usage (0-100)
Google Chrome Helper (20)Google, Inc.6
Google ChromeGoogle, Inc.3
WindowServerApple3
coreaudiodApple1
sysmondApple0


Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM859 MB
Free RAM64 MB
Used RAM3.16 GB
Cached files796 MB
Swap Used2 MB


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-03-19 14:36:51 Citrix Receiver.app Hang (once)


End of report

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 21, 2018 7:12 AM

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User profile for user: Allan Jones
Allan Jones
User level: Level 9
68,774 points

Posted on Mar 21, 2018 5:07 PM

You do not have enough RAM to have Google Chrome in your User log-in items. Look at "Top Processes by Memory Use."

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count) Source RAM usage
Google Chrome Helper (20) Google, Inc. 1.62 GB
kernel_task Apple 466 MB
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 189 MB

Chrome and its minion helps are using 45 percent of your 4GB of RAM. Chrome is a well-known resource hog on both Mac and Wiindows computers. If you must use Chrome, consider adding RAM. You MBP can use up to 8GB RAM and it is user-upgradeable.


Beyond that there is not a lot you can do from a hardware standpoint. Upgrading to an SSD is a lot fo money for a 2010 computer. Plus your SATA hard drive bus speed is a very slow 1.5GBps. An SSD would help a little but, on that slow bus, I don't think the performance increase would compare well to cost.


Based on the vendor I use for Mac upgrades, upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD of equivalent size to your current drive would be around $200 for parts. Both are easy to install but, if you feel you cannot to it yourself, you are looking at about one hour of labor. I use US$60 an hour when estimating labor costs.

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User profile for user: Allan Jones
Allan Jones
User level: Level 9
68,774 points

Mar 21, 2018 5:07 PM in response to jasonline

You do not have enough RAM to have Google Chrome in your User log-in items. Look at "Top Processes by Memory Use."

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count) Source RAM usage
Google Chrome Helper (20) Google, Inc. 1.62 GB
kernel_task Apple 466 MB
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 189 MB

Chrome and its minion helps are using 45 percent of your 4GB of RAM. Chrome is a well-known resource hog on both Mac and Wiindows computers. If you must use Chrome, consider adding RAM. You MBP can use up to 8GB RAM and it is user-upgradeable.


Beyond that there is not a lot you can do from a hardware standpoint. Upgrading to an SSD is a lot fo money for a 2010 computer. Plus your SATA hard drive bus speed is a very slow 1.5GBps. An SSD would help a little but, on that slow bus, I don't think the performance increase would compare well to cost.


Based on the vendor I use for Mac upgrades, upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD of equivalent size to your current drive would be around $200 for parts. Both are easy to install but, if you feel you cannot to it yourself, you are looking at about one hour of labor. I use US$60 an hour when estimating labor costs.

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User profile for user: Allan Jones
Allan Jones
User level: Level 9
68,774 points

Mar 22, 2018 8:21 AM in response to jasonline

You're falling for the typical marketing ploy of scammers masquerading as software developers. They use fear as a marketing tool.


Almost all these companies aim their useless Mac products at switchers from Windows, who have been brow-beaten for decades into believing no computer can work without steaming plies of third-party utilities. Bottom line: todays macOS is very robust and capable of caring for itself. The only utilties I recommend are Etrecheck, which you have already fpund, and MalwareBytes. Both were devloped by highly respectd and long-serving membes of these forums.


The only Mac user who will benefit from "cleaning/tune-up/optimizing" apps is the one who wants his computer to run much slower.

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User profile for user: Grant Bennet-Alder
Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10
127,423 points

Mar 22, 2018 8:56 AM in response to jasonline

There are new versions of Safari and FireFox that are each more resource-efficient that Google Chrome.


To run ElCapitan and later in a appropriately responsive way, your Mac needs MORE than 4GB RAM. Since you 13-in model "shares display RAM with main RAM", some RAM has been set aside for the screen buffer, so available RAM is in ever shorter supply.


Your computer is stuck in a performance Rut. It needs more real RAM, so it simulates that RAM on your slower Hard drive. Your Mac appears to be upgradeable to as much as 16GB RAM. Adding any more than you have gets you out of the performance Rut. Additional RAM (beyond that next step) may be nice, but will not give you a dramatic performance increase.


Standard RAM: 4 GB Maximum RAM: 16 GB*



Details: 4 GB of RAM pre-installed as two 2 GB modules, no slots free.
*Originally, both the official and actual maximum RAM was 8 GB. However, as confirmed by site sponsor OWC, if running OS X 10.7.5 or higher, updated with the latest EFI, and equipped with proper specification memory modules, this model can support up to 16 GB of RAM.

from:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.4- aluminum-13-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html


In the US, you can replace one 2GB DIMM with a 4GB DIMM (to get to 6GB total) for under US$45. (double that if you replace both) and an 8GB DIMM can be had for under US$80 (double that if you replace both).


These computers will run fine with mis-matched sizes, and any slowdown is far below human levels of perception.

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MacBook Pro (mid-2010) on Sierra is running extremely slow. Is this normal and expected?

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