I have a MacBook Pro mid-2012 13" running very slowly, constantly beachballing

Question

I have a MacBook Pro mid-2012 13" running very slowly, constantly beachballing

Can anyone help? I did the recommended etrecheck.com report ... here are the final results:

EtreCheck version: 4.3.6 (4D041)

Report generated: 2018-08-21 19:58:36

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 8:57

Performance: Below Average

Problem: Beachballing

Description:

every application is running slowly

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.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

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

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

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 315

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS547550A9E384 500.11 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

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

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 499.25 GB

disk1 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 498.88 GB

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

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - Macintosh HD 498.88 GB (184.49 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Encrypted

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en4: iPad

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.84 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

System Load: 1.37 (1 min ago) 1.77 (5 min ago) 1.67 (15 min ago)

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

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/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

32-bit Applications:

35 32-bit apps

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded]	8 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	180 Apple tasks
[Running]	105 Apple tasks
[Other]	One Apple task

System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded]	36 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	184 Apple tasks
[Running]	117 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:

[Running]	com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-28)
[Not Loaded]	com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 - installed 2018-02-25)
[Not Loaded]	com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-25)
[Loaded]	com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? 3521b9e0 - installed 2016-12-12)
[Other]	com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-18)

Launch Daemons:

[Loaded]	com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-18)
[Loaded]	com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple - installed 2018-07-04)
[Loaded]	com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-28)
[Loaded]	com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-07-27)
[Loaded]	com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e - installed 2011-03-10)
[Loaded]	com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? e3fefdd2 - installed 2016-12-13)
[Running]	com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-25)
[Loaded]	com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-18)
[Running]	com.adobe.agmservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-25)

User Launch Agents:

[Other]	com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-25)
[Loaded]	com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2018-04-12)
[Other]	com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.notify.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)
[Other]	com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.Helper.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)
[Loaded]	com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-02-05)
[Other]	com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.autostart.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)
[Not Loaded]	com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-25)

User Login Items:

AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-07-26)

(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple - installed 2018-08-04)

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

Dropbox Application (? - installed 2018-08-21)

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

J8RPQ294UB.com.skitch.SkitchHelper SMLoginItem (Mac App Store - installed 2018-07-01)

(/Applications/Skitch.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/J8RPQ294UB.com.skitch.Skit chHelper.app)

PhotoStreamAgent SMLoginItem (Mac App Store - installed 2015-03-25)

(/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PhotoStreamAgent.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobeAAMDetect: (installed 2018-02-28)

FlashPlayer-10.6: (installed 2018-08-21)

QuickTime Plugin: (installed 2018-08-04)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: (installed 2018-07-26)

AdobePDFViewer: (installed 2018-07-26)

Flash Player: (installed 2018-08-21)

SharePointBrowserPlugin: (installed 2013-12-08)

Silverlight: (installed 2016-03-20)

JavaAppletPlugin: (installed 2017-02-09)

User Internet Plug-ins:

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: (installed 2013-04-25)

Safari Extensions:

Adblock Plus.safariextz - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2016-12-25)

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2018-07-27)

Java (installed 2017-02-09)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count)	Source	% of CPU	Location
mdworker (28)	Apple	33
WindowServer	Apple	9
sandboxd	Apple	5
mds_stores	Apple	4
kernel_task	Apple	4

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count)	Source	RAM usage	Location
mdworker (48)	Apple	858 MB
kernel_task	Apple	550 MB
Safari	Apple	259 MB
Dropbox (3)	Dropbox, Inc.	141 MB
mds_stores	Apple	139 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:

Process	Source	Input	Output	Location
ocspd	Apple	8 MB	396 B
mDNSResponder	Apple	98 KB	72 KB
Dropbox	Dropbox, Inc.	68 KB	45 KB
apsd	Apple	6 KB	6 KB
netbiosd	Apple	6 KB	2 KB

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count)	Source	Energy (0-100)	Location
mdworker (48)	Apple	6
ocspd	Apple	4
WindowServer	Apple	3
trustd (4)	Apple	1
mds_stores	Apple	1

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM	956 MB
Free RAM	15 MB
Used RAM	3.07 GB
Cached files	941 MB
Swap Used	60 MB

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Name	Version	Install Date
Adobe Acrobat DC (18.011.20055)	18.011.20055	2018-07-26
Paper	1.26	2018-08-04
Evernote	7.2.1	2018-08-04
Scrivener 3	3.0.3	2018-08-04
iTunes	12.8	2018-08-04
Gatekeeper Configuration Data	152	2018-08-21
Adobe Flash Player	30.0.0.154	2018-08-21

Clean up:

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.autostart.plist

/Applications/ZipCloud.app/Contents/Resources/Utility.app

Executable not found

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.Helper.plist

/Applications/MacKeeper.app/Contents/Services/MacKeeper Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/MacKeeper Helper

Executable not found

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.notify.plist

/Applications/ZipCloud.app/Contents/Resources/Utility.app

Executable not found

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-08-21 19:33:44 DesktopServicesHelper Crash (3 times)

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Resou rces/DesktopServicesHelper

End of report

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), mid- 2012

Posted on Aug 21, 2018 5:34 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

127,237 points

Aug 21, 2018 9:41 PM in response to leahfromoldsmar

You do not have enough RAM to read emails, never mind use fancy Adobe tools. ElCappitan and later need 6GB or more for appropriately responsive operation. your is upgradeable according to etrecheck. You can likely run up to two 8GB DIMMs.

You have a bunch of junk loaded:

User Launch Agents:

[Other] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-25)

[Loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2018-04-12)

[Other] com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.notify.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)

[Other] com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.Helper.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)

[Loaded] com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-02-05)

[Other] com.jdibackup.ZipCloud.autostart.plist (? 0 - installed 2016-04-18)

[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-25)

MacKeeper is considered by many readers here to be pay-for-malware. It has no place on your already well-protected and self-maintaining Macintosh computer.

Cloud backup is not adequate for your only backup, despite what ZipClound and dropbox are telling you. The files are beyond your control, and subject to the whims and problems of another company. If you were to need to restore everything, and it were still available (which is not guaranteed) it could take in excess of three days.

You need a local disk Drive, and Apple provides a free Time Machine built into MacOS.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 21, 2018 9:41 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you for your comments, but you can save the attitude. I’m not purposely keeping a “bunch of junk” loaded on there, as your tone implies. I brought the Etrecheck report here seeking guidance because I have no idea what any of it means.

If everyone one on here is as rude as you, then this will be the last time I use this forum. You’re even being rude to the other reader who commented, accusing him/her of “thread-jacking.” PLEASE LEAVE MY THREAD.

Reply

Answer 3

Aug 22, 2018 5:52 AM in response to leahfromoldsmar

I’m not purposely keeping a “bunch of junk” loaded on there

"junk" in this context is stuff that may be perfectly good, but you do not happen to need right now. Like stuff in your Attic.

It does not make sense to use up current computer resources, all day every day, running stuff you do not need.

No pejorative "attitude" was intended, I am just a geek who is prone to hyperbole.

Reply

Answer 4

Aug 22, 2018 7:08 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

And I had no intention of being pugilist in the middle of the night, but it sounded like you were talking down to me. And to the other reader.

I’m widowed. I write full time from home, so I literally rely on that MacBook Pro to put food on the table. And the fancy Adobe apps. I’m not an idiot. I have a Masters degree and I am a semester into my PhD.

I have the Time Capsule but I don’t have the money for an external hard drive, more RAM or an SSD. I was hoping it was something easy that I could fix. I have no idea what I can delete and what I need to keep for the system to run.

Reply

Answer 5

Aug 22, 2018 7:16 AM in response to CASPER711

The problem was clearly pointed out. Read the thread contents. Your problem may or may not be the same but you never provided any details of your problem or the situation, or your system. Start your own thread.

Reply

Answer 6

Aug 22, 2018 7:21 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Hey Bob, did you happen to read my entire response? It has nothing to do with how smart I “believe” I am. I don’t know what’s junk and what I need. And you can also save the attitude. I came here for the very first (and last) time looking for help. Not to be belittled.

Reply

Answer 7

Aug 22, 2018 7:42 AM in response to leahfromoldsmar

And we volunteer our time trying to help those who need and want help, not to be lectured on how smart one is. You were told what is affecting your computer and even provided a list of junk that needed to be cleaned up. Instead of asking about how to go about the cleanup task you proceeded to try to belittle us by telling us how smart you think you are. I wish you all the best in getting your computer working correctly.

Just a word of advice. Try to work with the next volunteer who tries to help you instead of telling them they have "attitude" and that you are a genius, because you are no smarter than anyone else here. You told two of us we have "attitude" when we volunteer freely to try to help you. Who has the "attitude"?

Reply

Answer 8

Aug 22, 2018 9:11 AM in response to leahfromoldsmar

For more responsiveness, you can do something for "free".

https://www.macworld.com/article/2861435/software-utilities/how-to-uninstall-mac keeper-from-your-mac.html

This next minimal step that would improve responsiveness a lot:

When you do not have quite enough RAM, MacOS simulates the additional required RAM on the boot drive. A really great speedup is to get above 6GB. Your Mac has two RAM sockets each of which can hold a 2GB, 4GB or 8GB DIMM. These can be replaced by the each DIMM. You will see online that Vendors say this is not optimal, and they are correct. But the penalty is under 5 percent in memory testing, and near-negligible in real-work performance.

For under US$40 in the US, you could replace one of your 2GB DIMMs with a 4GB DIMM, and get above the performance bottleneck of too-little real RAM. Your disk drive would be used less often, and your Mac would run faster and cooler.

Standard RAM: 4 GB Maximum RAM: 16 GB*

Details: 4 GB of RAM is installed as two 2 GB modules, no slots free.
*Apple officially supports a maximum of 8 GB of RAM, but third-parties have determined that this model actually is capable of using up to 16 GB of RAM with two 8 GB memory modules.
In the US (and many other countries), site sponsor Other World Computing sells memory -- as well as other upgrades -- for this MacBook Pro.
In the UK, site sponsor Flexx sells memory and other upgrades for this MacBook Pro.
In Australia, site sponsor RamCity sells memory and other upgrades for this MacBook Pro.
In Southeast Asia, site sponsor SimplyMac.sg sells memory and other upgrades for this MacBook Pro.

from:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.5-13- mid-2012-unibody-usb3-specs.html

If anything I have said sounds like "word salad" to you, just ask and I would be happy to elaborate.

Reply

Answer 9

Aug 21, 2018 8:07 PM in response to CASPER711

CASPER711

Readers would be happy to read and interpret your Etrecheck report, provided you start a new thread, and do not thread-jack this one:

User Tip: Using Etrecheck

.

Reply

Answer 10

Aug 21, 2018 7:03 PM in response to leahfromoldsmar

did you ever find out what the problem was....i'm having the same issues ......

Reply

Answer 11

Aug 22, 2018 7:14 AM in response to leahfromoldsmar

Regardless of how smart you believe you are, you still have junk on your computer. Do the things already suggested including deleting the junk.

Reply

Answer 12

Aug 22, 2018 9:17 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you! This I think I can do. Is MacKeeper something that I installed or something that came with it? I’ve tried to be careful about what I put on there.

Reply

Answer 13

Aug 22, 2018 9:19 AM in response to leahfromoldsmar

You must agree to it being installed. Having said that they are known to use social engineering to gain that permission which is another reason I hate them besides their terrible code.

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I have a MacBook Pro mid-2012 13" running very slowly, constantly beachballing

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