Weird wired memory usage and other weird …

Posted on Nov 23, 2018 7:18 AM

Time since boot: Less than an hour

Available RAM 261 MB

Swap Used 1.57 GB

In less than an hour, you have loaded so much stuff into RAM that you have used 1.57 Gigabytes of Swap space.

Your Macbook Air ONLY has 2GB of RAM, which is a bare minimum for El Capitan. This configuration cannot support all the background kernel extensions, launch agents, launch daemons and user login items you have running on your Mac.

In addition, you do not have much free space. On an SSD this is not as critical as on a rotating disk, but you do risk running down to zero and not being able to create more Swap space, which will force macOS to kill processes if it cannot add additional swap files when you ask the Mac to do more work.

Another issue is:

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Battery: Health = Replace Now - Cycle count = 1414

macOS may actually throttle your Mac's performance if it things the battery is getting too low to extend how long the battery will last on the current charge. Your battery is sufficiently old and has experienced so many recharge cycles, it is going to be a handicap when you are not attached to the power adapter. While the battery can be replaced, I do not think it is worth the cost (see arguments below).

The Macbook Air RAM cannot be increased. I think the SSD storage can be increased <http://MacSales.com>, but without more RAM, I'm not sure it is worth the cost. Your Macbook Air is 7 years old, and I think you should be considering getting a new Mac.

Based on all the kernel extensions, launch agents and daemons, I suspect you do not "Just" surf the web and do email. So I think you might want to be thinking about a replacement Mac if you wish to continue using all the things you currently have installed.

But until you decide to get a new Mac, you should go through the EtreCheck report and uninstall as many of the times called out in the sections:

Kernel Extensions:
Launch Agents:
User Launch Agents:
User Login Items:

View in context

Nov 24, 2018 5:47 AM in response to BobHarris

Here's the newest EtreCheck, just in case it's useful:

EtreCheck version: 5.0.2 (5015)

Report generated: 2018-11-24 21:25:45

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 7:04

Performance: Below Average

Sandbox: Enabled

Full drive access: Disabled

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Low RAM - This machine has insufficient RAM.

Minor Issues:

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

Low disk space - This machine is running low on free hard drive space.

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files 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.

Heavy I/O usage - Your system is under heavy I/O use. This will reduce your performance.

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

Hardware Information:

MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2011) - Vintage!

MacBook Air Model: MacBookAir4,1

1 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2467M) CPU: 2-core

2 GB RAM - Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 1 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 1 GB DDR3 1333 ok

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1415

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 288 MB

Color LCD 1366 x 768

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE SSD TS064C 60.67 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

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

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 59.81 GB

disk1 - M*******h (Journaled HFS+) 59.44 GB (48.95 GB used)

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

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - M*******h 59.44 GB (10.22 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Network:

Interface usbmodemFA130: MT65xx Preloader 2

Interface usbmodemFD110: MT65xx Preloader

Interface en0: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

Interface en4: iPhone

System Software:

OS X El Capitan 10.11 (15A284)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

Configuration Files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 40

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Enabled
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.paragon-software.facebook.agent.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Paragon Software/Paragon Software Facebook Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/Paragon Software Facebook Agent