mac running very slow!!!

Hi guys, I need some help!!!.. My macbook pro has today become very very slow to the point where it is taking up to 4-5 mins plus to do any task like open a folder, search etc and it even hangs now for a lifetime !!
i am usin 10.6 on an intel core duo 2.33 with 70gig left on the HD and have 2gig ram installed. I did recently download a few graphics files from down eu yesterday and was wondering if by any chance the mac has been infected with a bug or virus?? and if so how to get rid of it and get my system back to normal asap. I use all adobe cs4 products but at the minute the whole system is so slow, - i am also wondering which is the best anti-virus software for mac out there? i have been told sophos product is good but can anyone here advise?? - can anyone offer any help??
many thanks
cd

There are no viruses that run in OS X. I don't even believe there are any Windows viruses that effect Windows in such a way as to just slow everthing to a crawl.

Why does everyone think anything they don't understand must be a virus?

The most likely explanation is that your hard drive is on it's last legs. I would suggest you immediately try to back up your system if you have not already done so.

You could try booting with your original disc and run the Apple Hardware Test, (although, it doesn't always indicate hard drive problems), but if it were me, I'd start looking for a new drive.

Edit: just as an FYI: the couple of Trojans out there are DNS re-directors. They will cause your browser to go to a site other than the one you're trying to get to. And you still have to give them your master password in order to install.

mac running slow!!

hi, thanks for getting back to me..I have backed everything important on to an external 2TB drive so everything is safe..I was only asking if it could be a virus as articles on cnet and other sites say that viruses are indeed being targeted at macs now and a trojan was indeed doing the rounds on pirated ilife software etc.. I never have had problems like this before on macs in over 15 years but i do know that corrupt fonts especially will crash a sytem and make it work and operate slowly..
I was looking at upgrading my HD as you suggest as well as another gig of ram..would that give me a few years more life as to replace a 17" mac book pro at the minute is costly..
thanks
cd

Well, as you can see under my pic, I'm also still using a 2.33 machine. I already upgraded mine to 4GB of RAM (even though it can only actually use 3) and a 320GB drive a couple of years ago.

It's still doing everything well enough that I use it for and I'm currently considering an upgrade to a larger and faster drive. I'm thinking this machine may well do me for another couple of years. And that for me is just amazing, as I've never kept a single computer prior to this one for even 2 years in the last 20.

If you're still using the original 5400 rpm drive that shipped with it, you'll be delightedly surprised by the speed bump a 320 or 500GB 7200rpm drive will give you.

Edit: yep I've seen strange issues reported pertaining to corrupted fonts, while never experiencing them. But, if you're having the spinning wheel come up while just trying to open any app, or trying to open a folder in Finder and waiting several minutes, that's one of the pretty typical hard drive issues. Had one fail like that earlier this year in one of my Win machines here. WD had a replacement shipped to my house in 2 days, no hassle at all.

slow mac!!

many thanks for your reply and info, its very much appreciated.. I was indeed considering a 500gig 7200rpm drive with another 1gig ram so like yourself i will hope it will give me a few more years of life to do work on!!..I have a company here who will install both for me as im not technically minded for replacing hardware etc..is there any benefit from adding 4 gig ram when it can only use 3???..
thanks again for your help
cd

Only that I read several places I trusted for reviews, if you keep matching pairs, it will still make use of the dual channel capability even though it can only use the 3GB worth. The 4GB kit was cheap enough and at the time, the Corsair memory I went with had a lower CAS rating than any other memory on the market and were only selling them in matched pairs. As an old hardware enthusiast, that was about all I needed to hear. I think all the other major memory manufacturers have caught up to them since.

The drives that most are recommending are the WD Black and the Hitachi.
I've also been eying the Seagate Solid State Hybrid, a little more expensive, but another member has just recently sprung for it and you can read some on it here.

After 2 weeks of using my mbp all day long, and only turning it off once, I have noticed 1 important thing, which stood out A LOT to me; since I run my macbook off a full charge, and run it off battery after that, I usually get a couple of hours in between that I don't use it, which puts it in sleep mode. With the regular drive, I could get about 7 hours of stop-and-go use. With this drive, for example, it was fully charged at 6:30 am when I left for class. Used it on and off during class for about 2 hours, then got home and used it for about 45 minutes. Closed the lid for about 3 hours. Then used it again for 1 hour before closing it again. And now, I opened it to pull y essay from it. Its been running off the battery for 13 and 1/2 hours, has yet to be plugged in to charge, and still shows 2:06 remaining on the battery life. Wifi is always on. I know 2 hours seems to be a bit much, so I will pretend it actually says 1:30 left, which is STILL amazing. That's a dang long time to keep a laptop in battery mode when it's battery was only averaged 5-6 hours of normal use from apple's own statistics.

Simply put, I'm 100% confident this drive, with it's own onboard power management system, makes my battery last longer! I also haven't had a single problem with it. Runs super fast for a drive(which might help with the op's problem). I shouldn't have read all those problems on the seagate forums...got me all nervous for nothing. This drive is awesome! I give this drive 2 toes and thumbs up!

ohh...I wrote a lot...

bobtomay said:

Well, as you can see under my pic, I'm also still using a 2.33 machine. I already upgraded mine to 4GB of RAM (even though it can only actually use 3) and a 320GB drive a couple of years ago.

It's still doing everything well enough that I use it for and I'm currently considering an upgrade to a larger and faster drive. I'm thinking this machine may well do me for another couple of years. And that for me is just amazing, as I've never kept a single computer prior to this one for even 2 years in the last 20.

If you're still using the original 5400 rpm drive that shipped with it, you'll be delightedly surprised by the speed bump a 320 or 500GB 7200rpm drive will give you.

Edit: yep I've seen strange issues reported pertaining to corrupted fonts, while never experiencing them. But, if you're having the spinning wheel come up while just trying to open any app, or trying to open a folder in Finder and waiting several minutes, that's one of the pretty typical hard drive issues. Had one fail like that earlier this year in one of my Win machines here. WD had a replacement shipped to my house in 2 days, no hassle at all.

Click to expand...

If you listed your specs correctly, your machine can see 4GB of RAM (unless of course the mobo itself can't see more than 3). It's a core 2 duo, definitely 64 bit capable, and even if you're still on leopard, many aspects of that system ran in 64 bit too.

Obviously your unit is one of those.