My Mac is running slow?

Hi
This is my first post on the forum having just joined (what have I been missing all this time!!).

I wonder can anyone help me my iMac is running extremely slow, I click on an icon on the dock and it just holds and sometimes doesn't even load. It is very frustrating, can anyone give me a guide please. I have cleaned the cache, deleted the plist. The finder disappeared but I have got that back. I double click on folders to open them and it holds for ages before it opens.
Help appreciated.

Apple has been making iMac's since 1998 (that's over 12 years)...you can imagine how many different model iMac's have been released!!!

Needless to say...we need more info on your iMac before any reasonable advice or suggestions can be made:

- model
- amount of ram
- how full is your hard drive
- have you had any other problems
- what OS version are you running
- etc. etc.

- Nick

Mac walking the marathon instead of running

Hi

Sorry, I should have put the information down:

- model (2.8 Intel Core 2 Duo)
- amount of ram (2 Gb)
- how full is your hard drive (117 GB free space)
- have you had any other problems (not as yet)
- what OS version are you running (10.6.5)

Caz

cazzanne said:

Hi

Sorry, I should have put the information down:

- model (2.8 Intel Core 2 Duo)
- amount of ram (2 Gb)
- how full is your hard drive (117 GB free space)
- have you had any other problems (not as yet)
- what OS version are you running (10.6.5)

Caz

Click to expand...

Ok...thanks for the info. Still could use a little more detail...but we can work with what was posted (being a newer iMac rather than a really old one)

Some thoughts:

- When was the last time you repaired permissions (Disk Utility)?
- How often do you restart your computer versus putting it to sleep when you're done?
- How many programs do you usually have open at once (and what are they)?
- When you experience these slow-downs...open "Activity Monitor"...and see what your ram usage is like (% of total ram used) & what cpu processes are active (total % of cpu resources used).

HTH,

- Nick

I only restart in the morning and never put it to sleep
I am usually running Firefox, Text Editor and 1Password
Trying to load "Activity Monitor" but just bounced in dock and does nothing

and now I am trying to load a jdownloader and that is now just hanging.

cazzanne said:

I only restart in the morning and never put it to sleep
I am usually running Firefox, Text Editor and 1Password
Trying to load "Activity Monitor" but just bounced in dock and does nothing

and now I am trying to load a jdownloader and that is now just hanging.

Click to expand...

Is your hard drive making any strange sounds? From the way you describe things...the slowness could be a hard drive that is failing or about to fail.

If you haven't already...I would recommend backing up any important files immediately (just in case). Then I would restart the computer...and then try to load "Activity Monitor" again. There's no real reason why Activity Monitor shouldn't load.

Three more ideas:

- do you have a bunch of stuff in your trash can (and haven't emptied the trash)?
- do you have a LOT of stuff scattered on your desktop? This can sometimes slow things down.
- could you possibly have deleted a bunch of "system" files by accident?

If none of these ideas is the problem...then things may point back to a bad hard drive. Which would mean the HD needs to be replaced. If you still have Applecare warranty left...then this should be covered. If no more Applecare...you can do it yourself (see procedure at iFixit.com)...but it's not necessarily easy of you're not familiar with computer repair/disassembly.

HTH,

- Nick

Hi Nick

I don't think it is the hard drive, I empty the trash regularly and I don't have loads of stuff on the desktop. Managed to run the Activity Monitor:

CPU
% User 0.75
% System 1
% Idle 98.5
Threads 230
Processes 56

System Memory
Free 663
Wired 149
Active 501
Inactive 733
Used 1.35 gb

Disk Usage
125 gb left


I am now thinking it could be systems files because I remembered that a couple of days ago I was syncing my iPhone with iTunes and it all locked up for ages so had to do a hard re-set and the problem started since then. Yesterday, I had to reinstall the Magic Mouse but it still wouldn't work the system said it needed 10.5 or higher which I already have. I managed to get jDownloader working. Do you think re-installing the system files is the way to go?
Caz

Now that you (I'm assuming) restarted your computer...and the "Activity Monitor" info looks pretty typical for a "freshly" restarted computer (before any apps. have been launched)...Here's what I would do.

As you launch applications, and go thru the day...if you start to notice slow-downs...go to "Activity Monitor" and see what applications are using up a lot of CPU resources (currently your post says that your CPU is 98.5 idle).

Sometimes what happens is...one or two applications can be "using up" a lot of cpu resources...causing everything else to slow down. Even if it's something you may have done hours before. If this is the case...you can either quit the application...or click on the specific activity (in the Activity Monitor list)...and select "Quit Process" (red button, top left of the Activity Monitor window).

As far as the the OS updates. Usually OS updates don't cause these sort of problems. So I wouldn't do an OS reinstall other than a last resort. Not only is it very time consuming...but many times unnecessary.

Good luck,

- Nick

Hi Nick

It got to the last resort because updates would not install and saying not compatible and nearly started smoking again! So I did do an OS installation the one that keeps your files and settings which has sorted the problems out as in I have just done a software update which downloaded a couple of gig of updates, updated the system and we have lift off and now running as fast as the day I bought it.

Great forum, thanks for all the invaluable help and hope to be a contributing part to it in the future.

PS heads stuck in a Mac Book.

Caz

cazzanne said:

Hi Nick

It got to the last resort because updates would not install and saying not compatible and nearly started smoking again! So I did do an OS installation the one that keeps your files and settings which has sorted the problems out as in I have just done a software update which downloaded a couple of gig of updates, updated the system and we have lift off and now running as fast as the day I bought it.

Great forum, thanks for all the invaluable help and hope to be a contributing part to it in the future.

PS heads stuck in a Mac Book.

Caz

Click to expand...

I usually like to try the less time consuming avenues first...but if a fresh install of the OS did it...great! Glad to hear your computer is "speedy" again!

- Nick