Slow System

I am new to the Mac world since January. Windows was not cutting it.

My Mac Pro is OS X Yosemite is very slow at loading web pages. The only program I know of that is running in the background is Adblock. Is there a way to check for other programs that might be running in the background ?

I used OnyX this morning to clean my system but that did not make any difference.

Any advice you can throw at me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Chilimon said:

My Mac Pro is OS X Yosemite is very slow at loading web pages.

Click to expand...

- Are we really talking about a Mac Pro desktop computer…or the MacBook Pro listed in your profile?
- We could use your computers specs.
- And let us know how full the computers storage is (gigs used & gigs free).

* Nick

pigoo3 said:

- Are we really talking about a Mac Pro desktop computer…or the MacBook Pro listed in your profile?
- We could use your computers specs.
- And let us know how full the computers storage is (gigs used & gigs free).

* Nick

Click to expand...

Here is the info; If you need anything more specific, let me know

Mac Book Pro (Retina, 15" mid 2014) Yosemite Version 10.10.3 (Laptop)
Processor 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Graphics Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB
Memory 16 GB
249 GB Hard Drive, 33 GB used, 216 GB available
Microsoft Office loaded
Firewall enabled
WiFi - Linksys Router

To check on what is running - Open Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor -> Click on the CPU tab then click on the %CPU column to toggle them from hi to low. This will tell you what is using up CPU cycles.

Then in the same app click on the Memory tab and the memory column to toggle it from hi to low usage.

That will tell you what is going on. Let us know what you are seeing.

Lisa

Chilimon said:

Here is the info; If you need anything more specific, let me know...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Everything looks fine.

Looking back at your first post...the problem seemed to be slow internet page loading. Please keep in mind...slow internet...can be the result of two things.

- Maybe your internet connection was then (or is now) slow when you noticed the slow web page loading. Internet connection speeds can vary...especially if your internet connection is a cable modem via your cable company.
- Maybe the web pages you're trying to visit are busy themsleves. If they're busy...then webpage loading for all visitors to that webpage will be slow or slower than normal.

Now if you said that you had two computers side-by-side each other in your home. And they both were fairly new models & fast. And one was loading the exact same webage much faster (or slower) than the other computer. Then this could indicate the slower computer could have an issue.

Finally. You can test your internet connection speed using the website speedtest.net:

- Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

You can test your computers connection when things seem slow. And then test things when things seems normal. Then compare the speeds.

- Nick

lclev said:

To check on what is running - Open Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor -> Click on the CPU tab then click on the %CPU column to toggle them from hi to low. This will tell you what is using up CPU cycles.

Then in the same app click on the Memory tab and the memory column to toggle it from hi to low usage.

That will tell you what is going on. Let us know what you are seeing.

Lisa

Click to expand...

In the %CPU Column, everything was 0.0 except for the activity monitor which was 0.9, Chrome o.1. Finder0.1

Ok, in the Memory Tab, I found about 5 things using over 100 MB, Google Chrome Helper using 230 MB, I need to stop some of those items from running in the background so how do I stop them and from restarting ?

Chilimon said:

In the %CPU Column, everything was 0.0 except for the activity monitor which was 0.9, Chrome o.1. Finder0.1

Ok, in the Memory Tab, I found about 5 things using over 100 MB, Google Chrome Helper using 230 MB, I need to stop some of those items from running in the background so how do I stop them and from restarting ?

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong or unusual with those numbers. Nothing to worry about.

- Nick

Average Download speed is 9.29 Mbps

Average Upload Speed 6.07 Mbps

I agree with Nick, your cpu and memory numbers sound fine. As for your internet speed - I wish mine were that good. I live in a very rural area with very slow ADSL (1.7 Mbps/447Kbps) which is a small step up from dial up. So your number look great to me!

Obviously, others will have faster access but your speed is good enough to not cause lag in webpage loading. Not sure what the problem is.

Just curious - you are not running any antivirus programs are you?

Lisa

lclev said:

As for your internet speed - I wish mine were that good. I live in a very rural area with very slow ADSL (1.7 Mbps/447Kbps) which is a small step up from dial up. So your number look great to me!

Click to expand...

Lisa. Are you saying you don't have the option of getting cable modem service via someone like Time Warner?

- Nick

No anti-virus running. I did notice Chrome Helper was listed 4 times under the memory tab though chewing up more memory than what it should I would think.

I did find out that if I have the Laptop turned on for a while (5 to 6 hours or longer), once I restart it, then the web pages load faster like when I first got the laptop.

pigoo3 said:

Lisa. Are you saying you don't have the option of getting cable modem service via someone like Time Warner?

- Nick

Click to expand...

No and not likely in the near future. There is Time Warner 1 mile north of my farm and 2 miles south. They will not run fiber optic up my road - too costly for the limited number of homes on my road. I have Dish TV. I tried satellite internet but at $80/month and throttling if I dared to stream any videos well it was too expensive for what I was getting.

Believe it or not I can stream Netflix which does amaze me that it works.

LIsa

Chilimon said:

I did find out that if I have the Laptop turned on for a while (5 to 6 hours or longer), once I restart it, then the web pages load faster like when I first got the laptop.

Click to expand...

You have a pretty powerful well-configured MacBook Pro there. 5-6 hours of use really shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately nothing mentioned so far would seem to indicate any issues.

Earlier in the thread you mentioned some CPU numbers from Activity Monitor:

"In the %CPU Column, everything was 0.0 except for the activity monitor which was 0.9, Chrome o.1. Finder0.1."

Click to expand...

Rather than individual numbers…let us know the total CPU numbers (% User, % System, % Idle). And it would be best to locate these numbers when the computer is experiencing slowness. Not when things are fine.

- Nick

Chilimon said:

No anti-virus running. I did notice Chrome Helper was listed 4 times under the memory tab though chewing up more memory than what it should I would think.

I did find out that if I have the Laptop turned on for a while (5 to 6 hours or longer), once I restart it, then the web pages load faster like when I first got the laptop.

Click to expand...

It almost sounds like a swap file getting too full, low memory, and/or a full hard drive but your specs don't indicate that any of that would be the issue.

Chrome showing up a lot is normal if you have it open. I have posted a screen shot of my Activity monitor and you will see it listed several times. It all disappears when I shut Chrome down.

Lisa

lclev said:

There is Time Warner 1 mile north of my farm and 2 miles south.

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I know that you're located just a little bit west of Dayton. Being that close to Dayton…I thought for sure Time Warner would be available to you. Sorry to hear no cable!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

I know that you're located just a little bit west of Dayton. Being that close to Dayton…I thought for sure Time Warner would be available to you. Sorry to hear no cable! - Nick

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Hey Nick: We have a new type of cable here in Texas... it's called under water cable and so far works pretty good.

chscag said:

Hey Nick: We have a new type of cable here in Texas... it's called under water cable and so far works pretty good.

Click to expand...

How are your Macs working under water? Grin

LOL, Dennis. Thank goodness it stopped raining yesterday evening after another 4" fell. My backyard looked like a swimming pool for awhile. Supposed to be sunshine all this week. Maybe we'll dry out. My fiber optic system (FIOS) did go out 2 days ago but it was due to a general power failure. Lots of folks close to the Trinity River basin got flooded out. What a mess. By the way Dennis, you DON'T want to buy a used car from Texas!

chscag said:

Hey Nick: We have a new type of cable here in Texas... it's called under water cable and so far works pretty good.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Kind of similar to a liquid-cooled computer!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

I know that you're located just a little bit west of Dayton. Being that close to Dayton…I thought for sure Time Warner would be available to you. Sorry to hear no cable!

- Nick

Click to expand...

I live in Preble county (population 42,000). It is a very rural, stuck in the 50's kind of area. We make the news only when it looks like we might get wiped off the planet by snow, floods or pestilence.

I was very excited when they finally offered ADSL in my area as it is MUCH cheaper compared to satellite and I don't get throttled. My sons, who lives just outside of our biggest metropolitan (population 8,500) has Time Warner - and very fast internet - sigh.

I keep asking Time Warner, but unless there is some sort of incentive from the government, I don't see it happening. It is not cost effective for Time Warner.

Lisa