iMac running very slow

[Postoak]

I had the same problem alynaffit with a similar iMac hooked up to an Airport extreme and my DSL modem. Apple said it was my ISP's problem, my ISP said it was Apple's fault. After 3 months of bickering my ISP admitted they were working on adding more fiber optics to allow better service. That cured my entire problem.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I had the same problem alynaffit with a similar iMac hooked up to an Airport extreme and my DSL modem. Apple said it was my ISP's problem, my ISP said it was Apple's fault. After 3 months of bickering my ISP admitted they were working on adding more fiber optics to allow better service. That cured my entire problem.

His ISP might indeed be part of the problem, but he also said that it takes several minutes for *any* program to open. That isn't something that is caused by an ISP problem.

 

[jerry5010]

Slow iMac

It seems others are having slow speed problems as well. My computer became very slow after a couple years and I had it checked out and it wasn't the hard drive. I upgraded the memory and the software and it ran like brand new. Now after about a year I'm back where I was and wondering if this time it IS the hard drive. I never did a defrag, because some say it's a good idea and Apple seems to think it's not necessary. It's so bad now that even clicking on the mail can take either a second or 9 seconds to come up depending on its mood. I get the beach ball a bit too often. If I can't find a solution, I'm thinking of replacing the hard drive. Can someone advise me as to the best drive to replace the one I now have? I hope this helps:


Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM51.0090.B09
SMC Version (system): 1.9f4
Serial Number (system): QP70512LVUV
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2CE2049

 

[Randy B. Singer]

It seems others are having slow speed problems as well.

Exactly. This isn't an uncommon situation. After using your Macintosh for many months, it isn't uncommon for it to slow down noticeably. This isn't a big deal. Five or ten minutes of routine maintenance using free utilities (or possibly even no utilities) will bring it back to like-new performance.

Read through this Web page carefully and follow the suggested procedures:

OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting

Please let us know how things are after you have completed all of the suggested routine maintenance.

If I can't find a solution, I'm thinking of replacing the hard drive. Can someone advise me as to the best drive to replace the one I now have?

I think that replacing your hard drive is an over-reaction and is likely unnecessary, unless your hard drive is either around 80% full or it has no free contiguous space on it. See:

OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
Item #6 and Note #1

Generally, slow performance wouldn't make me think right off that a hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced. Especially if you have lots of free space left on the drive and it isn't exhibiting any other unusual symptoms.