iMac re-boot results in slower performance.

[Bob M.]

Hi all,
I have an iMac (late 2009), I'm using MacOS High Sierra (10.13.6) and the internal hard drive is about 10% full and 90% free. I'm not really a power user, I just do minimal stuff, email, some iTunes, surf the web. I don't run any major applications on this machine.

My question is this: I usually shut down this computer about once every week or 10 days, sometimes once every 2 weeks. Once I start it up again, I notice that it runs alot slower than before. It takes more time for things like google to re-appear (my start-up app) or my mail. Why is this? I though shutting down was good for the computer and made it run more efficiently once you re-started it. What am I missing here?

BTW, this is a hand-me-down machine from a friend but I'm very happy with it but always looking to learn a little bit more about successful use of this iMac. I'm debating getting some more memory from OWC for this iMac, as I've done most successfully on other Macs I've owned/used.

I do try to be good/ok with my computer's housekeeping - ridding it of unnecessary old data, programs, apps, emails. I haven't run any of those housekeeping apps on this machine but I have on past Macs that I've owned/used but with kind of mixed results.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
Bob M.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I had the same vintage iMac and assuming that you or the pervious owner didn't change it, it's still running on the old spinning HDD and 11+ years is a good run. Upgrading to a SSD will have a significant boost on performance along with adding more memory.

But first, please tell us the full details of the machine. Click on the Apple icon on the top-left and choose About this Mac and tell us everything it says, the CPU, the memory and so on.

Rebooting the machine routinely is a good idea, but you should also set it to not re-load everything you had opened when you shutdown the machine, this will add to the launch time.

You are better of having the machine come up with nothing loaded and then launch the apps you want.

Additionally there is no real reason to be shutting down the machine on a routine, I don't reboot machines unless there's an update that needs to be installed or if I'm going to be going away for an extended period of time. In all other cases my machine runs for months on end.