What causes a slower computer

[exncite]

Maybe too general of a question, but Id be interested in understanding why my computer runs slow. I've looked at the activity monitor and don't see anything alarming. I have a 2015 21.5" iMac with a 1TB hard drive and 8G ram. Is the slower response due to the spinning HD or internet speed? (Only have AT&T 45 Mbps/sec download)
I know it's getting older but would a new computer with a SSD drive and M1 based vs Intel based solve the problem?not a gamer or anything but waiting for websites to open is a real pain anymore. Trying to maximize the time I have left on this earth.

 

[IWT]

You may find this Link helpful. It is by Randy B. Singer who posts here regularly:

Macintosh Slowdown Solutions

This is part of a complete discussion of Mac problems:

Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice

Ian

 

[ferrarr]

Ian (@IWT) got there before me. ,

 

[Raz0rEdge]

To be able to determine what you are seeing, we'd want to know what action is slow as compared to before.

You should also Etrecheck to see what it reports.

 

[MacInWin]

waiting for websites to open

Points to a slow internet connection, or maybe some interference with your WiFi network from devices either in your home, or in a neighbors. Try doing a speed test a something like speedtest.net, if you don't have data limits on your connection.

 

[Rod]

You know 45Mbps is not slow. Here in Indonesia we have a optical cable connection to our property but on 20Mbps which is more than enough for the whole guest house including live TV streaming. My wife and I combined have 7 devices connected to that with a seperate router downstairs for the guests.
So do check with say, speedtest.net as suggested by Jake, then we can eliminate that issue.

 

[pigoo3]

Maybe too general of a question, but Id be interested in understanding why my computer runs slow. I've looked at the activity monitor and don't see anything alarming. I have a 2015 21.5" iMac with a 1TB hard drive and 8G ram. Is the slower response due to the spinning HD or internet speed? (Only have AT&T 45 Mbps/sec download)
I know it's getting older but would a new computer with a SSD drive and M1 based vs Intel based solve the problem?not a gamer or anything but waiting for websites to open is a real pain anymore. Trying to maximize the time I have left on this earth.

One thing to remember...you have a 7 year old computer (no surprises here).

Even if everything on your computer is working as best as it can from a hardware perspective (as good as it did when it was brand new)...you gotta remember that if newer macOS versions have been installed (this can include more overhead)...slowing the computer down.

Also...if you mostly use your computer for internet related computing activities (like many of us do). In the 7 years since this iMac was purchased...the internet & webpages have gotten more & more complex. More complex webpages need more "computing horsepower" (especially GPU hardware). Thus this can make your computer feel slow.

Yes a newer computer with newer hardware (M1 CPU for example)...is built to handle what the computing world deals out in 2022. But 7 years from now (just like your 2015 iMac)...a 2022 computer in 2029 (7 years from now)...may not feel quite as fast as it did in 2022.

Nick

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Maybe too general of a question, but Id be interested in understanding why my computer runs slow. I've looked at the activity monitor and don't see anything alarming. I have a 2015 21.5" iMac with a 1TB hard drive and 8G ram.

I *may* know. Let me know if I've guessed correctly.

I see that you are running Mojave (macOS 10.14). I also note that you have a 1TB hard drive. I'm guessing that it is a rotating disk hard drive (RDHD).

Let me further guess that your iMac was running like it was brand new, but that you upgraded from some earlier version of the Mac OS to Mojave, and then afterwards it was slower, and over a short time period it got slower still, and now it is annoyingly slow and you see the rotating beachball cursor whenever you to go launch something?

If all of the above sounds familiar, the problem is a common one. When you upgraded to Mojave your RDHD was non-optionally formatted from HFS+ to APFS. (Mojave was the first version of the Mac OS to do this. I know...Apple should have warned you about this.) APFS is optimized for SSD's, but for RDHD's it unfortunately tends to cause a noticeable slowdown.

Short of going through a LOT of trouble to backup your drive, reformat it to HFS+, restore an earlier version of the Mac OS, and then restore all of your backed up data, there isn't much that you can do to fix the problem.

You COULD replace your internal RDHD with an SSD, but that wouldn't just be a pain, it would be expensive, and throwing money at a 7 year old personal computer may not be a wise investment.

Sorry. (Mojave screwed one of my Mac's too.)

 

[pm-r]

Short of going through a LOT of trouble to backup your drive, reformat it to HFS+, restore an earlier version of the Mac OS, and then restore all of your backed up data, there isn't much that you can do to fix the problem.

I wonder when the last time any sort of Maintenance was done like doing a boot up using Safe Boot Mode that can often clear up surplus files and caches excetera... And help speed things up???

For a few other suggestions have a look here:

mac can a safe boot speed up a slow mac - Google Search

Have you tried a different browser...???

Have you got any antivirus software running...???

Just in case they were overlooked... and hopefully some of the suggestions work...




- Patrick
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[exncite]

Thanks all for your suggestions. Randy, I should update my profile as I've upgraded to Monterey. If you remember the issues I was having with iTunes, I eventually had to erase the computer, install Monterey and the restore files from TM backup. Lot of work.

As far as running a speed test, I have and download is 45 Mbps and upload is 10 Mbps. We run TV Streaming (which sometimes gets pixelated), tablets and iPhones so that doesn't seem to an issue.

An acquaintance who is in the IT field, suggested I use Kaspersky, more for security than how the computer runs. When active, it slows the computer down even more.

Maybe it's just an older computer. Oh well, as my son says when spending money, "It's only paper".

 

[MacInWin]

An acquaintance who is in the IT field, suggested I use Kaspersky, more for security than how the computer runs. When active, it slows the computer down even more.

Get rid of Kaspersky. That's not easy to do as it is insidious, but it is a known killer of performance for any machine on which it is loaded.

You probably don't need any stay-resident antivirus software like it. Just run DectetX Swift or Intego Virusbarrier Scanner every couple of months and you should be good. Unlike Windows, for a Mac environment viruses and malware are not as big a threat.

 

[exncite]

Get rid of Kaspersky. That's not easy to do as it is insidious, but it is a known killer of performance for any machine on which it is loaded.

You probably don't need any stay-resident antivirus software like it. Just run DectetX Swift or Intego Virusbarrier Scanner every couple of months and you should be good. Unlike Windows, for a Mac environment viruses and malware are not as big a threat.

Thanks Jake. I plan on doing that. Worst $38 ever spent. He felt it was a good idea as a friend is involved in a scam (I believe) and was using my computer to scan and send files. Fortunately have not been affected by it (yet).

 

[MacInWin]

Change your password, don't let the "friend" use your computer any more. Get rid of Kaspersky.

 

[pm-r]

Change your password, don't let the "friend" use your computer any more. Get rid of Kaspersky.

+1!!!

I would add, get rid of the so-called "friend" as well. No one is a friend who uses one's computer to distribute spam and especially scams. Gheese!!! Lose them both...


- Patrick
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[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks all for your suggestions. Randy, I should update my profile as I've upgraded to Monterey.

Then, assuming I was right and that you have an internal rotating disk hard drive, everything that I guessed is still true. If your RDHD is now formatted as APFS, your Mac is going to be slower than it was when it was previously formatted as HFS+.

To get the maximum performance that you can, given the current situation, have a look at these Web sites:

Macintosh Routine Maintenance

Macintosh Slowdown Solutions

 

[MacInWin]

not a gamer or anything but waiting for websites to open is a real pain anymore.

That is the only example of the slowness the the OP has mentioned. And that could well be because of a problem on the "sender" side of the network.

For @exncite, are there any other ways the system has slowed?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Maybe it's just an older computer.

An old computer can and should be every bit as fast as when it was new. It is not "normal" for an old computer to slow down.

I've dedicated a couple of Web sites to this, and I've given you the links. Have a look at them and see if anything resonates with your situation.

You never answered my (roundabout) question....were you previously running a version of the Mac OS prior to Mojave with your Mac running just great, and then did you upgrade to a later version of the Mac OS, after which your Mac slowed down noticeably?

 

[maflynn]

I'm a little late to this thread, so I'll say what I do to combat performance issues with my computers.

What I find is that performance does seem to degrade over time, regardless of whether its a PC or a Mac, though the PC is more likely to slow down over time more then a Mac.

My steps is basically go nuclear, just reformat and reinstall my apps. My thinking is that we pick up apps, and cruft that can pollute your system. As a for instance, with windows, just go to the task manager and look at the start up items. More often then not you have a lot of things starting up that you probably were not aware of.

For Macs, its less of an issue, but instead of spending a ton of time, trying to root out some causes, I just install MacOS. Obviously having a backup prior to doing this a must.

If you use cloud based storage, you really won't even have to worry about restoring your data either. Over the past few years, I ensure that any files I use are stored on the cloud, i.e., iCloud for my Mac and OneDrive for my Pc. That way just reinstall your apps that you use now, will keep the cruft to a minimum
YMMV

 

[exncite]

An old computer can and should be every bit as fast as when it was new. It is not "normal" for an old computer to slow down.

I've dedicated a couple of Web sites to this, and I've given you the links. Have a look at them and see if anything resonates with your situation.

You never answered my (roundabout) question....were you previously running a version of the Mac OS prior to Mojave with your Mac running just great, and then did you upgrade to a later version of the Mac OS, after which your Mac slowed down noticeably?

An old computer can and should be every bit as fast as when it was new. It is not "normal" for an old computer to slow down.

I've dedicated a couple of Web sites to this, and I've given you the links. Have a look at them and see if anything resonates with your situation.

You never answered my (roundabout) question....were you previously running a version of the Mac OS prior to Mojave with your Mac running just great, and then did you upgrade to a later version of the Mac OS, after which your Mac slowed down noticeably?

Sorry Randy, thought I did. It ran OK with Mojave. I guess over time the computer began to slow down, but likely because there was so much stuff loaded onto it. You may remember the issues I was having with iTunes and the Cloud when I could no longer sync my iPhone or iPad. Long story short, I ended up completely erasing the HD and then doing a fresh install of Monterey. Whatever was bogging down the computer likely was reintroduced when restoring from TM backup.

So what does slow mean? Not only websites , but also just opening an app. Files within an app such as pdf. and word. I’ve run Malwarebytes but nothing shows up.

I’ve been busy and haven’t had a chance to review the links you sent, but will get a chance this weekend. Appreciate the info.

So it goes back to my original question of will a new computer with the M1 chip and a SSD improve things? Loaded question I know.

 

[pm-r]

So it goes back to my original question of will a new computer with the M1 chip and a SSD improve things? Loaded question I know.

It sounds like your question is from a Psychology 101 course... It's called Rationalization and it is usually asked as a question in order to reinforce a decision the person asking the question has already made.

But I will give you an answer that may be outside the realms of what any computer can cope with, and a very safe answer that many politicians and maybe used car salesman use, and that word and answer is maybe.

I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear... ;-)



- Patrick
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