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When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
My iMac has been freezing intermittently, suddenly stopping everything for a few seconds. I have tried doing first aid on the HD but that process stalls very soon and I have no information from it. It has a capacity of 16 GB memory but only half that much installed. I wonder if I should get the rest of the memory installed -- or is there something else I should be looking at? late 2014, running Mojave 10.14.6
Well I hate to say it but your system is a mess. The best advice I can offer is to do an erase (totally wipe the system clean) and then reinstall Mac OS and then manually install your apps and restore the data files from your backup.
I would also recommend installing a minimum of 16GB of RAM (buy from crucial.com or macsales.com) and install that.
Finally, it shows you likely have downloaded adware so I'd recommend once you have the system back up and running to download malwarebytes and run it periodically to remove any adware you may install.
Well I hate to say it but your system is a mess. The best advice I can offer is to do an erase (totally wipe the system clean) and then reinstall Mac OS and then manually install your apps and restore the data files from your backup.
I would also recommend installing a minimum of 16GB of RAM (buy from crucial.com or macsales.com) and install that.
Finally, it shows you likely have downloaded adware so I'd recommend once you have the system back up and running to download malwarebytes and run it periodically to remove any adware you may install.
You can save you and us a lot of time and effort if you do the following:
Please navigate to the Mac App Store or navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.
When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again.
For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211
I downloaded the Etrecheck and ran the report. I also purchased the 'Pro' version but have not used it.
I printed the report in PDF, selected and copied all and pasted it here. The format is a little weird looking but I think all the information is here. Thank you for the suggestion of this tool.
+1 on the erase + reinstall of macOS.
However, please backup your Mac using a drag and drop, or copy and paste method to an external hard drive. Do not use Time Machine, as this will just restore/keep the issues.
Cheers,
Jack
No. Since you may have adware and other junk, please just copy and paste the files you want to save to an external hard drive, for example, the contents of your Documents folder. This way the adware and all the other "junk" will not be restored.
Cheers,
Jack
One other question, the report suggested I might think of replacing the computer. If I should decide to do that, how do I migrate what I want to the new one without dragging along any of the junk? (Before covid I would have been able to take the old one to my dealer and let them do all that, however, with a lockdown ...)
Thanks again for the link to EtreCheckPro. When I went deeply into the report and followed their suggestions, everything went well. There was actually not much flagged as possible adware. I deleted files that seemed superfluous or possibly troublesome. It said the disk is running too slowly and may fail at some time in the future. So I have prepared for the day when I decide to replace it. However, since I cleaned it up I have had only one short instance of beachballing, so everything is working well. That would not have happened without EtreCheckPro, so I thank you again.
As it happens, all's well now. When I went deeply into the EtreCheckPro report and followed their suggestions, everything went well. There was actually not much flagged as possible adware. I deleted files that seemed superfluous or possibly troublesome. It said the disk is running too slowly and may fail at some time in the future. So I have prepared for the day when I decide to replace it. However, since I cleaned it up I have had only one short instance of beachballing, so everything is working well.
Thanks, Jack, for your tips and reassurance.
OK, so that's your suggestion. Are there any alternatives I could consider also?
Thanks for the reminder. I did a complete clone of it yesterday using Carbon Copy Cloner. would that be a helpful way to deal with this?
If the Mac works for you, there is no need to replace.
However, if you do replace, just copy and paste your personal files/photos using an external storage device to move them.
Cheers,
Jack
Thanks, Jack.
Sarah
Your welcome.
Late 2014 iMac Retina 5K freezes intermittently
