Hi, I’m really struggling with my iMac. It has become so slow, it’s really painful to use. These are the specifications:
I have lots of storage available.
Is it an issue due to the processor? If so, is there anything I can do to improve the speed?
Thank you.
[Edited by Moderator]
iMac 21.5″, macOS 15.3
Don't want to intrude upon the others' replies but in my opinion the fact it took many hours to run EtreCheck is really all you need to know. That Mac has suffered a hardware failure, most likely the hard disk portion of "Fusion Drive", and it needs to be replaced. Apple can do it, but it's up to you to determine if the repair is economically justified.
The EtreCheck report is almost certain to support that suspicion, and if I could improve upon Old Toad's User Tip How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report - Apple Community I certainly would. His instructions are perfect. You just have to copy (first illustration) and paste (second illustration). Don't overthink it.
Don't want to intrude upon the others' replies but in my opinion the fact it took many hours to run EtreCheck is really all you need to know. That Mac has suffered a hardware failure, most likely the hard disk portion of "Fusion Drive", and it needs to be replaced. Apple can do it, but it's up to you to determine if the repair is economically justified.
The EtreCheck report is almost certain to support that suspicion, and if I could improve upon Old Toad's User Tip How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report - Apple Community I certainly would. His instructions are perfect. You just have to copy (first illustration) and paste (second illustration). Don't overthink it.
In most cases it is due to third party apps that are launching on startup and running in the background. Make sure you have not installed any:
And then post the free EtreCheck report using the Additional Text option when posting. The report contains no personal information and identifies the processes running on your computer every time it starts up and continues to run in the background. Other helpful information included is the drive performance and recent crashes that help to identify an issue.
How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community
Good idea. Have done it: How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an Etrecheck Report in a Reply - Apple Community.
It will help us get a good idea of what is causing your problem if you provide a report of your system, that way we do not have to play 20 questions with you. The report we are requesting does NOT provide any personal information and is extremely safe to use. Please navigate towww.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 How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community It is helpful to us if you download the report to your Desktop.
Thank you both your answer. I’ve run Etrecheck, which took many hours. When I click share report, I don’t see the option for the add text. I’ve just saved the report in an email for now. Is it ok to copy it directly in this chat in one go? Or maybe I split in 2? What do you think?
+1 on John Galt's post. He is 150% correct. Before you do ANYTHING and I mean that ensure your backup is working correctly and all of your data is backed up. Your computer could fail any moment!!!
Please take the computer to your local Apple Authorized Service Provider to be professionally diagnosed and then you can decide your course of action.
OT if I may, I offer a minor suggestion to your User Tip:
Add a step between the copy and paste action, which is to start a reply. That ought to be obvious because "in your reply" presumes the user did that already, but what's obvious to you and me and probably 99% of everybody perhaps ought not to be assumed. It seems to trip people up. Maybe they are looking for those icons in the EtreCheck app, but who knows.
What type of startup drive does that Mac have? MacTracker indicates that the options were “1 TB (5400-rpm SATA), 1 TB Fusion Drive, or 256, 512 GB, or 1 TB flash storage.”
Unless you have all flash storage (a SSD), the speed of the drive may be an issue. The 5400 rpm 2.5” hard drives were slow; and the 1 TB Fusion Drive combined one of them with a rather miserly amount of SSD storage.
It may be that getting an external SSD and making it your startup drive could help.
When you click on the share button select Copy Report like this:
Copy the report as shown in this animated screenshot
and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.
Please restart the mac and check for a new version of sequoia
Good idea. Will do.
👍
Why is my Mac so slow?
