Computer/Finder extremely slow since Mavericks

Question

I upgraded to Mavericks on day one.  Big mistake.  I have a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 iMac, that before 10.9 was plenty snappy.  After installing Mavericks though...  everything has slowed down and gotten very clunky.
If I open a new Finder window, it can take up to 15-20 seconds for windows to evenually populate with apps or the icons are very slow to load (seconds).  Open apps seems slower -- if I open Disk Utility, the opening animation stalls halfway through and then stutters until the GUI finally appears and stablizes.  Everything is just slow, clumsy and feels very, very buggy.  Oftentimes, I'll have to click something twice - links in Safari, opening folders, starting apps, you name it.
I was hoping that today's 10.9.1 would fix this (these) issue(s).  But everything is exactly the same as it has been since 10.9.0, which is to say, awful.
I have zapped PRAM, repaired permissions, and anything else I can think of to get this computer back on it's feet, but it's just gone so pokey...  really disappointed.
Do other people have this issue?  Is this a known bug?  Is there a fix?  Any help appreciated.  Thanks.  I want my snappy, newish iMac back!

Answer 1

Here we go.
Hardware Information:
          iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)
          iMac - model: iMac13,1
          1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4 cores
          8 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M - VRAM: 512 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 0:2:17
Disk Information:
          APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0 : (1 TB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 999.35 GB (539.22 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information:
          Akai Akai MPK25
          Apple Inc. iPhone
          Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
          Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
                    Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
          Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
          Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
                    Apple Inc. Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter
Kernel Extensions:
          com.Apogee.driver.EnsembleFWOverideDriver          (1.4.4 - SDK 10.8)
          com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard          (5.9 - SDK 10.6)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
          [loaded] com.EnsembleDaemon.plist
          [loaded] PACESupport.plist
Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.ApogeePopup.plist
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist
User Login Items:
          iTunesHelper
          NIHardwareAgent
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Flash Player
          Native Instruments USB Audio
Internet Plug-ins::
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6
          Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins::
          Aspera Web 3.1.2.72265: Version: (null) - SDK 10.6
Bad Fonts:
          None
Old applications:
          AuthAssistant:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5
                    /Library/Application Support/iZotope/Ozone 5/AuthAssistants/Main/AuthAssistant.app
          AuthAssistant:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5
                    /Library/Application Support/iZotope/Stutter Edit/AuthAssistant.app
          DC1A:          Version: 1.2.1 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/DC1A.app
          DC8C:          Version: 1.3.0 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/DC8C.app
          EasyFind:          Version: 4.9 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/EasyFind.app
          Frozen Synapse:          Version: Copyright 2011 Mode 7 Games Inc. All rights reserved. - SDK 10.5
                    /Users/Nod/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Frozen Synapse/Frozen Synapse.app
          InterLok Helper:          Version: 5.9 - SDK 10.4
                    /Library/Application Support/PACE Anti-Piracy/InterLok Helper.app
          Keynote:          Version: 5.3 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/iWork '09/Keynote.app
          MemServerUI:          Version: 1.1 - SDK 10.5
                    /Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Kontakt 5/kxm/MemServerUI.app
          Numbers:          Version: 2.3 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/iWork '09/Numbers.app
          Pages:          Version: 4.3 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/iWork '09/Pages.app
          Transmit:          Version: 4.2 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/Transmit.app
          minimoog V Original:          Version: 2.5.3 - SDK 10.5
                    /Applications/Arturia/minimoog V Original.app
Time Machine:
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               1%          WindowServer
               1%          EtreCheck
               0%          mds_stores
               0%          imagent
Top Processes by Memory:
          139 MB          mds_stores
          123 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
          74 MB          com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
          49 MB          Dock
          49 MB          WindowServer
Virtual Memory Statistics:
          6.07 GB          Free RAM
          1.03 GB          Active RAM
          211 MB          Inactive RAM
          709 MB          Wired RAM
          203 MB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs