Everything on my Macbook Pro with Mavericks runs very slowly

Question

I have a 13" macbook pro with Mavericks operating system, and it is only a little over a year old. In the last 2 or 3 months everything on the computer has been running incredibly slowly.
I first noticed it when streaming online videos, the audio would be several seconds ahead of the video, but the lagging has started everywhere else too. When I type the text appears several seconds after it has been typed, it takes much longer than it should to scroll down webpages and the cursor often freezes, I have even noticed a very long lag switching between webpages or applications.
I have very few things saved on this computer, just some Word documents and pictures. I did have Sims 3 installed but I uninstalled it thinking it may be the problem.
I have also noticed a very audible metallic plinking noise that could be unrelated. It started ] maybe 2 months before the lagging did and sounds like it's coming from the bottom right hand corner of the computer. I'm considering resetting my computer to factory settings because I haven't been able to find anything to fix this issue.

Answer 1

The hard drive is located in the bottom right of your model and I experienced a very similar issue twice in less than a year of purchase. I suggest you back all your data up as soon as possible as it may be the signs of a hard drive beginning to fail. My symptoms were it would take longer to start up and I would get the spinning ball when I secondary clicked. Before it would fail, I would try and repair errors found in disk utility and it would say it could not be repaired, back up as much data as you can. By that point, it was too late to back anything up. From there, I would get a loading bar on startup and once it loaded, it would shut down.  But it could be a less serious issue as well. It could also be the SMC, PRAM, or errors in your hard drive's coding. But before you follow these steps, back all your stuff up that you want or need in case it is your hard drive. Boot the machine into recovery mode by holding in command and r as soon as you turn it on. After it loads, you should get a box to pick your language. Select your language and select disk utility. In there, click Macintosh HD and verify the disk. If anything appears in red text, there are errors that need to be fixed. All you have to do is click repair. If it says they can't be repaired and to back up your data, your hard drive may have failed. To reset the SMC, plug in the mac and shut it down. On the left side, located the control, option, and shift keys. Hold those down along with the power button. Hold it for a few seconds and let them go. It's normal the machine won't turn on and the light on the charger will change state. Next, reset the PRAM. Shut down the Mac and located command, option, P, and R on your keyboard. You're going to turn on the Mac and as soon as you do so, hold those four keys down. It's going to shut down immediately but keep holding them in. It will turn on and make the "bong" noise like it normally does. Let it cycle about two or three times and let the keys go and wait for it to start up.
I hope this helps and good luck!