IMac operates at snail's pace

Question

My iMac speed has dropped to a crawl. It is also slow when booted from external backup disk. Help please?

Answer 1

Our power was out for ten hours, but we have a whole house generator, so not too bad.
I suppose the time comes whan a computer just plain wears out, and if your problem is hardware, it may be time to replace it.  However, try one more thing, start up in Safe Mode:
To start up into Safe Mode (to "Safe Boot"), do this:
   1. Be sure the computer is shut down.
   2. Press the power button.
   3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
      Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
   4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.3.9, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login window, which appears even if you normally log in automatically.
To leave Safe Mode in any version of Mac OS X, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup.
See if that makes things a bit snappier...