IMac slow on startup after installing Mavericks

Question

Hi,
Like others I have been experiencing my mid 2011 iMac being slow on startup (and a little slow after that). I've read a lot of threads about this and was wondering how to approach it.
I was already thinking of buying  more RAM ( I currently have 4GB) and updrading to Yosemite, does anyone think this may help rather than going through many diagnostic steps with Mavericks?
..... or am I likely to find myself back in the same position!
Jon
P.S. i know the Apple site says no RAM is available for this model, but one of the more experienced posters supplied a link to a site which implies that there is.

Answer 1

Hi there,
Here's the report.
By the way, with just Firefox and Aperture open, here is a copy of my Activity Monitor:
The swap used seems to be a very recent thing, until a few days ago it read 0.
The slowness is after startup - things bounce in the dock and safari takes nearly 10 secs to open, but if the Mac has been on a little while, or if it's been on sleep, then things run ok. There are other things I have noticed like some of the Aperture functions being slower and a bit clunky - this seems to have a been a constant feature since I upgraded to Mavericks and upgraded Aperture to go with it.
Any help you can give is appreciated.
Jon
EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated 20 November 2014 21:15:28 GMT
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) (Verified)
    iMac - model: iMac12,1
    1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
    4 GB RAM Upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 0/DIMM1
            empty empty empty empty
        BANK 1/DIMM1
            empty empty empty empty
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
    AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB
        iMac 1920 x 1080
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: one day 8:33:41
Disk Information: ℹ️
    ST3500418AS disk0 : (500.11 GB)
    S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 499.25 GB (354.24 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB
    HL-DT-STDVDRW  GA32N 
USB Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
    Mitsumi Electric Apple Optical USB Mouse
    Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Logitech USB Receiver
    TOSHIBA  TransMemory      15.52 GB
        S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
        TOSHIBA (disk1s1) /Volumes/TOSHIBA : 15.52 GB (15.27 GB free)
    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /System/Library/Extensions
    [not loaded]    com.freecom.driver.BoulderScsi (1.0.0d1) Support
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [failed]    com.apple.security.syspolicy.plist
    [failed]    com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support
    [invalid?]    com.torch.update.agent.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
    Auto Mute    UNKNOWN (missing value)
    FastTasks 2    Application (/Applications/FastTasks 2.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
    Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support
    Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Flash Player  Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Skip System Files: NO
    Mobile backups: OFF
    Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off
    Destinations:
        VERBATIM HD [Local]
        Total size: 0 B
        Total number of backups: 0
        Oldest backup: -
        Last backup: -
        Size of backup disk: Excellent
            Backup size 0 B > (Disk size 0 B X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
         2%    WindowServer
         1%    fontd
         0%    mds_stores
         0%    mds
         0%    AppleSpell
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    975 MB    Aperture
    369 MB    firefox
    129 MB    softwareupdated
    69 MB    WindowServer
    52 MB    mds_stores
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    227 MB    Free RAM
    1.31 GB    Active RAM
    1.53 GB    Inactive RAM
    966 MB    Wired RAM
    1.82 GB    Page-ins
    91 MB    Page-outs