Mac OS 10.8.4 slows down and freezes

Hi,
I am running Mac OS X Mountain Lion with the newest updates. Since 4 Weeks I am receiving error messages like this one:
WindowServer[112]: CGXDisableUpdate: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Chrome" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
I used EtreCheck and see some failures.
Could anybody help me, how to fix the following failures to speed-up my Mac OS again. ;-) I uninstalled Bluestacks AppPlayer and don't find the following plists.
Many thanks...
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
          8 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB
Startup Items:
          CiscoVPN - Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN
System Software:
          OS X 10.8.4 (12E55) - Uptime: 0 days 13:14:24
Disk Information:
          Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02 disk1 : (320,07 GB)
                    disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209,7 MB
                    Daten (disk1s2) /Volumes/Daten: 319,73 GB (177,91 GB free)
          OCZ-VERTEX2 disk0 : (120,03 GB)
                    disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209,7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 119,17 GB (10,7 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information:
          Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
                    Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Logitech USB Receiver
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
          at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch          (3876)
          com.Logitech.Control          Center.HID
          com.Logitech.Unifying.HID          Driver
          com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower          (1.5.1)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv          (4.2.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB          (4.2.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt          (4.2.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp          (4.2.14)
          com.aladdin.kext.aksfridge          (1.0.2)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
          [failed] com.apple.coresymbolicationd.plist
          [failed] com.apple.findmymac.plist
          [failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Problem System Launch Agents:
          [failed] com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
          [failed] com.apple.printtool.agent.plist
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
          [loaded] com.aladdin.aksusbd.plist
          [loaded] com.aladdin.hasplmd.plist
          [loaded] com.bombich.ccc.plist
          [loaded] com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist
          [loaded] com.fernlightning.fseventer.plist
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist
          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
          [loaded] com.motorola-mobility.mmcfgd.plist
          [loaded] com.noatime.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist
          [loaded] com.xrite.device.xrdd.plist
          [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist
Launch Agents:
          [loaded] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist
          [loaded] com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist
          [loaded] com.lexmark.hbnlistener.plist
          [loaded] com.lexmark.hostinfoupdater.plist
          [loaded] com.lexmark.hostregister.plist
          [loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist
          [loaded] com.motorola.MDMUpdater.plist
          [loaded] com.motorola.motohelper.plist
          [loaded] com.motorola.motohelperUpdater.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist
          [loaded] com.wacom.pentablet.plist
          [loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist
          [loaded] org.tigris.scplugin.launch.plist
          [loaded] syncmateStarter.plist
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.930da3ce175de4e82bd3cdf1dd8571f74bd3b6a7236bc94bfc00f6e9.plist
          [failed] com.adobe.ARM.d37ca23e327752d2c6d2e119ab9285b7c5245f7a6573b7f9bda35cce.plist
          [failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[redacted]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist
          [failed] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.LogRotator.plist
          [loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.Service.plist
          [failed] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UninstallAgent.plist
          [failed] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UpdaterAgent.plist
          [loaded] com.facebook.videochat.sebastian.plist
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.helperTool.plist
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.trashSizeWatcher.plist
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.volumeWatcher.plist
          [loaded] de.metaquark.appfresh.plist
          [not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist
User Login Items:
          uHD-Agent
          gfxCardStatus
          GrowlHelperApp
          TotalFinder
          Adium
          TransmitMenu
          Skype
          Xmarks for Safari
          Dropbox
          Google Drive
          Android File Transfer Agent
          Airmail
          TotalFinder
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          PenTablet
          Flash Player
          Flip4Mac WMV
          FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE)
          Growl
          Java
          Logitech Control Center
          Secrets
          SwitchResX
          TeXDistPrefPane
          Xmarks for Safari
Internet Plug-ins:
          AdobePDFViewer.plugin
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
          Flash Player.plugin
          FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin
          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin
          googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin
          iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
          JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
          npgtpo3dautoplugin.plugin
          o1dbrowserplugin.plugin
          QuickTime Plugin.plugin
          SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
          WacomNetscape.plugin
          WacomSafari.plugin
User Internet Plug-ins:
          BlueStacks Install Detector.plugin
          Picasa.plugin
          SheepSystemsNPAPIPlugin.plugin
Bad Fonts:
          None
Top Processes by CPU:
              22%          WindowServer
               8%          Skype
               7%          coreaudiod
               6%          Google Chrome
               6%          Finder
               4%          Little Snitch Network Monitor
               3%          activitymonitord
               2%          Activity Monitor
               2%          Dropbox
               2%          EtreCheck
Top Processes by Memory:
          418 MB             firefox
          319 MB             Google Chrome
          287 MB             Airmail
          205 MB             WindowServer
          180 MB             Finder
          147 MB             Skype
          123 MB             Microsoft Excel
          115 MB             Adium
          98 MB              Espresso
          90 MB              Dock
Virtual Memory Statistics
          204 MB             Free RAM
          3.39 GB            Active RAM
          3.05 GB            Inactive RAM
          1.36 GB            Wired RAM
          19.29 GB           Page-ins
          903 MB             Page-outs

Your system is so heavily modified that, instead of trying to remove the modifications piecemeal, you should erase your boot volume, reinstall OS X, and then go through the initial setup process, importing only your user data and settings from backup — not applications or other files.
Back up all data to at least two different storage devices, if you haven't already done so. The backups can be made with Time Machine or with a mirroring tool such as Carbon Copy Cloner. Preferably both. You must be certain that you can restore everything to the state it's in now.
Note that if you're running in safe mode, you can't connect to a Time Capsule or other network volume. You'll have to back up to a locally-attached hard drive.
Boot into Recovery, launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup volume with the default options. This operation will destroy all data on the volume, so you had be better be sure of your backups.
Quit Disk Utility and install OS X. If you upgraded from an older version of OS X, you'll need the Apple ID and password that you used to purchase the upgrade from the App Store, so make a note of those before you begin.
When you reboot, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process. That’s when you transfer the data from one of your backups. For a walkthrough, see here.
Transfer only "Users" and "Settings" – not "Applications" or "Other files." Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled on the old system.
After that, run Software Update.
If you still have the problem, take the machine to an Apple Store or other authorized service provider for hardware testing.
If the problem is resolved after the clean installation, reinstall your third-party software selectively. I can only suggest general guidelines. Self-contained applications that install into the Applications folder by drag-and-drop or download from the App Store are usually safe. Anything that comes packaged as an installer or that prompts for an administrator password is suspect, and you must test thoroughly after reinstalling each such item to make sure you haven't restored the problem.
Before installing any software, ask yourself the question, "Am I sure I know how to uninstall it without having to start this process all over again?" If the answer is "no," stop.
Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.

Similar Messages

How do I fix a Safari application that slows down and freezes everything?

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Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.
These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.
Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.
Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.
Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.
Step 1
Triple-click the line of text below to select it:
kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}' | open -f -a TextEdit
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). A TextEdit window will open. Post the contents of that window, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that. No typing is involved in this step.
Step 2
Repeat with this line:
{ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'; sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook; } | open -f -a TextEdit
This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Heed that warning, but don't post it. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.
Step 3
launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}' | open -f -a TextEdit
Step 4
ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null | open -f -a TextEdit
Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.
Step 5
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' | open -f -a TextEdit
Remember, steps 1-5 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.
You can then quit Terminal.

[Solved]Computer slow down and freeze during data transfer syncing

Hello,
Everytime I make a data transfer, my computer slow down, and sometimes freeze during a few seconds, work for a fraction of seconds and freeze again. I don"t understand why.
As an example, here is a bench of files i transfered during a syncing with Grsync
It took about 12h to sync 64Gb.
I've read a lot of topics talking about this problem but nothing works. I tried to switch off the SWAP and setting the vm.dirty_ratio and vm.background_dirty_ratio but nothing works.
I'm making the trasfer between two Western Digital USB 2.0 external hard drive in NTFS.
Does anyone know how to fix this?
Thanks in advance
Last edited by Neldar (2015-03-04 15:54:29)

It seems it was beacause one of my external hard drive was about to die. I performed the same operation with 2 Western Digital external hard drive 1To USB3 and it works perfectly.

IPhoto crashing, slowing down and freezing up.

iPhoto chashed 4 times with me while doing the same task, creating a Photo Book.
Apart from that, it would slow down while editing a pic within the book creation interactive app, and would show the little pie, like it was loading or reading something, once doing that it has frozen, and whether it would recognize it crashed, or I would have to force quit.
FYI: - I only have 60 pics tops in iPhoto
- iPhoto is the latest version and it is updated
- along with the computer, it is brand new, nt more than a week old.
- it did also happen the first time to loose all the contents on the photo book, it crashed and asked to report or restart iPhoto.
Thanks for whoever can help me....

Over the weekend I did the following:
1) Backed up my entire computer
2) Booted from the Mac OS X install DVD, launched Disk Utility, and erased my entire hard drive
3) Installed Mac OS X from scratch (version 10.4.7 was on the DVD) along with the base applications
4) After the install, I logged in and ran software update until iLife '06 was patched up, and 10.4.10 was loaded with all security updates
5) Inserted iLife '08 disk -- installed iPhoto '08
6) Launched iPhoto '08, made sure it was working fine (with a library of NO Photos)
7) Restored a copy of my iPhoto library to my hard drive
8) Launched iPhoto '08 again (made sure it was STILL version 7.0.1), and saw that my book was there along with all of my photos, etc...
9) Attempted to purchase my book. And the result was: On page 28 of 32 -- CRASH of the entire computer.
Here's a picture of it: http://www.kmcode.com/misc/errors/iphoto08crash.jpg
Sorry, had to take a quick snapshot with the digital camera. It doesn't do well up close and such...
Anyways. This bug exists regardless of which version of iPhoto '08 you are running. I'm very peeved about it, for I spent an entire weekend backing up my computer, hunting down the original disks, reinstalling Mac OS X from scratch, downloading software updates -- and it still crashes the entire computer when I try to assemble a book or generate a PDF of the book. I am at wits end with this. And as stated before -- I can in fact create a book with autoflow with the exact same photographs, and it will send to PDF just fine. You just can't adjust any of the photo attributes!
Also, I'll note that my iLife '08 disk comes with version 7.0.1 on it from the factory. I can't seem to get to version 7.0 to see if it will work.

System Slows Down and Freezes a LOT - Memory? Swap? Hard Drive? AV?

I have a 2.4 GHz 24" dual core iMac (identifier: 7,1). It worked fine for a good while and lately I've been having problems that seem to be getting worse (sometimes it seems to get better, then worse again). I have 4 GB of memory and I'm waiting for more RAM to upgrade it to 6 GB, since I hear that's the max anyone's run successfully in this model.
I've often had a number of programs running at once. Usually I have Firefox, Apple Mail, the KDE's Konsole and Kate (from MacPorts), Calendar, Stickies, MacIago, and Pysol running. (Yes, it helps to have a few games up for breaks when I'm working.) I know that's a lot, but for well over a year, I was working with that setup without problems, without getting stuck for long times with the pinwheel of death or anything like that.
I'm not exactly sure when it started, but now I have times where I will do something and the program will freeze and I get the pinwheel of death. I wait and after 30-60 seconds I can do something, but sometimes I still get hesitations and a start-freeze&stop-go mode for a bit. Sometimes this freezes the whole computer for up to 30-60 seconds and I can't even check another space with Command-Arrow.
I've been trying to backtrack to see if I could figure out what is causing this. Sometimes killing Firefox helps, so I switched to Chrome and watched for usage on Activity Monitor and Chrome uses FAR less CPU time. I have FlashBlock and AdBlocker Plus on Chrome (had it on Firefox, and before that, used NoScript for blocking). But I've seen this happen even without a browser open.
I suspect this could be an issue with swap, since recently I was watching and saw spikes in disk usage around these times, but I'm not sure of the correlation yet. Sometimes it seems like whenever I switch to a different program, whenever I use a new feature, I have to wait (as if it's loading library code or something).
Again, this is a recent issue.
I've upgraded from 10.6.5 to 10.6.6, so I don't know if that could effect this.
I've also started using the free version of Sophos Anti-Virus (which is apparently impossible to quit once it's running) and thought it might be doing scans.
What's also puzzled me is seeing that, with 4 GB of memory, Activity Monitor continually shows 1 GB free, but still indicates 2 GB swap files. So is there a reason 25% of my RAM is not being used?
I've also checked and found my drive to be heavily fragmented. I bought iDefrag, but it can't defrag it because there seem to be some bad blocks. Rather than mark them as bad every time it hits that spot, it just tells me it can't access that part of the drive.
My guess is that OS X, for some reason, leaves a set amount of memory free to use for various reasons and that, due to fragmentation, what was once an easy task of accessing something in a swap file is now time-consuming.
Is that on target? What else could be causing this problem? This is beginning to make my iMac unusable. If it's just swap file issues and defrag problems, I'm thinking of cloning my internal 320 GB drive to a 1 TB drive and replacing the original, then running iDefrag for good measure and continuing from there. (It seems like in OS X finding bad blocks is difficult, from what I've seen.)
What can I do and does anyone have any idea what the problem is? I'll be glad to give more details if that helps, but I've tried to include as much as I can already.
Thanks for any ideas or help.

Considering how I've solved this, I'm pretty much shocked that nobody had any answers for this.
I upgraded my drive from the standard 320 GB drive (which had about 79 GB free on it). I used Carbon Copy Clone to copy my system drive to a 1 TB drive, then swapped out the 320 GB for the 1 TB. When I booted it up and started working, I noticed it was back to the way things used to be: I could go from one program to another to another with NO problem at all. No pinwheels of death and I even added a few more more running programs and still had no issue.
I have no idea why, but before, even when there was a 2 GB swap file, 1 GB (out of 4 GB) of RAM was always unused. I don't know if the OS looks at what it can access and figures read/write times and uses that to figure out how much memory it can effectively handle or what, but now I'm using almost all of my 4 GB of RAM and the swap file is smaller than it was.
So upgrading to a larger drive made a HUGE difference. I'm willing to bet that defragging the old one would have made a difference as well, but there were problems with some files and iDefrag could not read them, which also makes me suspect that drive was on its last legs and close to failure. (That and bad sectors could also have slowed down swap, along with fragmentation issues.)
The solution was a bigger drive, but I suspect defragging the old drive might have helped (if it weren't for possible bad blocks). I know deleting files from the old drive did not help too much.

Combo 10.7.4 Update slowing down and freezing applications

After updating from Combo Mac OS X 10.7.3 to Combo Mac OS X 10.7.4, my third party applications slow to a crawl and freeze on a rotating basis.
Affected applications:
- BOINC with which I do volunteer medical research (3 CPUs used 100% of the time);
- aMule 2.3.1 to download files;
- Mozilla Firefox 12.0 to browse the internet.
I tried to reduce the CPU usage of BOINC (3 CPUs used 80% of the time instead of 100%) to no avail.
I re-installed with some difficulty Mac OS X 10.7.1 from the copy I bought on the Mac App Store to preserve the work I had done on my iMac since the last TimeMachine back-up, but did not improve performance, possibly because I ended up with a mixed system of Mac OS X 10.7.4 components surviving the Mac OS X 10.7.1 re-install.
I am currently performing a TimeMachine re-install of my previous system (Combo Mac OS X 10.7.3) which will take almost a full day and erase my Macintosh HD to copy the TimeMachine content.
When reading posts on AppleInsider.com and TonyMac x86 blog @ http://tonymacx86.blogspot.ca, I came up with at least 3 different explanations:
- The Mac OS X 10.7.4 System takes up all the RAM memory and gives back unused, free memory only slowly, so that third party applications (and Apple applications such as the Finder and Force Quit) don't have enough free memory and freeze on an alternate basis, although my Core i5 quad-core iMac has 12 GB of installed RAM recognized by Mac OS X;
- Apple has changed kext files in anticipation of the upcoming Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and accidently changed the CPU multiplier so that the CPU is artificially limited to 1.6 GHz (instead of a quad-core 2.66 GHz);
- Apple has changed the /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist file and the following lines of the booting sequence:
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
should be replaced by using TextEdit to copy the following lines:
<key>DropSSDT</key>
<string>Yes</string>
For more info, see:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=168&t=59889
I'm just an average user with no programming skills. I don't feel comfortable with doing undocumented tweaks when I don't really understand what I am doing. On this one, I sure hope that Apple engineers are investigating the issue to come up with a fix.
In the mean time, I am using TimeMachine to re-install my previous system (Combo Mac OS X 10.7.3) which will take almost a full day. I have been deprived of my iMac for 3 days and that's all the time that I can spend on a malfunctioning Combo Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update.
quad-core Core i5-750 @ 2.66 GHz
12 GB SO-DIMM RAM
2 TB hard drive with 100 GB of free space

Final report:
I hope that my experience will help others who added their comments to this thread and anyone else who has problems updating Mac OS X.
Here's the solution to my problems:
1- I backed up the contents of my iMac using TimeMachine (before any attempt to install a major system update) so that I would always have a copy of my Mac running smoothly under Mac OS X 10.7.3;
2- I used Geekbench to measure the performance of my iMac running Mac OS X 10.7.3 and achieved a score of 7622;
3- Using Google and browsing through Apple Support Communities, I realized that Mac users weren't up in arms over the Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update, instead I was confronted with a number of users reporting various issues, none of which was similar to what my iMac experienced, meaning that my experience was unique, exceptional;
4- Starting the iMac through a self-made Mac OS X 10.7.1 booting DVD (I didn't make a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion USB thumb drive), I used my TimeMachine backup to erase the contents of the iMac and replace it with the copy of the backed up iMac running Mac OS X 10.7.3 (before the Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update);
5- Once everything was stable and running well, after repairing the Macintosh HD and then, repairing permissions with the Apple Disk Utility, I did what most Mac users do, i.e. use the Software Update command under the Apple menu to check if there were any available update for my iMac running Mac OS X 10.7.3;
6- Software Update offered me a 729 MB Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update which is bigger than the 692 MB Mac OS X 10.7.4 (Client) Delta Update being offered on Apple Support Downloads;
7- I downloaded and installed the 729 MB Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update offered through Software Update which, presumably, contained additional software which is specific to the iMac model and year that I use;
8- After making a Safe Boot as described by Apple @ http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455, repairing the Macintosh HD and then, repairing permissions with the Apple Disk Utility, and giving the iMac 2 more days to defragment on its own the hard disk, I am pleased to report that my iMac achieved a higher score of 7663 on GeekBench, showing that everything is back to normal and that my iMac runs even better with the Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update.
Hope this helps anyone reading this post. Good luck.
Pierre

Leopard slows down and freezes - please help

I'm running Leopard on a Macbook and I have had startup problems and slowdowns in general a couple of days now.
When I start up the machine I get the apple logo, the spinning circle and then the blue screen for about 2-3 minutes before I get my Leopard wallpaper. It then takes another 3-4 minutes before the dock and icons load up and usually a couple of minutes before I can actually access the desktop.
The whole startup usually took me less than 2 minutes total and is now as you can see a much longer process.
Once in Leopard applications take much longer to load than usual and often freeze or stop responding. I get the colored spinning disc a lot and it seems like Leopard is using a lot of time loading up even simple apps like iCal and Mail.
I'm not sure but it seems like Finder is the problem. I have tried restarting Finder a couple of times and this always gives me the gray screen telling me to restart Leopard by holding the power button.
I have no idea why this has happened, I haven't installed any big apps or used up a lot of the HD space. I still have approx 85GB on my HD so that shouldn't be the problem.
I have of course tried the basic troubleshooting such as restarting and verifying/repairing disk permissions in Disk Utility so I don't know what else to do.
Any suggestions, tips, or ideas are truly appreciated. I really want my old Mac back, the waiting is driving me nuts.
Thanks
Dave
Message was edited by: davelovesmac

Kenichi Watanabe wrote:
Did Verify report any errors? Did you try starting up from the Leopard installation disk and running Disk Utility from the Installer's Utilities menu, then running Repair Disk?
Verify didn't report any errors so that didn't really help.
I have just popped in my Leopard disk but there doesn't seem to be a menu for "utilities". My options are "Install Mac OS X", "Optional installs" (which doesn't have a Repair Disk option", and "Instructions".
Did your MacBook come with Leopard, or did you install the upgrade over your Tiger system?
The machine came with Tiger so I bought Leopard seperately, formatted the HD and did a clean install. But this was back when Leopard came out and I haven't had any problems with the OS until now.

Hello, I'm pretty sure my fan on my 2009 mac book pro has stopped running. Would this cause the computer to slow down and take for ever to boot up and show the color wheel every time I select an application ?

Hello, I'm pretty sure my fan on my 2009 mac book pro has stopped running. Would this cause the computer to slow down and take for ever to boot up and show the color wheel every time I select an application ? how involved to replace fan ? cost ?
thanks

Not directly, but if the CPU overheats because of incompatible software, that would cause slowdowns. Do not allow the computer to run if the fan is not working unless you wish to fry your motherboard. Please make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

My Mac is slowing down and when I jump on the internet I see the rainbow ball a lot and it goes no where, I have to shut it down and try to restart several times a day?

My Mac is slowing down and when I jump on the internet I see the rainbow ball a lot and it goes no where, I have to shut it down and try to restart several times a day?

See if either of these help : http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/25_ways_speed_your_mac
http://www.macworld.com/article/151583/2010/05/spinningbeachballofdeath.html

My iMac 8.1 was slowing down and had permissions problems. I backed everything up, and then re-installed. Now all I get is a black screen. Power+D gives me a hardware error message: HDD-1336. Help!

My iMac 8.1 (10.6.8 ) was slowing down and had recurrent permissions problems, mostly with Java. I backed everything up, and then re-installed from time machine. Now all I get is a black screen which says I need to reboot. Power+D gives me a hardware error message: 4 MOT/1/40000003: HDD-1336 or HDD-1327. When I reboot from the OSX CD and start disc utilities everything checks out OK. When I reload 10.5.2 from the OSX CD everything seems to work OK and no more permissions problems. But then I loose all my email and safari stuff. Anyone have any ideas short of going back to my old PC?

DonM. wrote:
Hi
Thanks for the help. No point in fooling around with it any more. Will I be able to use it as a monitor if I get a mimi mac?
Cheers. Don
No unfortunatley it's too old, you are referring to Target Display Mode which became avialble in 2009, your 2008 needs to have the HD replaced. I'd still do that if everything else is OK or you can simply buy a new MM and display or even a new iMac or an Apple refurbished iMac to save money.

In "edit" mode, my movie speed is fine. Once published it seems to slow down and become all jerky. Any ideas? Thanks

In "edit" mode, my movie speed is fine. Once published it seems to slow down and become all jerky. Any ideas? Thanks

I have a revision a imac g5 with the same problem with only macbreak podcast. I know leo laporte said that the podcast was done in 1080p and my computer with its built in 64 megabyte graphics card might have trouble with this podcast but your machine must have a better graphics card than mine. 1080p requires at least 128 megabytes of graphics memory built in. My machine played this podcast on quicktime fine until they came out with the update to quicktime last week or two ago. I was going to upgrade my memory until I came accross your story and your machines doing the same thing with much better specs. I think it might be the quicktime update that is causing a problem. Maybe Leo will talk about this problem since he is doing a mac show about macs.

Why does my footage Slow down and loose audio when imported to after effects cs6?

Whenever I import video of any kind into after effects, it slows down and looses audio. It happens for every video. The weird thing is, it seems like it doesnt happen to anyone else on the internet. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME PLEASE!!!! I am about to cry. I cant do anything with this stupid software! If there is a solution please tell me. Its really annoying.
extra info-
On Mac
mov. Files
H.264 codec

Slows down when? When you preview? Do you know how to preview?
If you are pressing the space bar to preview the video then the behavior you are seeing is normal. AE will not playback in real time with autio unless you do a ram preview (look it up). You must learn to use the software.
Start with the three videos on this page: Basic Workflow
Or check out these resources: AE Basics

Slow down and crashing macbook pro

my macbook pro has suddenly been acting erratically, slowing down and occassionally crashing. I ran etrecheck to provide the data and would welcome any insight.
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
          8 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.2 (13C1021) - Uptime: 0 days 6:1:39
Disk Information:
          TOSHIBA MK5055GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    ]ulia Morrisroe (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (294.49 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information:
          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Logitech USB Receiver
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information:
Configuration files:
          /etc/hosts - Count: 1
Gatekeeper:
          Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:
          [kext loaded] com.Perfect.Driver.SystemAudioRecorder (1.0.0 - SDK 10.6) Support
          [not loaded] com.cisco.nke.ipsec (1.0.0) Support
          [kext loaded] com.logmein.driver.LogMeInSoundDriver (1.0.3 - SDK 10.5) Support
          [not loaded] com.marvell.kext.USBGenericPrinterClass (1.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouse (5.3) Support
          [not loaded] com.sandisk.driver.CruzerDriver (15) Support
          [not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (6.0.5) Support
Startup Items:
          CiscoVPN: Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN
Launch Daemons:
          [running] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
          [running] com.autodesk.backburner_manager.plist Support
          [running] com.autodesk.backburner_server.plist Support
          [loaded] com.autodesk.backburner_start.plist Support
          [running] com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist Support
          [loaded] com.cloudpath.maccmd.plist Support
          [failed] com.collobos.fingerprintd.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinblanker.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist Support
          [loaded] com.logmein.raupdate.plist Support
          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support
          [invalid] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist
          [loaded] net.cloudpath.HelperTool.plist Support
Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
          [loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist Support
          [loaded] com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.logmein.logmeingui.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinguiagentatlogin.plist Support
          [invalid] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
          [loaded] com.divx.agent.postinstall.plist Support
          [running] com.ecamm.printopia.plist Support
          [loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist Support
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
          [running] com.hp.printerAgent.plist Support
          [running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.victorpimentel.TVShowsHelper.plist Support
User Login Items:
          Dropbox
Internet Plug-ins:
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          RealPlayer Plugin: Version: (null) Support
          AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 13.0.0.206 - SDK 10.6 Support
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20513.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Flash Player: Version: 13.0.0.206 - SDK 10.6 Support
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.0.2 Support
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version
Safari Extensions:
          Awesome Screenshot: Version: 1.3.4
          The New York Times: Version: 0.1
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
          Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins:
          CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.26 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Flash Player Support
          Perian Support
          Printopia Support
          TVShows Support
Time Machine:
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               4%          Google Chrome
               4%          WindowServer
               2%          coreaudiod
               0%          TextEdit
               0%          fontd
Top Processes by Memory:
          188 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
          164 MB          Finder
          164 MB          Google Chrome
          156 MB          mds_stores
          66 MB          Dropbox
Virtual Memory Information:
          4.07 GB          Free RAM
          2.20 GB          Active RAM
          628 MB          Inactive RAM
          1.12 GB          Wired RAM
          1.78 GB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

morrisroe,
were any of the crashes due to GPU panics?
It looks like something has modified your /etc/hosts file — do you know which of your apps has done that?
Did you ensure that all of your installed third-party apps are compatible with Mavericks before upgrading to Mavericks?
Your Silverlight plug-in is out of date; you can download the latest version (5.1.30317.0) from here.

Ever since I downloaded Mountain Lion my computer has slowed down and frozen at times. Is there anything I can do to speed it up?

Ever since I downloaded Mountain Lion my computer has slowed down and frozen at times. Is there anything I can do to speed it up?

How much memory is installed?
Here is a large list of articles related to performance issues:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3521
http://www.reedcorner.net/mpg/
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10798
http://osxdaily.com/2012/10/11/mac-running-slow-reasons/
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4542409?start=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4122175?start=0
http://www.speedtest.net/index.php
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3289614?start=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3928756?start=0
http://www.whyismymacsoslow.net
http://www.slowmac.net
http://www.all-about-apple.com/slow-mac-performance-learn-how-to-solve-it/
http://www.chriswrites.com/2009/04/17-reasons-why-your-mac-is-so-unbelievably-sl ow/
http://www.macworld.com/article/1159699/troubleshooting_speed_passwords.html

My browser takes minutes to open then when the tab is fully loaded it will start saying "Connecting" and slow down or freeze.

When I open my browser, it takes 3-5 minutes to fully open. When I get to a website, randomly the tab will say 'Connecting' and slow down and take 10-15 minutes to function or freeze completely. This almost always happens on sites that require Flash Player use. I have uninstalled and reinstalled my Flash several times. I've added memory, as someone suggested it was a memory issue. It's so frustrating, please help!

A possible cause is security software (firewall) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process.
See:
* [[Server not found]]
* [[Firewalls]]

Mac OS 10.8.4 slows down and freezes

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