My Mac Book has started running slow
Hey guys!
My mac is running so slow, I went online an tried to research the problem, and I condensed my desktop, deleted large programs I no longer needed, try to clean my caches, and I even downloaded all necessary updates.
I just ran Etre
Problem description:
My computer runs slow on both the internet and when pulling up programs. I’m trying to figure out a way to make my programs run fast again.
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated February 10, 2015 at 10:05:18 PM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Click the [Adware! - Remove] links for help removing adware.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) (Technical Specifications)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,2
1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 570
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Time since boot: 0:22:14
Disk Information: ℹ️
TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (376.25 GB free)
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS31N
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. iPhone
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Adware: ℹ️
Geneio [Adware! - Remove]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Click for support]
[unknown] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
[unknown] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist [Click for details]
[loaded] com.divx.agent.postinstall.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
None
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 [Click for support]
Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.2 [Click for support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.4 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 Check version
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.79 [Click for support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
Omnibar [Adware! - Remove]
DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
DivX [Click for support]
Flash Player [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
4% spssengine
4% WindowServer
1% Creative Cloud
0% AppleSpell
0% mds
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
262 MB Image Capture Extension
258 MB JavaApplicationStub
146 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
129 MB Preview
77 MB spindump
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
130 MB Free RAM
1.80 GB Active RAM
1.70 GB Inactive RAM
665 MB Wired RAM
1.62 GB Page-ins
16 KB Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Feb 10, 2015, 09:34:15 PM Self test - passed
When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console 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 and start typing the name.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
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Examine these articles for possible solutions;
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3521
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
You should find them excellent for troubleshooting.
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mishnin wrote:
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See your other post...
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My Mac Book Pro is running slow
i am having mid 2012 Mac Book Pro 15 after i am running OS X 10.10.1 it takes more time for booting and lags many of the time
Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:
1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
4. Reinstall Yosemite: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless.
5. Reinstall Yosemite from Scratch:
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
How to Clean Install OS X Yosemite
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless. -
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Please Help me! ThankYou and Happy New Year!
Start with this comprehensive troubleshooting article:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3521
Look at this one for possible solutions:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Ciao. -
Hello ,
I am not very good with tech things , I have a Mac Book Pro and have had it for almost two years with no problems. Now for the past week or so it has started running extremely slow and freezing up all the time. I am not really sure what is going on but is there any advice on something to do or any idea what could be wrong.My MacBook Pro is running very slow.
EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)
Report generated 5/6/15, 9:40 PM
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,3
1 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 63 - SN = W05024HXDBWZA
Video Information: ℹ️
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - VRAM: 256 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 3:9:20
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02 disk0 : (320.07 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macbook Pro (disk0s2) / : 319.08 GB (53.55 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Applications/TechTool Pro 8.app
[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel-10-8 (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]
/Library/Checkmate/CheckmateWorkerDaemon.app
[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.SPDKernel (1 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
Startup Items: ℹ️
HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr
HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect
StartOuc: Path: /Library/StartupItems/StartOuc
Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Click for support]
[failed] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist [Click for support] [Click for details]
[running] com.micromat.CheckmateAgent.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.micromat.TechToolProAgent.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.micromat.CheckmateIdleDaemon.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.micromat.CheckmateWorkerDaemon.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.micromat.TechToolProDaemon.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist [Click for details]
[loaded] com.bittorrent.BitTorrent.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
MagicMenu Application (/Applications/StuffIt Archive Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/MagicMenu.app)
Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)
AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application (/Applications/Adobe/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Google Chrome Application Hidden (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
EvernoteHelper Application (/Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EvernoteHelper.app)
RealPlayer Downloader Agent Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/RealNetworks/RealPlayer Downloader Agent.app)
Garmin Express Service Application (/Applications/Garmin Express.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Garmin Express Service.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 40 Check version
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
AdobeAAMDetect: Version: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 [Click for support]
Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.9 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
GarminGpsControl: Version: 4.2.0.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown [Click for support]
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Click for support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
AdBlock
searchtab
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Click for support]
Java [Click for support]
TechTool Protection [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: ON
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macbook Pro: Disk size: 319.08 GB Disk used: 265.52 GB
Destinations:
Rat Drive [Local]
Total size: 249.72 GB
Total number of backups: 4
Oldest backup: 2014-11-12 00:25:11 +0000
Last backup: 2015-01-08 09:48:54 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 249.72 GB < (Disk used 265.52 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
11% mds_stores
6% Google Chrome Helper(13)
4% Google Chrome
2% RealPlayer Downloader Agent
1% WindowServer
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
1.52 GB Google Chrome Helper(13)
723 MB kernel_task
442 MB softwareupdated
188 MB Google Chrome
139 MB mtmd
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
1.24 GB Free RAM
6.76 GB Used RAM
0 B Swap Used
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
May 6, 2015, 08:33:36 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mtmd_2015-05-06-203336_[redacted].cpu_resource. diag [Click for details]
May 6, 2015, 06:25:14 PM Self test - passed
May 6, 2015, 06:23:47 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/EvernoteHelper_2015-05-06-182347_[redacted].cra sh
May 5, 2015, 02:54:50 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-05-05-145450_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]
May 5, 2015, 11:51:54 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/discoveryd_2015-05-05-115154_[redacted].crash
May 4, 2015, 04:42:23 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/discoveryd_2015-05-04-164223_[redacted].crash -
Mac book pro is running very slow what can i do to speed it up?
mac book pro is running very slow what can i do to speed it up?
Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with visits to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney;
The X Lab: The X-FAQs;
The Safe Mac » Mac Performance Guide;
The Safe Mac » The myth of the dirty Mac;
Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilites Menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD disk icon and click on the arrow button below.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
Note: Alsoft ships DW on a bootable DVD that will startup Macs running Snow Leopard or earlier. It cannot start Macs that came with Lion or later pre-installed, however, DW will work on those models.
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or later and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive.
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection
An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
See these Apple articles:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
About file quarantine in OS X
If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using VirusBarrier Express 1.1.6 or Dr.Web Light both from the App Store. They're both free, and since they're from the App Store, they won't destabilize the system. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for these recommendations.)
Troubleshooting Applications
I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX, Mavericks Cache Cleaner, or Cocktail that you can use for removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache, log, or temporary files can cause application or OS X crashes as well as kernel panics.
If you have Snow Leopard or Leopard, then for similar repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. Applejack does not work with Lion and later.
Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Referenced software can be found at MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Pre-Mavericks
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Mavericks and later
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file. -
My mac book pro is running really slow what should I do?
My mac book pro is running really slow what should I do?
Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with visits to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney;
The X Lab: The X-FAQs;
The Safe Mac » Mac Performance Guide;
The Safe Mac » The myth of the dirty Mac;
Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilites Menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD disk icon and click on the arrow button below.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
Note: Alsoft ships DW on a bootable DVD that will startup Macs running Snow Leopard or earlier. It cannot start Macs that came with Lion or later pre-installed, however, DW will work on those models.
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or later and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive.
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection
An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
See these Apple articles:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
About file quarantine in OS X
If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using VirusBarrier Express 1.1.6 or Dr.Web Light both from the App Store. They're both free, and since they're from the App Store, they won't destabilize the system. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for these recommendations.)
Troubleshooting Applications
I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX, Mavericks Cache Cleaner, or Cocktail that you can use for removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache, log, or temporary files can cause application or OS X crashes as well as kernel panics.
If you have Snow Leopard or Leopard, then for similar repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. Applejack does not work with Lion and later.
Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Referenced software can be found at MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Pre-Mavericks
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Mavericks and later
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file. -
Mac book pro is running very slow. is there a way to do a disc cleanup?
mac book pro is running very slow. is there a way to do a disc cleanup?
First, back up all data immediately, as your boot drive might be failing.
Step 1
This diagnostic procedure will query the system log for messages that may indicate a hardware fault. It changes nothing, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator. I've tested them only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, they may not work as described.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'Channel t|GPU D|I/O|n Cause: -' | tail | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
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.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Normally the command will produce no output, and the window will be empty. If the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window) has anything in it, stop here and post it — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the TextEdit window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.
Step 2
There are a few other possible causes of generalized slow performance that you can rule out easily.
Reset the System Management Controller.
If you have many image or video files on the Desktop with preview icons, move them to another folder.
If applicable, uncheck all boxes in the iCloud preference pane.
Disconnect all non-essential wired peripherals and remove aftermarket expansion cards, if any.
Check your keychains in Keychain Access for excessively duplicated items.
Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk.
If you're booting from an aftermarket SSD, see whether there's a firmware update for it.
If you have a MacBook Pro with dual graphics, disable automatic graphics switching in the Energy Saverpreference pane for better performance at the cost of shorter battery life.
Step 3
When you notice the problem, launch the Activity Monitor 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 Activity Monitor in the icon grid.
Select the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor window.
Select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected.
Click the heading of the % CPU column in the process table to sort the entries by CPU usage. You may have to click it twice to get the highest value at the top. What is it, and what is the process? Also post the values for % User, % System, and % Idle at the bottom of the window.
Select the System Memory tab. What values are shown in the bottom part of the window for Page outs and Swap used?
Next, select the Disk Activity tab. Post the approximate values shown for Reads in/sec and Writes out/sec (not Reads in and Writes out.)
Step 4
If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator to carry out this step.
Launch the Console application in the same way you launched Activity Monitor. Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Select the 50 or so most recent entries in the log. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V). You're looking for entries at the end of the log, not at the beginning.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some personal information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting. That should be easy to do if your extract is not too long. -
Hello! My MacBook Pro has suddenly started running slow.
Hello!
I've had my MacBook Pro for since 2011 and it has suddenly started running slow. This has been going on for a month. I've restarted my MacBook several times and even shut it down when I know I will not be using for the remainder of the day. I've tried numerous things to make it run faster including deleting useless files like text documents, pictures, videos, etc. I currently have 92.67GB free of 500GB . I've noticed that when it gets hot it starts running slow or when I play a video game and sometimes when I play videos online.
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB
OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 (14B25)
I've already used Etrecheck to hopefully speed up the process of help.
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated February 3, 2015 at 5:14:44 AM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) (Technical Specifications)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 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
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 834
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Time since boot: 11:18:56
Disk Information: ℹ️
TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (92.64 GB free)
Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Configuration files: ℹ️
/etc/hosts - Count: 30
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.20) [Click for support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.20) [Click for support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.20) [Click for support]
[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.20) [Click for support]
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.leapfrog.codeless.kext (2) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.leapfrog.driver.LfConnectDriver (1.8.1 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.mice.driver.PS3Controller (1.0.0d1) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileUSB (1.2.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
/System/Library/Extensions/MotMobileUSB.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileMS (1.0.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileMTP (1.2.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileUSBLAN (1.2.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileUSBLANMerge (1.2.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
[not loaded] com.motorola-mobility.driver.MotMobileUSBSwch (1.2.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]
Startup Items: ℹ️
FxLicenseManager: Path: /Library/StartupItems/FxLicenseManager
Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[killed] com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist
[killed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist
[running] com.VTech.AgentMonitor.plist [Click for support]
2 processes killed due to memory pressure
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[killed] com.apple.awdd.plist
[killed] com.apple.ctkd.plist
[killed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist
[killed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
[killed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
5 processes killed due to memory pressure
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.motorola.motohelper.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.motorola.motohelperUpdater.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.autodesk.backburner_manager.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.autodesk.backburner_server.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.autodesk.backburner_start.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.leapfrog.connect.shell.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.motorola-mobility.mmcfgd.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.VTechLLNService.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist [Click for support]
[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
[running] com.codecm.uploader.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.divx.agent.postinstall.plist [Click for support]
[failed] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist [Click for support] [Click for details]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist [Click for support]
[not loaded] jp.co.canon.Inkjet_Extended_Survey_Agent.plist [Click for support]
[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
uHD-Agent UNKNOWN (missing value)
PdaNetMac UNKNOWN (missing value)
Monitor Application (/Applications/LeapFrogConnect.app/Contents/Monitor.app)
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
MotoCast UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)
Launch Nikon Message Center 2 Application (/Applications/Nikon Software/Nikon Message Center 2/Nikon Message Center 2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/Launch Nikon Message Center 2.app)
ConnectService Application (/Library/Application Support/ArcSoft/Connect Service/ConnectService.app)
Content Manager Assistant Application (/Applications/CMA.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 25 Check version
GameFacePlugin: Version: GameFacePlugin 1.5.3.0 - SDK 10.5 [Click for support]
OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 [Click for support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 3.5.5f4 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20125.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.296 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.2 [Click for support]
Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.296 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.7 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
EPPEX Plugin: Version: 3.0.5.0 [Click for support]
DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.6r636 [Click for support]
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
BlueStacks Install Detector: Version: Unknown
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Click for support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>
Twitter for Safari
codec-M
MacVeXe
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
DivX [Click for support]
Flash Player [Click for support]
Java [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
10% systemstats
5% WindowServer
3% AgentMonitor
1% ConnectService
0% AppleSpell
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
399 MB firefox
107 MB Finder
94 MB loginwindow
86 MB mds_stores
64 MB WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
368 MB Free RAM
1.69 GB Active RAM
794 MB Inactive RAM
1.16 GB Wired RAM
7.15 GB Page-ins
322 MB Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Feb 1, 2015, 04:01:05 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Google Earth_2015-02-01-160105_[redacted].crash
Jan 31, 2015, 07:00:56 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-01-31-190056_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]
Feb 2, 2015, 05:53:21 PM Self test - passedIf your Mac runs slowly:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19031?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Start up in Safe Mode. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18760
Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the method for:
"Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
Repair Disk
Steps 1 through 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836 -
I am using Mac OS 10.7.5. During the last week, it has started running very slow. Any thoughts?
Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with visits to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney;
The X Lab: The X-FAQs;
The Safe Mac » Mac Performance Guide;
The Safe Mac » The myth of the dirty Mac;
Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the Utilites Menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD disk icon and click on the arrow button below.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
Note: Alsoft ships DW on a bootable DVD that will startup Macs running Snow Leopard or earlier. It cannot start Macs that came with Lion or later pre-installed, however, DW will work on those models.
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or later and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive.
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection
An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
See these Apple articles:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
About file quarantine in OS X
If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using VirusBarrier Express 1.1.6 or Dr.Web Light both from the App Store. They're both free, and since they're from the App Store, they won't destabilize the system. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for these recommendations.)
Troubleshooting Applications
I recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX, Mavericks Cache Cleaner, or Cocktail that you can use for removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc. Corrupted cache, log, or temporary files can cause application or OS X crashes as well as kernel panics.
If you have Snow Leopard or Leopard, then for similar repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. Applejack does not work with Lion and later.
Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Referenced software can be found at MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Pre-Mavericks
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Mavericks and later
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file. -
My MacBook is almost two years old and has started running really slow. It gets bogged down when it is running different programs at the same time, like Safari and Pages. It didn't react this way until recently. Any advice would be very welcome.
Launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive (the drive itself, not the volume icons below it.) Is the SMART status "Verified?" If not, replace the drive immediately. If the status is "Verified," the drive may still be failing. Back up all data, if you haven't already done so. Reinstall Mac OS X, then run Software Update. Test with all wired peripherals disconnected. If it's still slow, you have a hardware problem.
Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Reinstalling Mac OS X
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I am displaying a message in functional module implemented for BTE 1030. The message is not getting diplayed. I have changed the message tyto 'S, I. W, E but still it does not display. The sy-subrc is 0 after passing the messga statement. (The funct
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Disheartened at the ever so convinient 5 hours slots engineer come in, and unwilling to take time off a new job, I asked Bt to send me a new box - here is the chase email - lets see hiow this goes..... 100816-010428 I do not understand why it is taki
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I download a movie mp4 without internal subtitles, i download the subs separately, the movie is on my time capsule, when i try to play it, sometimes it says " ERROR LOADING THIS CONTENT PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER ", it only plays when i copy the movie in
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Problem in Passing the select-options data in smartforms
Dear ABAPers, I have developed new layout for Delivery Chellan using smartforms. using parameters i am getting document no, corresponding all details getting print. but the client wants to use multiple document no. in function module also i am passin
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TS1367 My MacPro won't start up properly?
My MackBook pro won't start up properly. Screen comes on with apple logo and sound but won't boot properly. Any help would be appreciated, thanks PS I'm not computer savvy!