Support for slow macbookpro 3.06 ghz 10.7.5

Question

Hi all,
my macbookpro is been running slow and having problems for a while now, I've reached the point where it makes it really difficult to work, perhaps the fact that I've a large amount of data on my disk could be parlty the problem. I noticed another thread where they've been use etercheck tool in order to pinpoint issues and get some support so I was hopefull that someone would kindly give me some feedback, here is my report:
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,2
          1 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - VRAM: 512 MB
          NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.1 - SDK 10.7
Startup Items:
          HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
          HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr
          HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect
          MySQLCOM: Path: /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
          VirtualBox: Path: /Library/StartupItems/VirtualBox
System Software:
          Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Uptime: 23 days 9:15:14
Disk Information:
          ST9500420ASG disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 499.25 GB (35.69 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-868
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
          Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
          Broadcom Corp BCM2046A
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp          (4.1.14)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
          [not loaded] ftp-proxy.plist
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS3.plist
          [loaded] com.macromates.auth_server.plist
          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
          [loaded] com.noiseindustries.FxFactory.plist
          [loaded] com.rogueamoeba.hermes.plist
          [loaded] com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist
          [loaded] cx.pow.firewall.plist
          [not loaded] org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist
Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist
          [loaded] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist
          [not loaded] org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist
          [loaded] cx.pow.powd.plist
          [not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist
          [loaded] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist
User Login Items:
          Microsoft AU Daemon
          iTunesHelper
          AdobeResourceSynchronizer
          GetBackupAgent
          Backup Engine
          MagicMenu
          3G Watcher
          AirCard Watcher
          uTorrent
          HP Scheduler
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Adobe Version Cue CS3
          Déjà Vu
          Flash Player
          Growl
          MySQL
          Perian
          WacomTablet
Internet Plug-ins::
          DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.5r635
          WacomNetscape: Version: 1.1.0-5
          WacomSafari: Version: 1.1.0-5
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.117 - SDK 10.6
          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
          Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.117 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.1.0
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update
Bad Fonts:
          None
Old applications:
          Transmission:          Version: 2.31 - SDK 10.0
                    /Applications/Transmission.app
Time Machine:
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               5%          git
               5%          firefox
               1%          plugin-container
               1%          EtreCheck
               0%          WindowServer
Top Processes by Memory:
          1004 MB  firefox
          143 MB   Finder
          74 MB    mds
          70 MB    WindowServer
          70 MB    plugin-container
Virtual Memory Statistics:
          876 MB   Free RAM
          1.54 GB  Active RAM
          796 MB   Inactive RAM
          590 MB   Wired RAM
          7.97 GB  Page-ins
          3.70 GB  Page-outs

Answer 1

Your Mac has been running for 23 days and since you have 4GB of RAM it may help to reboot once a week or so. Quitting browsers occasionally may help too.
You have 3GB of 'Page-outs' (in the Virtual Memory Statistics). This suggests you have run out of RAM at some point & the OS had to move the info onto the disk - this is a slow process, so you either need to run less apps or install more RAM. Cleaning up old apps may help reduce the amount of RAM you need, so run EtreCheck again in a week or so & see how the 'Page-outs' are doing.
Your boot disk is getting rather full, its is a spinning hard disk, so the performance will decrease the more data you store on it. The data fills from the outside edge towards the middle of the disk, the outside is fastest. If you can free up more space that can help you get better read & write speed. A 1TB disk will perform better with your ~460GB of data. I'd also back it up and boot from recovery mode & verify/ repair the boot disk http://pondini.org/OSX/DU6.html
Another option is to clone the disk to an external & then restore it back onto the the system - this effectively 'defragments' the disk, just have several backups if you plan to do this.
Check that any Huawei software is up to date - HWNetMgr and HWPortDetect are installed as startup items. If you don't need them look for uninstallers or instructions on Huawei's site, it's best not to load items into the system level if they are not needed
Virtualbox looks like it may be from last year (version 4.1.14), it is loading the extensions into the system, so it's important to update it.
See if your login items are causing issues…
Logout of your user account (in the Apple menu)
Log back in, but hold shift as you press the login button. This will disable the login items in your user account. If the Mac is better like this you know you need to remove or update login items.
Running uTorrent as a login item may use system resources that could be used elsewhere.
I'll mark this up like the other reports & add an explanation of the sections below the report.
tancredi wrote:
Startup Items:
          HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
          HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr
          HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect
          MySQLCOM: Path: /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
          VirtualBox: Path: /Library/StartupItems/VirtualBox
Disk Information:
          ST9500420ASG disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 499.25 GB (35.69 GB free)
Kernel Extensions:
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt          (4.1.14)
          org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp          (4.1.14)
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS3.plist
          [loaded] com.macromates.auth_server.plist
          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
          [loaded] com.noiseindustries.FxFactory.plist
          [loaded] com.rogueamoeba.hermes.plist
          [loaded] com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist
          [loaded] cx.pow.firewall.plist
          [not loaded] org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist
Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist
          [not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist
          [loaded] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist
          [not loaded] org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist
          [loaded] cx.pow.powd.plist
          [not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist
          [loaded] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist
User Login Items:
          Microsoft AU Daemon
          iTunesHelper
          AdobeResourceSynchronizer
          GetBackupAgent
          Backup Engine
          MagicMenu
          3G Watcher
          AirCard Watcher
          uTorrent
          HP Scheduler
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Adobe Version Cue CS3
          Déjà Vu
          Flash Player
          Growl
          MySQL
          Perian
          WacomTablet
Internet Plug-ins::
          DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.5r635
          WacomNetscape: Version: 1.1.0-5
          WacomSafari: Version: 1.1.0-5
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.117 - SDK 10.6
          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
          Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.117 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.1.0
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update
Top Processes by Memory:
          1004 MB  firefox
           70 MB    plugin-container <<-- this may be because of older internet plugins
Virtual Memory Statistics:
          3.70 GB  Page-outs
Red items are loaded at the system level (not necessarily bad, but they have the potential to modify the OS).
Blue items are loaded at the user level
Pink items are to get attention :^)
Cleanup:
All the usual caveats apply, backup before you modify the system, delete the items (or move them to another disk or folder if you are worried about deleting the wrong thing) but ensure the originals are gone or updated.
Use the Finders "Go menu > Go to Folder…" when you need to open the hidden ~/Library (your users library).
Reboot for the system changes to take effect.
How to find updates:
The critical launchd jobs & kernel extensions use reverse domain notation e.g.
com.logmein.hamachi.plist means look at http://logmein.com for updates (if you don't recognize it removing it may be appropriate)
In short: You want to try to update or remove all the system level items.
Startup Items: Stored in /Library/StartupItems/
Startup Items have been discontinued by Apple since Mac OS 10.4. They are responsible for making changes at a system level. Remove them all or spend time ensuring ALL related software is up to date. You need a very good reason to have anything installed in here. The developers are ignoring Apple guidelines by installing these - not a good sign.
Kernel Extensions: Stored in /Library/Extensions/
Kernel Extensions also load third party code, but they insert it into the 'core' of the OS. These can be safe, however you must ensure the related tools or apps are up to date, otherwise the system is basically built upon quicksand. Remove them all & see if the OS works better.
Launchd jobs: several types
LaunchAgents          - Stored in /Library/LaunchAgents
LaunchDaemons       - Stored in /Library/LaunchDaemons
User LaunchAgents   - Stored in ~/Library/LaunchAgents
These are all background jobs, they are not necessarily bad, but if they are loading old code it could be doing untold damage to the performance & stability of the entire OS. Focus on the System level jobs (the ones inside /Library - the system level) also remove ['failed'], non-system jobs.
EtreCheck gives a status on launchd jobs…
[loaded]                  - a running job
[not loaded]            - jobs that are set not to run, basically harmless, remove them unless you plan to use the associated software (if it is up to date)
[failed]                    - jobs in a crashed or unknown state, it could be forking processes or using all the system resources, remove these.
User login items:
Applications and helpers that are managed inside 'Systems Preferences > Users and groups > Login Items tab'.
These are loaded at the 'User level', consider removing all of them whilst you troubleshoot.  When you decide to re-add them ensure the software is up to date.
3rd Party Preference Panes: & Internet Plug-ins:
/Library/PreferencePanes/ and ~/Library/PreferencePanes/
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ and ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/
Once again these items all must be up to date, or remove them from your system. If the prefpanes manage additional software use the uninstaller or see the developers site for uninstall instructions. You can also right click to remove 3rd party preference panes in System preferences
Read the list of Internet plug-ins carefully, there are often duplicate Flash player versions that won't help stability, it's just wasted space too.
Don't forget to also update Safari's extensions in it's preferences (if you have any).
Re-run EtreCheck after cleaning up to see if items have returned (some apps will reload the background jobs when re-opened, so either update or remove the software).
Hope that isn't too daunting, the OS should be better if there are less old items running at the system level.
Ask if any of it needs clarifying.