System slow down - help!

I don't think I'v ever had this problem before - the whole system keeps slowing down to a crawl - every app, the cursor, every thing -
I just did the disk utility maintenance yesterday (from the Repair partitioin), cleaning permissions & verifying / repairing the disk...
somehow give me some suggestions, the cache, the memory...?
should I zap the P-RAM,or whatever that step is where you restart holding COMAND-OPTION-P-R ??
help!
w

Ok, there are a few things I would try.
1. Download this free application from the app store called iBoostUp Click Here. Once you do that launch the application you should run the first four things (The quick clean, Disk optimizer, Network optimizer, and memory booster).
2. If it is still slow launch Disk Utility, then select you computer's hardrive and press verify disk (Not disk permissions). When that is finished press repir disk.
3. Yes, if it is still slow now zap the P-ram. When you hear the startup chime at startup hold down command+option+R+P, then count, stop this process after you have heard 3 startup chimes.
4. If it still is like this, consider buying the premium version of iBoostUp Click Here. Now you can run all of the tests and processes in the application.
5. Now is the time to bring your computer to Apple (Make an appointment).

Similar Messages

System Slow-Down After Printing

I recently installed Mountain Lion. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a significant operating system (10.8.2) slow down after printing with my Epson R3000 printer. This happens after every printing session. When I say slow-down I mean significant delays and dreading "beachballs" when opening applications, selecting menu items or anything else I should choose to do. I'm left with re-starting the computer to get going normally again.After re-atarting I have gone to "verify permissions" and I get approx "5" pages of permission errors, all associated with the printer library in some fashion or another. I then repair all those permissions and re-start my MacPro. The operating system then works as normal and I can use the computer with no problems (until I start printing again). I mainly use the computer for photo editing with Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Lightroom 4 and Aperture 3.2.
I did not have this problem before upgrading to Mountain Lion (and then to 10.8.2). I did not get "significant" permission errors before upgrading. Since all printer drivers for this printer are handled now by Apple via the "new" Software Update process I can't even re-download the Epson printer driver and start over. I'm completely at a loss as to what, associated with the printer function, is causing these "significant" permission errors and subsequent operating system slow down. My printer is almost brand new and was working flawlessly before Mountain Lion. Let me be clear though, I can print fine. My problem is the system slow down after using the print function which I am only guessing has something to do with the "5" pages of permission errors after printting photos (with CS6/Lightroom/Aperture).
Incidently, I am not in any way a computer expert. Verifying and repairing permissions is about all I know how to do that's why I need help. I also just thought I would try the forums first before going to technical support to see what people thought about this.
Again, I repair the permission errors, re-start my system and all is fine. Any further suggestions would be deeply appreciated.

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.

PSE 10 system slows down when adding files to catalog

I recently switched from PSE 3 to PSE10 and had issues converting the catalog. I never did resolve those so I decided to start with creating a new catalog in PSE 10. My first session of adding photos worked fine. When I restarted the task the next day, I was asked in participating in making the product better by sharing information about my use with Adobe. I agreed to participate and very quickly noticed that my computer slowed considerably when adding photos from my hard drive. The process still worked but I experienced a dramatic increase in the time it took for photos to be added (e.g. the cursor spins for a couple of minutes while the task is working). I went under my account preferences and opted out of the product participation program but the problem has persisted. I rebooted the computer to see if that would help but it has not. I have turned off all media analysis and both optimized and repaired my catalog and while this has provided some improvement, there are still instances where the system slows down. Now it seems that every other folder's worth of pictures (does not matter how many photos) I add causes this delay.
I appreciate any help anyone can provide in determining why this slow down keeps occuring.
FYI, I am running a new Windows 7, 64-bit system with 8GB DDR-3-1066MHz, and 2 TB hard drive.

Have you also edited the Preferences (Performance) to increase the amount of RAM that PSE can use?
Do you have many background processes running? Having a single HDD means that everything running on your computer has to wait in the queue for disk access.
How many photos are you importing?
What file types are the photos?
How large are the photos?
Ken

System slows down and power up problems

Hi,
I have a Rev A G5 iMac (1.8Ghz, 1.5GB Ram) which has been working fine since purchased in 05.
Over the 5-6 weeks we have been experiencing system slow downs. All applications will start running slower and slower (not heavy usage, mail, safari, BT client running and occasionally iMovie) to the point have to restart.
But when restarting the iMac it will not power up, it starts and 1 sec later shuts down. So I leave for a while and try again, and it will work although the fan is extremely loud.
I was having to restart every few days but now its to the point of a few times a day.
have run hardware test and all is fine...and as do not have applecare want to see if can do anything myself before taking in for a quote/repair.
Oh another thing, the superdrive will not burn via finder anymore only via toast...that started at the same time as the rest.
many thanks
Zara

Hi Zara - have you tried opening the back and vacuuming out several years accumulation of dust? You can also try resetting the PRAM and the SMU and see if that helps.
Please post back,
Miriam

Compleat system slow down after current updates

Has anyone learned why we all seem to have a compleat system slow down after the current set of updates? Everything works, but is VERY slow to respond. Even iTunes 7.1.1 plays video choppy now. Audio track plays fine however. Odd.
-Apple //GS

First of all, try repairing your permissions with Applications> Utilities> Disk Utility. Select the hard drive you're running off of and then click the Repair Permissions button.
If that doesn't work I'd do an archive and install:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Then run the combo update(s) instead of the consecutive ones. That seems to be working for a lot of people, but it will probably take a while.

System slow down after lion update 8/18/11

Has anyone else had a problem with their system slowing down after downloading the system update for Lion on 8/18? My system is not nearly as responsive and is only about two weeks old and have not installed any software other than Microsoft Office 2011 when I bought the machine. Any ideas?

Ok my system is booting and shutting down faster now.. This method worked for me:
First, I repaired the permissions:
1) Open up Disk Utility
2) Select your hard drive
3) Now select Repair Disk Permissions.
Then, I deleted the caches folder:
1) From the Finder's Go menu, select Go To Folder, and go to this folder: /Library
2) Delete everything inside the Caches folder (This might require the Admin Username & Password)
Finally, go to System Preferences and click on Startup Disc then click on your boot drive (In my case I've selected my HD labeled "Macintosh HD Mac OS X, 10.7.1". Now do a restart by clicking on the Restart button. If you don't have a Startup drive selected your mac will waste time at boot searching for a suitable boot drive !
I Hope this works for you as well.
Cheers!

After instailling iTunes 7.4.1 for Windows, my system slows down to a crawl

After downloading and installing iTunes 7.4.1 for Windows XP Professional, my system slows down horribly, and I cannot seem to find out why. Rebooting before installing this version of iTunes did not take long at all, yet after installing iTunes, rebooting takes at least 4 times as long, and the system runs very slowly/poorly. What has caused this problem? I have other friends who have HP Pavilion laptops using Windows XP who are using iTunes and iPods with no problems at all. I have restored my system back to the state before installing iTunes in SAFE MODE, but now I am unable to use my iPod or iTunes. Anyone having this problem?

In my experience iTunes has never been stable in a Windows operating system. If it's not one thing it's another. Right now I'm having video play back issues with tv shows on iTunes, good thing I have the iPhone now so I can watch them on there.

My computer system slows down after starting firefox 3.6.6, how do I revert to 3.5 version?

My computer system slows down noticeably after starting Firefox 3.6.6, so I would like to shift back to the 3.5 version. What website in the Internet do I go to get the installer file?
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened

Your plugins list shows outdated plugin(s) with known security and stability risks.
# Shockwave Flash 10.0 r45
Update the [[Flash]] plugin to the latest version.
See http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
You can try if it works if you disable OOPP (Out-Of-Process-Plugins).
See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins
You can set the prefs dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.* to false on the about:config page to disable the plugin-container process.
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled (currently false by default)
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll (Flash)
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll (Silverlight)
dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npqtplugin.dll (QuickTime)
To open the ''about:config'' page, type '''about:config''' in the location (address) bar and press the Enter key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.
Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems
See [[Basic Troubleshooting|#Make_a_new_profile|Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile]]
There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins"
If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile (be careful not to copy corrupted files)
See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
You can find Firefox 3.5.10 here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html

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.

After upgrading to Yosemite, MF 820 ZTE Telenor USB modem does not start, system slow down dramatically / Macbook Pro Retina late 2012/. Also Thunderbolt plug in for Ethernet make the same ! Any idea ?

After upgrading to Yosemite, If i plug in my Zte MF 820 LTE modem into my Macbook Pro USB socket or a Thunderbolt USB Ethernet converter/ into my Notebook, it slow down dramatically the system, unusable, need to reboot and unplug the USB moderm or Thunderbolt interface. So it does work only without any plug in device..!?
Any idea ?

How To Run Telia ZTE MF820D 4G Modem On Lion
Open Network Preferences
Choose the ZTEUSBModem interface
Set “Configuration” to Default
Set “Phone Number” to *99#
Leave “User Name” and “Password” blank.
Check the “Show modem status in menu bar” checkbox for convenience.
Click “Advanced…”
Set “Vendor” to Other
Set “Model” to ZTE USB Modem.
Now click the little phone in the menubar and choose “Connect” from the dropdown.
Link: http://walternaeslund.com/how-to-run-telia-zte-mf820d-4g-modem-on-lion/
I'm using MacBook Pro Yosemite 10.10 and a MF820 too.I had a same problem before.But Now already fixed.
Hope this can help you.
Regrad
Amare YSL

System slowed down after Mavericks update (10GB RAM)

Hi,
I have recently updated to Maverics on my mac pro, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 10GB RAM.
When I perform regular tasks it's all normal. Unfortunately I do some much more than that. I use Aperture on a daily basis and it seems to have slowed down a bit. The issue is more apparent when I use Final Cut. I can't have any other design/photography/video software on the background anymore. My computer can't deal with. But it could before Mavericks! It will also complain about not enough memory when rendering...
I understand that kernel task is heavy on the memory and after an EtreCheck I also realised how much memory spotilight is using. I already excluded a lot of items from spotlight, and it's way better, but still, why is my computer so slow?
Please can someone look at my check and tell me if there's anything I can do to boost my system back to it's previous glory?
thank you
Hardware Information:
          Mac Pro (Early 2008)
          Mac Pro - model: MacPro3,1
          2 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon CPUs: 8 cores
          10 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 1 day 5:55:10
Disk Information:
          WDC WD2002FAEX-007BA0 disk0 : (2 TB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Disc 4 (disk0s2) /Volumes/Disc 4: 2 TB (493.89 GB free)
          ST3000DM001-1CH166 disk1 : (3 TB)
                    EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Disc 2 (disk1s2) /Volumes/Disc 2: 3 TB (49.2 GB free)
          ST31000528AS disk2 : (1 TB)
                    EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Disc 3 (disk2s2) /Volumes/Disc 3: 999.86 GB (3.26 GB free)
          ST31500341AS disk3 : (1.5 TB)
                    EFI (disk3s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    disk3s2 (disk3s2) <not mounted>: 1.5 TB
                    Recovery HD (disk3s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. iPhone
          Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
                    Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
          Generic Flash Card Reader
          Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
Startup Items:
          HP USB EWS Gateway: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP USB EWS Gateway
          HPlaserjet Trap Monitor: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HPlaserjet Trap Monitor
          MySQLCOM: Path: /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
          [System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [invalid] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist
Launch Agents:
          [System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [invalid] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist
          [System] com.wacom.pentablet.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Login Items:
          Dropbox
          Spotify
          HPEventHandler
Internet Plug-ins:
          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.2.3.7 3rd-Party support link
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.01 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Silverlight: Version: 5.0.61118.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          PenTablet 3rd-Party support link
          Flash Player 3rd-Party support link
          Flip4Mac WMV 3rd-Party support link
          Growl 3rd-Party support link
          Perian 3rd-Party support link
Bad Fonts:
          None
Old Applications:
          /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0
                    Microsoft Error Reporting:          Version: 2.2.9 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Ship Asserts:          Version: 1.1.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
          Solver:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app
          SLLauncher:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Silverlight/OutOfBrowser/SLLauncher.app
          SuperDuper!:          Version: 2.6.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office
                    Microsoft Graph:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Utility:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Office Reminders:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Upload Center:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    My Day:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    SyncServicesAgent:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Open XML for Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Alerts Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Chart Converter:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Clip Gallery:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011
                    Microsoft PowerPoint:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Outlook:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Word:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Document Connection:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          Microsoft Language Register:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app
          CrucialMacScanner_UK:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
                    /Users/[redacted]/Documents/Software/CrucialMacScanner_UK.app
          Microsoft AutoUpdate:          Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app
          Spin Doctor:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Spin Doctor.app
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Disc 2: Disk size: 3 Disk used: 3
          Destinations:
                    TMMacpro2013 [Network] (Last used)
                    Total size: 21
                    Total number of backups: 63
                    Oldest backup: 2013-05-28 23:04:49 +0000
                    Last backup: 2014-02-13 15:51:39 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Excellent
                              Backup size 21 > (Disk size 3 X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
Top Processes by CPU:
             191%          Final Cut Pro
               5%          diskimages-helper
               4%          WindowServer
               2%          Google Chrome
               1%          backupd
Top Processes by Memory:
          1.00 GB          Final Cut Pro
          338 MB          mds
          328 MB          mds_stores
          256 MB          Finder
          205 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
Virtual Memory Information:
          3.52 GB          Free RAM
          3.93 GB          Active RAM
          1.63 GB          Inactive RAM
          942 MB          Wired RAM
          12.92 GB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

Beware of perceived RAM use. 10.9 uses RAM more efficiently:
About memory management in OSX 10.9 Mavericks
Memory is managed differently, and more efficiently in 10.9. It is (mostly) unique in the industry, but may become trend.
Let’s start with the basics. Mechanical disk drives are very slow, with access speeds in the 10s of milliseconds and transfer rates in the 200-400 Mbps range real world. SSDs are much faster, on the order of a couple of ms access and typically 1200-3000 mbps transfer rates. RAM is much faster than either, in the nanosecond access and transfer speeds of ~8 Gbps effective (1 GHz x 8 bits/byte).
These are rough numbers for comparison purposes only.
So the goal is to keep as much in RAM as possible. But if you run out of RAM what do you do?
Traditionally you take the least used RAM and write it to a special part of the disk, in a way that you can access it most efficiently - minimizing the disk delays. This is called a swap file because you swap RAM in and out of it.
10.9 has a new trick: it compresses RAM using the main processors. Rather than swapping stuff to disk (disks are slow), it actually uses the processor to compress memory and make, for example, 1 GB of physical RAM hold as much as 1.5GB. Similar approaches are used to make MP3 files 10x smaller than the real thing - there is redundancy in data and you can take advantage of that. Apple is making the following calculation: the processors can compress way faster than the disk can swap. And its also predicting that the processors are often partly idle - waiting for swap files or disk access. So rather than swap files around, its compresses the files ***in RAM***.
Compression works,. Tests show that on average it is faster, and that 4GB (i have 4 GB RAM) acts like 5 1/2 - 6GB. Wow.
So, 10.9 will load up most of your RAM, knowing that it can compress some when it needs to. So don’t worry too much that it may look like all your RAM is taken - yea, it is, but its OK.
The measures to look at are:
1. amount compressed. Compression means it has run out of RAM and needs more. As long as compression is low this is fine. In fact this is how 10.9 uses RAM more efficiently than 10.6,7 or 8. Contrary to common wisdom, it requires LESS RAM than 10.8. The colored indicator tells you who this is going - green (good), yellow( iffy) and red (bad).
2. amount swapped. Once it cannot compress any further, or can’t do so efficiently, jot begins old-fashioned swapping. This is a major slow-down and means you would benefit from more RAM. Tiny amounts are OK.
here's an article by Apple - but on th pre-10.9 memory management techniques....mostly still true, but read on.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342?viewlocale=en_US
Bottom line - compression makes 10.9 use RAM more efficiently than previous OSX versions. It also makes the “ram used” indicator less meaningful, and mans you should monitor “compression” .
That said, RAM has always been one of the most cost effective upgrades possible. People spend too much on new machines and too little on more RAM.
Hope this helps,
Grant

Large Photoshop file has caused system slow down.

I have Dual 2.0Ghz G5 which has worked very well since I got it last Spring. Just recently however I've had some slow downs. There are a number of things that I've noticed such as more frequent spinning beachball and font redraw issues.
These issued started since I was working one a massive Photoshop file. I was doing work on a Trade Show booth which eventually resulted in a 10Gb Photoshop file! I realized I probably should have taken steps to reduce the size of the file but that's neither here nor there. Despite the size of the file I was still quite impressed with the performance of my machine. That said, I've found the general performance of the machine since working on this file to be diminished.
I've done all of the typical maintenace items such as repairing disk and permissions via Disk Utility, clearing caches and running Maintenance scripts using Cache Out X, MacJanitor and Tiger Cache Cleaner, but still the performance of my machine has taken a hit.
It's only since this has happened that I've started launching Activity Monitor to try and determine if there is something obvious going on which is hogging resources or not. This for me has raised questions of what is "Normal" for some common tasks. Presently kernal_task is using under 5% of my CPU with 50 threads running which seems like a reasonable number. But it is also using almost 110Mb of RAM and 1.35Gb of Virtual Memory. Both of those numbers seem quite high to me, but I admit that I never looked at them before so I have no gage as to whether these numbers can be considered normal or not.
By all measures the machine still performs pretty good, but as I use this machine every day I know that it's not the same as it was prior to working on that large file. Is there something else related to Photoshop, temporary files, application caches or anything like that, that I should take a look at?
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Dual 2.0Ghz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi Troy,
First I would try using a separate HD for the scratch disk.As PS tries to read and write,it has to compete with the OS as it tries to hit its swop files. If Version Cue is on, turn it off.Get rid of any virus checking apps.Check your Ram.If you haven't allowed Tiger to run its cron scripts on a regular basis,and only do periodic maintenance, I would take the time to do an Archive and Install, or even wipe the HD,zero it and install tiger again. This I realize is a drastic measure,time
consuming, and a pain.But if your whole system is slowing down?? Or if you get a new drive set it up to be your primary drive first and test your system on it before moving any of your PS files over from the old HD.Use the old HD as scratch disk
Have you included the use of other utilies to check your HD? Drive Genius, Disk Warrior, TechTool Pro.No Norton utilities allowed.Hope this helps as there are a lot of places to look for the problem.

Does re-installing system slow down the HD?

Hi
My MBP came back from repair with a new HD and OS 10.5 already installed. For various reasons I might want to wipe it and re-install the system software. But does this process of re-installing the system leave any 'debris' on the drive which might slow down performance in the long run? If so I may leave it, but it's a question I've always wondered about - when you re-install does the drive go back to being 'like new' again or is there a gradual accumulation of code which just adds more clutter?
Thanks for any help
John

If the OS or an app or whatever needs 10GB (for example) of free space, what does it matter if it's 10GB out of 100GB or 10GB out of 1TB?
I don't think it matters.
I thought that's what MacRS4 is saying
I did not understand it to be. The assertion was:
The 85% corruption thing fassumes a relationship of the largest file types to the size of the physical drive.
It does not. It assumes that the directory expansion varies with the total amount of data that needs to be stored. The 85% refers to the smallest amount of contiguous disk capacity needed to permit the file system to lay down new pieces of the Extents Overflow file. That does not have to do with the size of any individual file but with the total amount of data that needs to be accommodated in the file system/directory.
this question seems to asd for just the opposite, a rationale as to why a percentage would be needed, not a set amount of space.
My intention was to suggest there was a relationship (read percentage) between the total amount of data on the drive and the size of the filesystem. On a 100 GB HDD the filesystem will be smaller as the amount of data stored occupies a smaller amount of disk capacity. On a 1 Terabyte HDD 85% of total used capacity requires a corresponding size of directory. As I understand it the size of the directory varies in direct relationship with the amount of data stored on the drive and not to the total capacity of the HDD. The Micromat study (sorry, I have lost the link for that reference) found that the optimal capacity was 85% to avoid directory corruption.
As I noted in earlier posts, the equation may have changed with the advent of larger capacity drives, but I am not aware of documentation to that effect. I should also add that I am not by any means an expert. However, I am not willing to test to see how crowded my HDD has to be before I encounter an unrecoverable directory.
My asking for support for statements made is not by way of debate. I earnestly seek to learn more about this and other subjects from those who have information I do not, myself, have.
cornelius

Boot Slow Down Help!

Hello Everyone,
I need some help tracking down a problem which causes
a slow down in the boot up of my system. I believe
the problem is linked with Nouveau due to repeated entries
in the Xorg.0.log.
Using the proprietary Nvidia drivers, I don't get the slow down.
Can someone help me figure out what's going on?
Here is the link to the Xorg.0.log:
http://www.pastie.org/6113492
Thanks in advance!

jasonwryan wrote:https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … md-analyze
Thanks for the quick response!
I've checked systemd already and the slowest starting service
is about 3 seconds so I believe that it's not linked to any service.

System Slow down

When I install the Windows 10 Preview Technical Enterprise, the computer seems to be slowing down....
A complete drag!

had the same problem. i was very dissapointed and i'm almost resigned to the fact that my computer does not support the new OS, but yesterday i found a solution.
when i opened the properties of my computer (or tasks manager) i saw an inscription that i have 4,0 Gb RAM but right was written in brackets that available only 2,7 Gb.
solution (if you have the same problem): win+r ---> write "msconfig" ---> inset "boot" ---> advanced options... ---> and if you have tick on "maximum memory" then remove it and reboot computer. it helps me. good
luck. hope it'll help you too.
p.s. sorry for my english

System slow down - help!

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