Annoying daily problems with my MBP

[ernesto50]

Hey everybody!

I bought my MBP in summer '09 (just when they renamed them to MBPs) and I'm generally a real happy customer, BUT my macbook starts making problems which I can't stand. Can you help me out?

#1: Firefox (3.6.11) is slow or jerking on flash-heavy sites

Example: I load an embedded youtube video and although the video is fully loaded the picture keeps stopping from time to time but the sound continues. I thought it was a firefox-mac issue, so I switched to safari, no hassle.

#2: Safari and other apps randomly crush (not responding)

From time to time when I re-open safari, I get the loading symbol and everything hangs. iTunes crashes, safari crashes, firefox crashes. No chance but to force quite and restart multiple times.

#3: Deinstalled apps still running

I once had Sophos and little snitch installed, which I deleted through CleanApp - however Sophos and other deinstalled apps still run in the background (checked via Activity Monitor [also after multiple restarts]), I don't want these processes to run and I want them deleted, how can I do that?

#4: My mac is slow

Somewhere between '09 and '10 my mac became slower, I don't know how, I don't know when, but it happened. It's just normal UI stuff that seems slower (spotlight takes multiple seconds to open, etc.)

From time to time I used to repair the disk permissions with disk utility which speeded the mac up for a little time (probably until restart). I downloaded and installed onyX and it told me that my startup disk had a failure, which I solved through starting with the os x cd and running repair disk with disk utility. However even that didn't change anything.

#5: I can't change the default chosen apps

When I code I use textmate. But the default app is always xcode or something else, when I choose "open with" and check textmate + make default, it doesn't work at all. Next time I look for a file in the finder it says again open with xcode. Stuff like that drives me nuts and takes the fun away


Now I don't have that many apps installed but the ones I use the most, should work without hassle. I have a 500GB hd which has around 130 gigs still free. I could move those files to an external drive, but would that solve my problems? I doubt it.

My guess is that somewhere a little stupid app that I installed (and deinstalled again), stays somewhere in the background and f*cks some other processes up , which slows everything down.

I'm really desperate because even some older macbooks react way faster than mine

I'd appreciate any help.

 

[spinnerlys]

Have a look at Activity Monitor ( Applications / Utilities / *) and select All Processes*and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example

To properly uninstall applications:

To manually remove an application and all associated files:

1. Launch Finder and search for the app name (hopefully unique, such as Skype)
2. You can narrow the search to specific folders or search your whole Mac
3. Searching "File Name" vs "Contents" usually provides better results.
4. Click the + button below the search term to add criteria
5. Click the "Album" drop-down and select "System files"
6. Click the "Don't include" and change to "include"
7. Sort by name, kind, date, etc. to identify components of the app, such as folders, .plist files, cache files. etc.
8. Delete all files and folders related to the app.
9. Don't empty your Trash until you've determined that everything is working OK, in case you need to restore something you deleted by accident.
10. A reboot might be necessary to completely remove some apps.

from Best way to FULLY DELETE a program?

 

[moonwalk]

Perform a clean reinstall of the OS and your apps and see if things aren't back to normal.

 

[ernesto50]

@spinnerlys thanks a lot.

@moonwalk yeah that's the alternative which I'm aiming to when nothing else helps.