HOW CAN I MAKE THIS 7 Y.O. IMAC...

[MacM4ODA]

run faster?
i have deleted cookies, deleted many old book marks, added RAM, but i keep getting that damn spinning beach ball for several seconds up to a minute or so.

as my tag line says, "not too bright with computers" even after 20+ years using them.

regards,
Mac

 

[Joelburman]

Sounds like its time to switch HDD to a SSD. Not versed enough in the iMac branch to know how easy it is with your model to do by yourself but it will certainly help.

 

[MacM4ODA]

Sounds like its time to switch HDD to a SSD. Not versed enough in the iMac branch to know how easy it is with your model to do by yourself but it will certainly help.

"Sounds like its time to switch HDD to a SSD."

sorry my friend, but i have no idea what that means.

 

[keysofanxiety]

"Sounds like its time to switch HDD to a SSD."

sorry my friend, but i have no idea what that means.

Take out the hard-drive. Replace it with a solid state drive instead.

This will positively impact performance to the point where it will run considerably quicker than new. Once the SSD is fitted, also ensure you have installed the latest OS.

 

[DeltaMac]

The spinning ball, and long delays when doing some tasks, can mean that your hard drive is close to failing.
Another likely problem is if you have run out of space on your hard drive. That's something that you can easily check by selecting your hard drive, and choosing Get Info. You will see both Capacity (which tells you how much the drive can hold), and Available - which tells you how much space is still left unused. If Available is less than 10% of Capacity, you may have serious slowdowns.
If the space Available looks OK, then your 7-year-old hard drive may just be showing its age. You can replace that hard drive with another hard drive, but now, as prices continue to decrease on SSDs (Solid State Drives), that's what most experienced users recommend. The SSD has no moving parts. The speed increase is immediately noticeable. There are other advantages, in addition to speed. Lower power use, less heat, the drive is completely silent, etc. But, speed is, by far, the best result.

 

[vkd]

First thing to do is open Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, verify the Disk then Repair Disk Permissions.

 

[DeltaMac]

First thing to do is open Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, verify the Disk then Repair Disk Permissions.

Eh, not a permissions issue. And if the OP has upgraded to El Capitan, Repair Permissions is no longer offered in Disk Utility.
Very often, unless there is a pronounced issue (the hard drive is really bad), Disk Utility will simply say that everything checks OK. Someone might not notice that the verify takes longer than normal, sometimes considerably longer. It may pass, but doesn't mean the hard drive is not failing. Even the a SMART report may be clean.
I think in OPs case, the age of the hard drive is likely the most relevant, along with the other symptoms. A test, whatever it might be, might pass (or fail), yet the hard drive may continue to give you issues.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Take it down to your local computershop and have them upgrade the machine with an SSD.

 

[MacBH928]

You can try to back up your files, and install a new fresh OS X install.

 

[MacM4ODA]

WOW!!, thank all of you for you very informative info, i will do my best to do the checks, that SSD sounds like the very best thing since ice cream. i am running 10.6.8, i also have a Seagate external HD which the sales person told me about a year ago it automatically backs up every time the computer is turned on, is this true or did i get some BS ?

till later.

 

[DeltaMac]

If your external drive is used by the built-in Time Machine in OS X, then, yes, that's a good way to keep a current backup - no BS on that!

 

[keysofanxiety]

WOW!!, thank all of you for you very informative info, i will do my best to do the checks, that SSD sounds like the very best thing since ice cream. i am running 10.6.8, i also have a Seagate external HD which the sales person told me about a year ago it automatically backs up every time the computer is turned on, is this true or did i get some BS ?

till later.

If you're on Snow Leopard, run this version of SMART Utility. It'll immediately give you a good idea if your HDD's failing. I suspect it is, due to its age and the problems you described.

Regardless, even if it passes, as DeltaMac said the HDD performance is going to be suffering anyway just from wear & tear on the platters/spinners.

 

[vkd]

Eh, not a permissions issue.

May I ask how you know that? Do you have practical experience of the m/c in question? On many occasions I have experienced lags in Mac OS that have been resolved by repairing permissions. Thankfully, rarely. When I was using PCs, it was virtually every single day that I had to run Scandisk or Diskchk, etc.

Personally I find it is grossly ignorant to NOT perform a minimum health checkup of your software, OS etc., before considering a major operation like swapping a HD or even upgrading to an SSD, especially for a neophyte user like the OP appears to be.

 

[DeltaMac]

System response is just not something that is related to permissions on the system files. Never has been, never will.
And, Apple apparently wants you to know that permissions don't ordinarily need "repairing", so they are "fixing" that issue by removing the GUI access to do a permissions repair from Disk Utility since El Capitan, as it is usually nothing more than a placebo.
Don't get me wrong - I still do permissions repair as a "feel good" job. I restart after that task. The simple restart will help system lag more often than a permissions repair. A verify disk, or booting to the recovery system, where you can run a Disk first aid Repair, is also a good checkup for the hard drive.

 

[MacBH928]

May I ask how you know that? Do you have practical experience of the m/c in question? On many occasions I have experienced lags in Mac OS that have been resolved by repairing permissions. Thankfully, rarely. When I was using PCs, it was virtually every single day that I had to run Scandisk or Diskchk, etc.

Personally I find it is grossly ignorant to NOT perform a minimum health checkup of your software, OS etc., before considering a major operation like swapping a HD or even upgrading to an SSD, especially for a neophyte user like the OP appears to be.

I heard that repairing permission and running sudo priodic does nothing on newer OS like El Capitan

 

[vkd]

System response is just not something that is related to permissions on the system files. Never has been, never will.
And, Apple apparently wants you to know that permissions don't ordinarily need "repairing", so they are "fixing" that issue by removing the GUI access to do a permissions repair from Disk Utility since El Capitan, as it is usually nothing more than a placebo.
Don't get me wrong - I still do permissions repair as a "feel good" job. I restart after that task. The simple restart will help system lag more often than a permissions repair. A verify disk, or booting to the recovery system, where you can run a Disk first aid Repair, is also a good checkup for the hard drive.

I am a relatively new Mac user, I came on board at Mac OS 10.5.0 and used it on Hacks until 2012 10.8. Since then I've been on a mid-2011 27" iMac. Granted, since then I have had far less trouble with the OS and, as you point out, Apple are removing Disk Utility functionality, we can thus assume that the general smooth running of the OS has been improved somewhat. I cannot comment on versions later than 10.9.5 as I hate the new GUI, but there you go.

 

[Fishrrman]

I know I'm going to get razzed for suggesting this, but the best way to get "up-to-date" performance from a 7-year-old Mac is to buy something new or refurbished...

 

[MacM4ODA]

thank you fine folks for all your info, nothing i could do helped, so i called my "puter fixer", she said bring it in, i did and three hours later she called to come get my Mac, she said there was nothing wrong with the H.D., it was so corrupted with garbage and one virus, cleaned it all up and restored it to the 10.6.8 as if it were new, she also told me she gets in iMacs all the time that people have screwed up and wants to sell them or abandons them because the repair costs are too high, she will call me the next time she gets and abandoned iMac Pro, for repair costs only, around $400-$500, for a $2500.00 puter. not bad.., HUH??

 

[MacM4ODA]

thank you fine folks for all your info, nothing i could do helped, so i called my "puter fixer", she said bring it in, i did and three hours later she called to come get my Mac, she said there was nothing wrong with the H.D., it was so corrupted with garbage and one virus, cleaned it all up and restored it to the 10.6.8 as if it were new, she also told me she gets in iMacs all the time that people have screwed up and wants to sell them or abandons them because the repair costs are too high, she will call me the next time she gets and abandoned iMac Pro, for repair costs only, around $400-$500, for a $2500.00 puter. not bad.., HUH??

UPDATE!
since the above of Jan. 10, for $100.00, three days and TWO NIGHTS.......
with ought my "pew-ter", the lady found nothing wrong deleted some things added a few things, then advised me to call my i-net provider ask them to boost my speed, i did as soon as i got home and asked them to boost, after some waits the tech done something when finished he said "you now have 1.5 megs" ..., is that considered "Hi Speed Internet" ??

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"call[ed] my i-net provider ask them to boost my speed, i did as soon as i got home and asked them to boost, after some waits the tech done something when finished he said "you now have 1.5 megs" ..., is that considered "Hi Speed Internet" ??"

No, not really.
Actually, today, in many places that would be considered "downright slow".

How much "down-speed" you get depends on where you are and on what kinds of services are available.

Sounds like you have DSL.
No cable modem service in your area?

 

[Gregg2]

thank you fine folks for all your info, nothing i could do helped, so i called my "puter fixer", she said bring it in, i did and three hours later she called to come get my Mac, she said there was nothing wrong with the H.D., it was so corrupted with garbage and one virus, ...

I don't trust that diagnosis, as there is no such thing as a virus for OSX.

 

[MacM4ODA]

OP wrote:
"call[ed] my i-net provider ask them to boost my speed, i did as soon as i got home and asked them to boost, after some waits the tech done something when finished he said "you now have 1.5 megs" ..., is that considered "Hi Speed Internet" ??"

No, not really.
Actually, today, in many places that would be considered "downright slow".

How much "down-speed" you get depends on where you are and on what kinds of services are available.

Sounds like you have DSL.
No cable modem service in your area?

no! just phone line or satellite, which is too expensive for a single person with a very limited fixed income.
[doublepost=1453558631][/doublepost]

I don't trust that diagnosis, as there is no such thing as a virus for OSX.

could you please expand on that, i do not understand, she said, "any time you are on the internet, you can pick up a virus"

i am still getting that damn spinning beach ball whenever i click on a different topic/site.
do any of you think that if i reload my software everything MIGHT get back to "normal" ??

 

[stroked]

thank you fine folks for all your info, nothing i could do helped, so i called my "puter fixer", she said bring it in, i did and three hours later she called to come get my Mac, she said there was nothing wrong with the H.D., it was so corrupted with garbage and one virus, cleaned it all up and restored it to the 10.6.8 as if it were new, she also told me she gets in iMacs all the time that people have screwed up and wants to sell them or abandons them because the repair costs are too high, she will call me the next time she gets and abandoned iMac Pro, for repair costs only, around $400-$500, for a $2500.00 puter. not bad.., HUH??

nvmd

 

[Toutou]

she said, "any time you are on the internet, you can pick up a virus"

That's true for a Windows machine, but there are no true viruses for OS X. A virus attacks a computer on its own, without the user noticing. There are other types of malware that can affect your Mac, but none of them can be installed without you entering the root password and ALLOWING the software to install and do whatever it wants.
Your computer person sounds like she's kind of hiding the truth. What you're describing (beachballs, overall slowness) sounds definitely like a harddrive that's about to go. Consider getting a SSD, they're not that expensive and the speed boost is HUGE. I mean, SSDs are the greatest innovation in storage technology since the hard disk drives in the nineteen-fifties.

If the person restored your system (as you said), you can rule out the OS being the cause.