Mac help urgently needed.

[ysmn lttlr]

basically a family member has been minding the house while we've been away and been allowed to use our mac
now that we are back our mac is taking forever to come on and forever to shut down
and takes ages to empty the trash, please help

 

[John Doe 57]

1. Reset PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

2. Reset SMC (power management)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543


Information obtained from:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2154233&tstart=1

 

[JustGretchen]

hard disk could be failing too.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23777
download SMARTctl for Mac. Run it, it will show up by the AirPort monitor at the top right. Click it, scroll down, look at line #5 Reallocated Sectors and line #197 Current Pending Sectors.

The pending sectors is the bad one, but a lot of reallocated ones can point to a drive in the early stages of failure. If you have even 1 pending, back your stuff up ASAP and see about a trip to the apple store.

 

[snberk103]

Add a new account in system preferences. Don't delete your old account. Turn the system off, and then on start-up log into the new account. If the system returns to its old speedy ways, then I would suggest the family friend added a bunch of stuff that is hogging the system. A good Mac Geek should be called in to actually look at what is installed and running.