MBP Suddently Slow to Load Apps

[bowjest]

Hello All,

Suddenly starting about 4 days ago, my MBP has been much, much slower loading apps. Things that normally opened pretty much instantly are now taking 3-4 seconds to load and things that took a few seconds to load are now taking some 6 or more seconds to load.

I've checked for resource hogs, but nothing seems to be eating RAM and I have about 98% system idle in Activity Monitor.

I launched Onyx and cleared caches, checked the disk and ran repair disk and repair permissions. This has helped some things, but not others. For instance, when I started Firefox just now, it instantly leaped to life. Chrome, however, (which used to be super zippy loading) took about 5-6 seconds to load the interface (although the menu bar was instantly visible). Do I need to restart and load things a few more time to build the caches back up?

The same sort of thing applies to Mail: this used to load very quickly until a few days ago, now the menu bar comes up instantly, but it takes several seconds for the interface to load. When I shut it down, the interface goes instantly, but it takes a couple of seconds for the toolbar to finally go.

I just launched Mail and counted slowly to 8 before the interface could be seen. Not how it normally performs to be sure.

I don't get it. I haven't installed anything new that I can think of, haven't changed my usage in any way, so am wondering what gives. Could I have a virus? If so, what software should I use to scan my system to make sure things are ok, but won't make things worse (from my Windows days I clearly remember a number of AV products could cause the system to run like a three-legged dog).

Thanks for your help. If more info is needed, please let me know what and I'll gather it.

Bowjest

 

[ahdickter]

What model Mac do you have? Do you have a Time Machine backup? If so, you could always go back 5-6 days and see if it's any better.

 

[bowjest]

Sorry, forgot the usual stuff:

MBP 10.7.3
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM

I've got Timemachine backups (not sure how far back), but would prefer to not play around with those as this is also my work computer (self-employed) and I can't afford to lose data or contacts should something go wrong.

Thanks,

Bowjest

 

[jburns]

Sorry, forgot the usual stuff:

MBP 10.7.3
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM

I've got Timemachine backups (not sure how far back), but would prefer to not play around with those as this is also my work computer (self-employed) and I can't afford to lose data or contacts should something go wrong.

Thanks,

Bowjest

Based on your last statement back up your hard drive before you do anything else.

 

[bowjest]

Another thing I just remembered:

It takes an age now to eject an external storage drive (USB).

I highlight the drive, ctrl+click and select "Eject drive" and then it just sits, the drive eventually turns pale and then finally disappears.

It's like the system can figure out how to complete tasks I ask of it or is having problems allocating the resources to complete tasks.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,

Bowjest

 

[GGJstudios]

First, go through the items on this list: Performance Tips For Mac OS X

Next,

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the whole Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

Be sure you have a current backup, as one possibility could be a failing hard drive.

You don't have to worry about a virus, as none exist that can run on your Mac. The few trojans that do exist do not produce the symptoms you describe. For more info on this, read the following:

Mac Virus/Malware FAQ​

 

[drvelocity]

Bowjest, do you know if you've changed your hibernation/sleep mode at all? Have you disabled the "long term sleep" mode so the computer could completely run out of power?

 

[bowjest]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for the late reply, but have had a lot of work to get through this week.

Attached are the requested screen shots. I can't see anything out of the ordinary myself, but I hope they help.

Things have improved somewhat, but then at times are still really slow (particularly Mail.app).

I've had the laptop on for a couple of hours this morning, but was doing other things (no apps open in the interim). I've come back, woken it up, and then launched Mail. I was able to count slowly to 16 before the app was loaded and mails were visible. I then opened Chrome and was able to count to 12 slowly before it was open and usable.

Please let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks,

Bowjest

 

[bowjest]

Bowjest, do you know if you've changed your hibernation/sleep mode at all? Have you disabled the "long term sleep" mode so the computer could completely run out of power?

Hi drvelocity,

Not that I'm aware of. I sometimes slightly change things depending on where I am and what I'm doing, but haven't made any changes in several weeks that I can remember. Here is a screen shot of what I have for when I'm plugged into the mains power.

I hope this helps. If this isn't what you were wanting to see, please let me know.

Bowjest