New here, but pretty Mac savvy. Need some advice:

[DW1221]

I have an old IMac G5 1.8 with 1.25 RAM. In almost five years I've had zero problems with it that I couldn't handle myself, but now its behavior is getting weird.

For no apparent reason and even with just one program running (Firefox, for example) resource usage increases dramatically to the point where it is using 100% of system resources. When that happens, it responds very slowly, whatever app I'm running, and everything becomes very sluggish. THis happens now once or twice per day and it usually takes a restart to temporarily cure it....until it happens again.

Any ideas what's going on> Tricks or cures that might help? Or is it time for a new desktop?

Thanks....DW

 

[xUKHCx]

When this happens next time could you open up Activity Mointor (found in Utilites) and see if any application/process is taking up your processor.

Sounds like some process goes haywire and is causing problems. At this point I would say it is most likely a software issue rather than hardware.

 

[DW1221]

Just what I do...

When this happens next time could you open up Activity Mointor (found in Utilites) and see if any application/process is taking up your processor.

Sounds like some process goes haywire and is causing problems. At this point I would say it is most likely a software issue rather than hardware.

..and the biggest culprit is always Firefox. I have the latest version. Other software listed seems not to be an issue. Thanks.

 

[xUKHCx]

..and the biggest culprit is always Firefox. I have the latest version. Other software listed seems not to be an issue. Thanks.

Does this happen with specific website(s)? Could be an issue with a rendering bug/additional content etc.

You could always try reinstalling Firefox or creating a new profile.

Or try using a different browser for a little while to see if it pops up as well.

 

[ddeadserious]

^ What he said.

I'd completely remove Firefox(be sure to backup your bookmarks first though!), using a program such as AppZapper or the like, and then reinstall it. And if the problem persists, use Sarafi or Camino for a couple days on your regular websites and see if it still happens.