Hi Stephen, Yes, if you have TechTool Pro 8 definitely run it to test your Mac!
The best way is to start with Check Computer to perform a complete diagnostic check of you Mac and hard drives. With a single click of your mouse, it begins a SMART Check of the hard drive to detect impending drive failure, a RAM test, analysis of disk directories and more. If problems are found, advice is provided on how to proceed to repair the problem. Its a good idea to use Check Computer regularly as a part of your preventive maintenance program. Because data changes so frequently, it can sometimes get scrambled which is why it's important to be able to test drives for problems and then repair them. Unfortunately, if something is physically wrong with the drive, it will need to be backed up and replaced, so the sooner this type of damage is detected, the fewer files will be lost. Most drive problems, however, result from data being in the wrong place, and can be repaired using Techtool Pro’s Volume Rebuild tool. Let us know the results from TechTool Pro. — A few other suggestions which might be helpful. Your Mac is abnormally Slow - Speed up your Mac First Use Activity Monitor: Sometimes a rogue program can start chewing up RAM or CPU cycles and not playing nice with others. If this happens, your whole Mac can slow down. To find out what’s happening behind the scenes, turn to Apple’s Activity Monitor. Among the many things Activity Monitor can show is which apps (even ones not normally visible) are using the most CPU power, RAM, and other system resources. First check the CPU category, which shows the amount of processor power being devoted to various processes. You can sort and filter what you see in Activity Monitor in various ways. I click the % CPU column header to display processes in order of their CPU usage. Don’t jump to hasty conclusions based on what you see in Activity Monitor. The fact that a process is using a lot of CPU power or RAM for a while isn’t necessarily a problem, but it can be useful for identifying certain issues. For example, if you notice that a background app you installed and then forgot about is being a CPU or RAM hog, consider checking for an update or uninstalling it. Check Free Disk Space: macOS needs plenty of room on your startup volume for things like virtual memory swap files and software updates, and all sorts of bad things can happen if you have too little. A few “quick fix” steps to take that can solve common performance problems: 1. Restart your Mac. After restarting, you may find that your Mac runs more slowly the longer you use it. If so, continue with one or more of the following steps. 2. Quit inactive apps. You may want to keep some apps, like your email client, open all day. But anything that’s running in the background can drag your CPU down. (Some apps are kinder than others about CPU usage when they’re in the background; consult Activity Monitor to find out which ones are using the most CPU.) 3. Prune login items. Once you’ve quit some background apps, you need to make sure they don’t run automatically the next time you log in: Go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items and locate any items in the list you don’t need to open when you log in. Select each one and click the minus [-] button. Note: Several other mechanisms exist to launch background processes, but Suffice it to say that if an app includes a problematic background process, uninstalling that entire app is usually the best and most reliable solution. 4. Log out of other accounts. If you use Fast User Switching, other logged-in accounts may be draining system resources. Switch to another account using the Fast User Switching menu in the menu bar, log out, and repeat this with any additional accounts except your own. 5. Reset the SMC. In certain cases resetting the SMC can perk up an otherwise slow Mac. Reset instructions vary from one Mac to the next; see Apple’s support page “Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac” at <https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 <https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295>> for details. Cheers, Ronni 13-inch MacBook Air (April 2014) 1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost to 3.3GHz 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM 512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage macOS Sierra 10.12.3 > On 28 Feb 2017, at 11:12 pm, Stephen Chape <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just wondering. > Is there anything I could use in TechTool Pro to run checks ? > I have that installed. > >> On 28 Feb 2017, at 11:12 am, Ronda Brown <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> Hi Stephen, >> >> Before we suggest other possibilities for Slow performance on your iMac. >> >> Did you uninstall Net Barrier & Intego Virus Barrier correctly? >> To properly uninstall your Intego software it is important that you use the >> latest Installer for your software. >> >> "NOTE: If you have already tried to manually uninstall portions of Intego >> software, this will lead to a partial uninstall, even if you used Finder or >> Spotlight search to locate Intego files. In this case, you will need to >> first reinstall Intego software before being able to proceed to a clean and >> complete uninstall." >> >> https://support.intego.com/hc/en-us/articles/207117548-How-to-Uninstall-Intego-Products >> >> <https://support.intego.com/hc/en-us/articles/207117548-How-to-Uninstall-Intego-Products> >> >> Cheers, >> Ronni >> Sent from Ronni's iPad4 >> >> >> On 28 Feb 2017, at 9:44 am, Stephen Chape <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >>> That’s what puzzles me Peter. >>> I only use it for Excel, Word and PDF files. >>> My total use is 2.6 GB of my free 5 GB. >>> >>> >>>> On 28 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Peter Hinchliffe <[email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> On 27 Feb 2017, at 11:06 pm, Stephen Chape <[email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Every so often my iMac slows down considerably. >>>>> I can hear the HD humming away but I have no idea what it is doing. >>>>> It seems to happen more often just after start up, but not always. >>>>> Sometimes everything grinds almost to a halt and I have to simply sit and >>>>> wait. >>>>> >>>>> A couple of weeks ago I uninstalled Intego Net Barrier & Intego Virus >>>>> Barrier thinking they were the cause. >>>>> However it happened again yesterday several times. >>>>> But it has not happened today. >>>>> >>>>> I have checked Activity Monitor and noticed that DropBox seems very >>>>> prominent a lot of the time. >>>>> There are quite a few websites claiming that DropBox can slow a Mac down. >>>>> I am not convinced that DropBox is the culprit though because it is so >>>>> popular and well respected. >>>>> >>>>> Any ideas please folks ? >>>>> >>>>> iMac 21.5 inch Late 2012. >>>>> i7 processor 3.1GHz >>>>> 16GB RAM >>>>> Latest Sierra macOS >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Regards, >>>>> Stephen Chape >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> Dropbox could well be involved, depending on what you have stored there. >>>> Just as an example, Dropbox has the annoying habit of asking you if you >>>> want to store your photos there, every time you attach a mobile device or >>>> an SD card. A friend of mine brought her work’s network to its knees after >>>> unwittingly agreeing to this, at which point Dropbox commenced syncing >>>> over 1200 photos to its servers. The activity saturated their little >>>> wireless router, rendering the network virtually unusable while her >>>> computer was on. >>>> >>>> I’m not saying this is necessarily the problem in your case, but it would >>>> be instructive to have a look at just what you have in your Dropbox >>>> folder. Dropbox is certainly a safe, reliable service, but like everything >>>> it does need a little care and attention. I make sure I only use it for >>>> smallish files. The really important stuff I keep at home. >>>> >>>> Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services >>>> FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer >>>> Perth, Western Australia >>>> Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to.
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