iMac not as responsive as it used to be

[DrStrangelove]

Hey, gang... long time no post.

I've noticed (for a couple of months now) that my iMac simply isn't as fast as it once was.

I have the Intell 2GHz Intel Core Duo iMac with 1.5 GB of RAM.

Anyway this machine over time has gotten progressively slower-- specifically with some applications-- the two I've noticed most (that are causing extended "beachballing") are Mail and iChat. Mostly the Mail program-- sometimes when I hit reply/reply to all it takes a LONG time for the reply email to actually open up.

For the most part it's just a general feeling of the machine running slower as I'm still able to run all the programs that I ever had. I'm wondering if it's perception and I simply need a bit more RAM or if over time something in this OS clogs up the way a Windows registry might (I know there's no registry-- just trying to create an analogy here).

Is there something else I might try doing? Is there some pref file that I can delete restore or something. I've done a bunch of searching here and haven't found much. Any advice will be tried and is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Scarlet Fever]

sounds like the Core Duos are too slow for you now... you must upgrade to a C2D as soon as you humanely can...

When was the last time you reset it? Have you tried repairing permissions, etc?

 

[zwida]

I'm with Scarlet Fever on this one. Try a utility app like Cocktail.

 

[Karpfish]

i was feelig the same way, even the dock ws unresponsive. I ended up doing a full back up and reinstalling OSX, it worked well.

 

[DrStrangelove]

sounds like the Core Duos are too slow for you now... you must upgrade to a C2D as soon as you humanely can...

When was the last time you reset it? Have you tried repairing permissions, etc?

Reset? You mean reboot? Also, I don't know anything about repairing permissions but I'm willing to try. Are there easy instructions to give me or a website?

 

[deebster]

Use Disk Utility.

Click on your HD in the pane on the left and then on 'Repair permissions' at the bottom left.

It might also be useful to do a bit of cleaning out of logs and stuff too. OnyX is good at this (and is free). Cocktail is too but is not free. Be sure to RTFM though.

I would run all the 'cron' scripts (known as 'daily', 'weekly' and 'monthly' - they are run automatically by OS X, but only if your Mac is on in the early hours of the morning).