iMac slowing down over time?

[FlintAlt2]

Hi all.

Well I switched from Windows to Mac mid July. I was just wondering is it normal for Macs to slow down?

I seem to not open programs as fast as before ( Instead of near instant things like iMovie now take about 5 seconds to open ). I get beach balls here and there where as before I didn't get any. the Dock animations are not as fluid as before. if I shift click my aplications stack it stutters a little. Same goes for Dashboard.

Is this normal? because when I took it out the box everything was instant fast.

Thanks
is great

 

[AlexisV]

You're noticing slowdown after just a week or so?

 

[velocityg4]

Some slowdown causes:
Newer or updated programs may be using more RAM and CPU resources.
If you are using most of your Hard Disk space you may need to free some up.
Large number of bad permissions. Try repairing permissions with "Disk Utility".
Did you turn on Filevault? Encryption slows everything down.
Added programs running in the background using up resources.
More programs open at a time then you use to run.

 

[FlintAlt2]

Yep just after 2 weeks I would say.

I am only using 45GB out of 500GB.
I've installed quite a lot of programs and used things like Apptrap to trash them.
my resources atm runing Adium & Safari is:

RAM: Wired-454MB Active-479MB Inactive-324 Free-2.76GB
CPU: around 99% and 96% idle. 51 Processes.

I find that sometimes I need to force quit programs as well because they just beach ball for a whole load of time.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[fivepoint]

No, that is not normal at all.

You could "verify permissions", restart, remove some programs, etc. but, to me, this doesn't seem to be your problem.

Sometimes computers have problems which simply can't be diagnosed. This same thing happedned to my parents iMac a few months ago, although there's is several years old. I tried a whole bunch of things, but when it came down to it, nothing helped. There was no logical reason I could think of for it.

What I ended up doing was saving all of their important files (documents, music, photos, videos, etc.) and save them to two external drives. Then I put their Leopard disk in, and told it to "erase and install". It completely whiped the hard drive and put a fresh new OS on it. Then I went in and manually drug the files they needed over to their "new computer."

It worked well, and now the computer functions like the day they bought it. The bottom line? your computer shouldn't be acting like that. If you can't find something logical, it's ok just to start over from scratch.


Good luck.

 

[FlintAlt2]

Thanks. Ill try the verify permissions.

Another thing. I have already installed a fresh copy because about 2-3 days after I got the iMac someone fixing a cable in my house short circuited the place so essentially power cut.

Since then my iMac was acting weird. Taking time to close down... having to force restart it, so I just booted up the disk and put a fresh copy. Sorted that out.

Im just wondering if I have a bigger problem. Hardware?

Thnaks.

 

[fivepoint]

It's certainly possible, although if so... I would expect the problems to be a bit more consistent. If it was hardware, you would probably have the same problem, all the time.

You should have gotten a "hardware check" type disk with your new iMac, I think. Try running that if you are concerned about a hardware issue.

If that doesn't work, give Apple a call! You've only had it for a few weeks. They will help you for free.

 

[I'mAMac]

It sounds like that power hit might have do something but you can try this: get the program called OnyX. It is a computer optimizer/disk fixer among other things. http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html it's the second one for Leopard
Let it start up and verify SMART status and startup disk.Then you will see icons, hit the one that says 'automation' and check everything that applies to you, but definitely check optimize the system. I have everything checked except some stuff in the bottom category called "Reset" (you'll see what I mean when you get there). Then hit execute and let it run. It WILL take some time and your computer might seem to be frozen but it isn't just let it finish before you do anything else.

I did that to mine and it sped it up noticeably. If i isn't related to power it should help you. If you have any questions just PM me.

 

[FlintAlt2]

Thanks to fivepoint I took your advice with the Permissions. I verified it then repaired, restarted and voila. System seems to be running like it used to !!

I'mAMac Thanks. I will go check that out


Helpful people is always a joy