Mid 2012 Macbook Pro

[txswimfan]

So I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did. I upgraded my mid 2012 Macbook Pro from El Capitan to Catalina and now my computer is running at a slow crawl at best. I ran a etrecheck but I am not computer savvy so have no idea what this report says. I appreciate any help! I'm trying to decide if this can be fixed or if I should just accept that I now own an expensive paperweight and go buy a new computer.

EtreCheck version: 5.5.3 (5102)


Report generated: 2020-04-08 08:54:08


Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com


Runtime: 9:44


Performance: Below Average


Sandbox: Enabled


Full drive access: Disabled


Problem: Computer is too slow


Major Issues:

    Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


    No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


    Runaway process - A process is using a large percentage of your CPU.


Minor Issues:

    These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.


    Configuration profiles present - This machine has configuration profiles. These are sometimes used by adware and malware.


    Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.


    Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.


    High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.


    Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. Apple has said that unsigned software will not run by default in a future version of the operating system.


    Low performance - EtreCheck report took an unusually long time to run.


    32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps will not work on macOS 10.15 "Catalina".


    Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.


Hardware Information:

    MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
    MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2
    1 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM - Upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
        BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
    Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 795

Video Information:

    Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
        Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

    disk0 - APPLE HDD ST500LM012 500.11 GB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
    Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
        disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
        disk0s2 [APFS Container] 499.90 GB
            disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.90 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
                disk1s1 - M************  Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 318.47 GB used)
                disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
                disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)
                disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 2.15 GB used)
                disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 10.98 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:

    disk1s1 - M************  Data [APFS Virtual drive]
        499.90 GB (Shared - 318.47 GB used, 168.60 GB available, 167.59 GB free)
        APFS
        Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data

    disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
        499.90 GB (Shared - 2.15 GB used, 167.59 GB free)
        APFS
        Mount point: /private/var/vm

    disk1s5 - Macintosh HD
        499.90 GB (Shared - 10.98 GB used, 168.60 GB available, 167.59 GB free)
        APFS
        Mount point: /
        Read-only: Yes

Network:

    Interface en0: Ethernet
    Interface fw0: FireWire
    Interface en1: Wi-Fi
        802.11 a/b/g/n
    Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN
    Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

    macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E266)
    Time since boot: Less than an hour

Configuration Profiles:

    This computer has configuration profiles installed.

Notifications:

    Notifications not available without Full Drive Access.

Security:

    Gatekeeper: Enabled


    System Integrity Protection: Enabled



    Antivirus software: Apple and CleanMyMac


Unsigned Files:

    Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist
        Executable: ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent -runMode xpchost
        Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

    Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist
        Executable: ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent -runMode ifneeded
        Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

    Plugin: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

32-bit Applications:

    2 32-bit apps

System Launch Agents:

    [Not Loaded] 18 Apple tasks


    [Loaded] 163 Apple tasks


    [Running] 131 Apple tasks


    [Other] One Apple task


System Launch Daemons:

    [Not Loaded] 35 Apple tasks


    [Loaded] 176 Apple tasks


    [Running] 126 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:
   
    [Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)

 
Launch Daemons:
   
    [Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac4.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-06)

   
    [Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)

 
User Launch Agents:
   
    [Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (? 0  - installed 2020-04-06)

   
    [Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (? 0  - installed 2020-04-06)

   
    [Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac4.Updater.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-06)

 
User Login Items:

    [Running] CleanMyMac X Menu (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app

    [Not Loaded] Autoupdate (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Autoupdate.app

    [Not Loaded] Problem Reporter (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Problem Reporter Sandboxed.app

    [Running] CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor.app

    [Loaded] LaunchHelper (App Store - installed 2020-04-06)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/Mail for Gmail.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/LaunchHelper.app

    [Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app

    [Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
        Modern Login Item
        /Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app

Internet Plug-ins:

    FlashPlayer-10.6: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
    Flash Player: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
    AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-18)
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.7 (? - installed 2018-03-09)

User Internet Plug-ins:

    User Internet Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User Audio Plug-ins:

    User Audio Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User iTunes Plug-ins:

    User iTunes Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

3rd Party Preference Panes:

    Flash Player (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-02-25)

Time Machine:

    Time Machine Not Configured!

Performance:

    System Load: 3.64 (1 min ago) 3.17 (5 min ago) 2.69 (15 min ago)
    Nominal I/O speed: 3.36 MB/s
    File system: 80.71 seconds
    Write speed:  38 MB/s
    Read speed:  48 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:

    Type Overall


    System: 29 %


    User: 24 %


    Idle: 47 %


Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:

    Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)


    Other processes 183.17 % (?)


    deleted 17.79 % (Apple)


    EtreCheck 4.97 % (App Store)


    System Information 2.14 % (Apple)


    mdworker 0.88 % (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:

    Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)


    EtreCheck 159 MB (App Store)


    Google Chrome 99 MB (Google, Inc.)


    accountsd 49 MB (Apple)


    SystemUIServer 33 MB (Apple)


    AMPLibraryAgent 33 MB (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:

    Process Input / Output (Source - Location)


    Other processes 2 MB / 693 KB (?)


    rapportd 2 KB / 770 B (Apple)


    SystemUIServer 0 B / 64 B (Apple)


    mdworker_shared 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


    spindump_agent 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


Virtual Memory Information:

    Physical RAM: 4 GB


    Free RAM: 16 MB


    Used RAM: 3.05 GB


    Cached files: 958 MB


    Available RAM: 973 MB


    Swap Used: 0 B


Software Installs (past 30 days):

    Install Date Name (Version)


    2020-03-17 Adobe Flash Player


    2020-04-05 Security Update 2018-004 (10.11.6)


    2020-04-05 macOS Catalina (10.15.4)


    2020-04-05 XProtectPlistConfigData (2117)


    2020-04-05 MRTConfigData (1.58)


    2020-04-06 "Malwarebytes for Mac Uninstaller"


    2020-04-06 Microsoft Office


    2020-04-06 iMovie (10.1.14)


    2020-04-06 Mail for Gmail (1.1.1)


    2020-04-06 Mail Inbox (1.3)


    2020-04-06 Microsoft AutoUpdate


    2020-04-08 EtreCheck (5.5.3)


Diagnostics Information (past 7-30 days):

    Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible.
    Enable Full Drive Access to see more information.

End of report

 

[Weaselboy]

Runaway process - A process is using a large percentage of your CPU.

Something is going wild here eating up CPU cycles. Open Activity Monitor and go to the CPU tab and sort by % and see what process is doing this.

Also, I would get rid of all CleanMyMac stuff.

 

[oldmacs]

I would highly recommend an SSD. Running modern MacOS on HDDs is painful and slow - I have the same laptop as you and an SSD made a world of difference.

 

[txswimfan]

Something is going wild here eating up CPU cycles. Open Activity Monitor and go to the CPU tab and sort by % and see what process is doing this.

Also, I would get rid of all CleanMyMac stuff.

Thanks for your reply! When I go into Activity Monitor the majority % is being used up under Kernal_Task. The hierarchy is kernal_task - launchid - nsurlessiond, photoanalysisd, trustd, syslogd. I'm not sure what any of that is or if it needs to be running or not.
[automerge]1586367445[/automerge]

I would highly recommend an SSD. Running modern MacOS on HDDs is painful and slow - I have the same laptop as you and an SSD made a world of difference.

Thanks for your reply. I have read a lot about going HDD vs SSD. I guess I'm nervous about putting any more money into this computer without knowing if that will in fact fix whatever is going on.
[automerge]1586367546[/automerge]

Thanks for your reply! When I go into Activity Monitor the majority % is being used up under Kernal_Task. The hierarchy is kernal_task - launchid - nsurlessiond, photoanalysisd, trustd, syslogd. I'm not sure what any of that is or if it needs to be running or not.
[automerge]1586367445[/automerge]


Thanks for your reply. I have read a lot about going HDD vs SSD. I guess I'm nervous about putting any more money into this computer without knowing if that will in fact fix whatever is going on.

I also wondered if I should wipe the computer and revert back to the old El Capitan when everything worked?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for your reply! When I go into Activity Monitor the majority % is being used up under Kernal_Task. The hierarchy is kernal_task - launchid - nsurlessiond, photoanalysisd, trustd, syslogd. I'm not sure what any of that is or if it needs to be running or not.

You know what... just leave it on (no sleep) for a few hours and see if it settles down. That photoanalysisd for example is a process that indexes your image in the Photos app and can chew up a lot of CPU cycles on a new Catalina install. Give it time to finish all that indexing and let's see if things get better on their own.

 

[oldmacs]

Thanks for your reply. I have read a lot about going HDD vs SSD. I guess I'm nervous about putting any more money into this computer without knowing if that will in fact fix whatever is going on.

Part of what you're experiencing I do believe is just how Catalina is and it seems especially unhappy on my mid 2012 MacBook Pro compared to Mojave which ran A LOT better. However, an SSD will make a world of difference. I've had clients upgrade to Catlina on 2017/2019 iMacs with HDDs and have the same issues - extreme slowness.

El Capitan was one of the last versions of MacOS that ran on a HDD with any semblance of decency, so the contrast between that and how Catalina runs on a HDD is stark.
[automerge]1586368837[/automerge]
This video is probably good for showing the downsides of Catalina on a 5400RPM HDD which is in your MacBook Pro.

SSDs are so cheap that it is really worth the investment. At the very least if your MacBook gets dropped by MacOS 10.16, you'll still get security updates for Catalina into September/October of 2022.

 

[txswimfan]

You know what... just leave it on (no sleep) for a few hours and see if it settles down. That photoanalysisd for example is a process that indexes your image in the Photos app and can chew up a lot of CPU cycles on a new Catalina install. Give it time to finish all that indexing and let's see if things get better on their own.

OK, I'll try that. It has been 2 days since I did the update though. Would it take more time than that?
[automerge]1586370889[/automerge]

Part of what you're experiencing I do believe is just how Catalina is and it seems especially unhappy on my mid 2012 MacBook Pro compared to Mojave which ran A LOT better. However, an SSD will make a world of difference. I've had clients upgrade to Catlina on 2017/2019 iMacs with HDDs and have the same issues - extreme slowness.

El Capitan was one of the last versions of MacOS that ran on a HDD with any semblance of decency, so the contrast between that and how Catalina runs on a HDD is stark.
[automerge]1586368837[/automerge]
This video is probably good for showing the downsides of Catalina on a 5400RPM HDD which is in your MacBook Pro.

SSDs are so cheap that it is really worth the investment. At the very least if your MacBook gets dropped by MacOS 10.16, you'll still get security updates for Catalina into September/October of 2022.

OK, thanks. I wish I would have just left good enough alone. ha. So is switching over to an SSD something I can do on my own or would I need to take it into a mac store?

 

[Weaselboy]

OK, I'll try that. It has been 2 days since I did the update though. Would it take more time than that?

If it has been on that whole time (not asleep)... no.

Try this as a test, hold down the shift key at boot to start in safe mode. That starts without loading any launch or startup items. See if that fixes it. If it does, that tells you one of the launch or startup items you have is conflicting with Catalina.

Try that and let us know how it goes.

On the SSD issue, sure SSDs make any computer faster, but you have something else going on causing this slowdown you described and an SSD is not going to fix it.

 

[oldmacs]

On the SSD issue, sure SSDs make any computer faster, but you have something else going on causing this slowdown you described and an SSD is not going to fix it.

That is true, but by nature Catalina on a HDD is slow anyway.

 

[txswimfan]

If it has been on that whole time (not asleep)... no.

Try this as a test, hold down the shift key at boot to start in safe mode. That starts without loading any launch or startup items. See if that fixes it. If it does, that tells you one of the launch or startup items you have is conflicting with Catalina.

Try that and let us know how it goes.

On the SSD issue, sure SSDs make any computer faster, but you have something else going on causing this slowdown you described and an SSD is not going to fix it.

OK, I have it in safe mode and it's not running any better. Still slow, glitchy and seeing the beachball spin like crazy. I ran another etrecheck while in safe mode. Not sure if that is how you check launch and startup items, but here is the report.
EtreCheck version: 5.5.3 (5102)


Report generated: 2020-04-08 15:03:03


Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com


Runtime: 9:09


Performance: Poor


Sandbox: Enabled


Full drive access: Disabled


Problem: Computer is too slow


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


Software/hardware problems - Software is causing performance problems.


Safe mode - This machine is running in Safe Mode.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.


Configuration profiles present - This machine has configuration profiles. These are sometimes used by adware and malware.


Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.


Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.


High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.


Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. Apple has said that unsigned software will not run by default in a future version of the operating system.


32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps will not work on macOS 10.15 "Catalina".


Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2
1 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM - Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 796

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD ST500LM012 500.11 GB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 499.90 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.90 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk1s1 - M************ Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 325.83 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 2.15 GB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 10.98 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - M************ Data [APFS Virtual drive]
499.90 GB (Shared - 325.83 GB used, 161.46 GB available, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
499.90 GB (Shared - 2.15 GB used, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

disk1s5 - Macintosh HD
499.90 GB (Shared - 10.98 GB used, 161.46 GB available, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet
Interface fw0: FireWire
Interface en1: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n
Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E266)
Time since boot: Less than an hour
Safe Mode: Enabled

Configuration Profiles:

This computer has configuration profiles installed.

Notifications:

Notifications not available without Full Drive Access.

Security:

Gatekeeper: Enabled


System Integrity Protection: Enabled



Antivirus software: Apple and CleanMyMac


Unsigned Files:

Plugin: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

32-bit Applications:

2 32-bit apps

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 187 Apple tasks


[Running] 109 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 38 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 180 Apple tasks


[Running] 117 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)


Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac4.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-06)


[Not Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)


User Login Items:

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac X Menu (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app

[Not Loaded] Autoupdate (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Autoupdate.app

[Not Loaded] Problem Reporter (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Problem Reporter Sandboxed.app

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor.app

[Not Loaded] LaunchHelper (App Store - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Mail for Gmail.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/LaunchHelper.app

[Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app

[Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
Flash Player: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-18)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.7 (? - installed 2018-03-09)

User Internet Plug-ins:

User Internet Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User Audio Plug-ins:

User Audio Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User iTunes Plug-ins:

User iTunes Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-02-25)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Performance:

System Load: 8.17 (1 min ago) 13.36 (5 min ago) 6.76 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 4.91 MB/s
File system: 120.75 seconds (timed out)
Write speed: 47 MB/s
Read speed: 55 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:

Type Overall


System: 7 %


User: 16 %


Idle: 78 %


Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:

Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)


Other processes 61.18 % (?)


trustd 16.62 % (Apple)


EtreCheck 6.82 % (App Store)


accountsd 2.56 % (Apple)


secd 0.90 % (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:

Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)


EtreCheck 483 MB (App Store)


CVMCompiler 115 MB (Apple)


accountsd 53 MB (Apple)


Finder 40 MB (Apple)


SystemUIServer 38 MB (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:

Process Input / Output (Source - Location)


Other processes 118 KB / 75 KB (?)


SystemUIServer 0 B / 64 B (Apple)


diagnostics_agent 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


loginwindow 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


dmd 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


Virtual Memory Information:

Physical RAM: 4 GB


Free RAM: 36 MB


Used RAM: 2.03 GB


Cached files: 1.93 GB


Available RAM: 1.97 GB


Swap Used: 0 B


Software Installs (past 30 days):

Install Date Name (Version)


2020-03-17 Adobe Flash Player


2020-04-05 Security Update 2018-004 (10.11.6)


2020-04-05 macOS Catalina (10.15.4)


2020-04-05 MRTConfigData (1.58)


2020-04-06 "Malwarebytes for Mac Uninstaller"


2020-04-06 Microsoft Office


2020-04-06 iMovie (10.1.14)


2020-04-06 Mail for Gmail (1.1.1)


2020-04-06 Mail Inbox (1.3)


2020-04-06 Microsoft AutoUpdate


2020-04-08 EtreCheck (5.5.3)


2020-04-08 XProtectPlistConfigData (2118)


Diagnostics Information (past 7-30 days):

Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible.
Enable Full Drive Access to see more information.

End of report

 

[Taz Mangus]

I would say you have a few options here:
1) Go back to El Capitan. This will require a clean install of the computer. Then migrate the user data back.
2) Upgade the internal drive from the 5400 RPM hard drive to a SSD. Upgrade RAM might be something as well to look at at the same time. You would do a clean install of 10.15.4 and migrate data from Time Machine backup.

 

[Weaselboy]

OK, I have it in safe mode and it's not running any better. Still slow, glitchy and seeing the beachball spin like crazy. I ran another etrecheck while in safe mode. Not sure if that is how you check launch and startup items, but here is the report.

An Etrecheck report from safe mode does not really tell us much, since safe mode stops all those launch and startup items from running.

So while in safe mode, with nothing else running, what happens if you launch Safari for example? It would be normal for it to take even a few seconds to launch with a hard drive system like you have. Can you tell us more about exactly what the problem is. How long does Safari take to launch?

 

[avz]

OK, I have it in safe mode and it's not running any better. Still slow, glitchy and seeing the beachball spin like crazy. I ran another etrecheck while in safe mode. Not sure if that is how you check launch and startup items, but here is the report.
EtreCheck version: 5.5.3 (5102)


Report generated: 2020-04-08 15:03:03


Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com


Runtime: 9:09


Performance: Poor


Sandbox: Enabled


Full drive access: Disabled


Problem: Computer is too slow


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


Software/hardware problems - Software is causing performance problems.


Safe mode - This machine is running in Safe Mode.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.


Configuration profiles present - This machine has configuration profiles. These are sometimes used by adware and malware.


Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.


Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.


High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.


Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. Apple has said that unsigned software will not run by default in a future version of the operating system.


32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps will not work on macOS 10.15 "Catalina".


Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2
1 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM - Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 796

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD ST500LM012 500.11 GB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 499.90 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.90 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk1s1 - M************ Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 325.83 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 2.15 GB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 10.98 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - M************ Data [APFS Virtual drive]
499.90 GB (Shared - 325.83 GB used, 161.46 GB available, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
499.90 GB (Shared - 2.15 GB used, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

disk1s5 - Macintosh HD
499.90 GB (Shared - 10.98 GB used, 161.46 GB available, 160.23 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet
Interface fw0: FireWire
Interface en1: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n
Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E266)
Time since boot: Less than an hour
Safe Mode: Enabled

Configuration Profiles:

This computer has configuration profiles installed.

Notifications:

Notifications not available without Full Drive Access.

Security:

Gatekeeper: Enabled


System Integrity Protection: Enabled



Antivirus software: Apple and CleanMyMac


Unsigned Files:

Plugin: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

32-bit Applications:

2 32-bit apps

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 187 Apple tasks


[Running] 109 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 38 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 180 Apple tasks


[Running] 117 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)


Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac4.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-06)


[Not Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)


User Login Items:

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac X Menu (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app

[Not Loaded] Autoupdate (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Autoupdate.app

[Not Loaded] Problem Reporter (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Frameworks/DevMateKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Problem Reporter Sandboxed.app

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2020-04-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/CleanMyMac X.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X Menu.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac X HealthMonitor.app

[Not Loaded] LaunchHelper (App Store - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Mail for Gmail.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/LaunchHelper.app

[Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app

[Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-04-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
Flash Player: 32.0.0.344 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-03-17)
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-18)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.7 (? - installed 2018-03-09)

User Internet Plug-ins:

User Internet Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User Audio Plug-ins:

User Audio Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User iTunes Plug-ins:

User iTunes Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-02-25)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Performance:

System Load: 8.17 (1 min ago) 13.36 (5 min ago) 6.76 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 4.91 MB/s
File system: 120.75 seconds (timed out)
Write speed: 47 MB/s
Read speed: 55 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:

Type Overall


System: 7 %


User: 16 %


Idle: 78 %


Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:

Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)


Other processes 61.18 % (?)


trustd 16.62 % (Apple)


EtreCheck 6.82 % (App Store)


accountsd 2.56 % (Apple)


secd 0.90 % (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:

Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)


EtreCheck 483 MB (App Store)


CVMCompiler 115 MB (Apple)


accountsd 53 MB (Apple)


Finder 40 MB (Apple)


SystemUIServer 38 MB (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:

Process Input / Output (Source - Location)


Other processes 118 KB / 75 KB (?)


SystemUIServer 0 B / 64 B (Apple)


diagnostics_agent 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


loginwindow 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


dmd 0 B / 0 B (Apple)


Virtual Memory Information:

Physical RAM: 4 GB


Free RAM: 36 MB


Used RAM: 2.03 GB


Cached files: 1.93 GB


Available RAM: 1.97 GB


Swap Used: 0 B


Software Installs (past 30 days):

Install Date Name (Version)


2020-03-17 Adobe Flash Player


2020-04-05 Security Update 2018-004 (10.11.6)


2020-04-05 macOS Catalina (10.15.4)


2020-04-05 MRTConfigData (1.58)


2020-04-06 "Malwarebytes for Mac Uninstaller"


2020-04-06 Microsoft Office


2020-04-06 iMovie (10.1.14)


2020-04-06 Mail for Gmail (1.1.1)


2020-04-06 Mail Inbox (1.3)


2020-04-06 Microsoft AutoUpdate


2020-04-08 EtreCheck (5.5.3)


2020-04-08 XProtectPlistConfigData (2118)


Diagnostics Information (past 7-30 days):

Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible.
Enable Full Drive Access to see more information.

End of report

Maybe a bad battery causing your CPU to throttle? Battery is an extremely important part.

 

[Jack Neill]

My MBP 9,2 works very well with Catalina. I have a 2TB SSD and 16GB of ram. Machine flies. Your issue is you need a SSD and a clean install. Sata 3 SSDs are basically free nowadays. Upgrade.

 

[mikzn]

Something is going wild here eating up CPU cycles. Open Activity Monitor and go to the CPU tab and sort by % and see what process is doing this.

Also, I would get rid of all CleanMyMac stuff.

I have a friend that had a similar problem on a MBP 2012 - it turned out to be an app that was hanging - it was (in his case) "Microsoft Update app" - it was probably corrupted ?

We were able to figure it out by opening activity monitor and sort by CPU - then killing the Apps that were using the most CPU - once we figured out it was Microsoft Update he was able to delete the update app (not the other apps) and it was suddenly back to normal.

Strangely the app would restart when killed in the activity monitor so it took a while to trouble shoot and then finally delete the app.

he did not have an SSD - just an HDD and seem to run ok once the app was deleted - although it would certainly be much faster with a SSD

FWIW I have a 2012 MBP running Catalina and it runs very well - just as fast as Mojave

hope you figure it out

 

[KeesMacPro]

txswimfan, I agree with almost all the advices here, confirmed by my own experiences :
-make a TM backup of all your data
-make a bootable installer usb with High Sierra, Mojave or Catalina.
-if you can afford it, buy a new SSD
-do a clean install of the OS you want with no other added software
-update to the latest version of the security updates
-check how it performs
-restore your data etc. with the migration assistant

 

[hallux]

I have a Mid-2012 15" non-retina MBP. It runs GREAT on Catalina. I believe, as many others do, an SSD will be the difference. I tried my 2012 Mini on the platter drive, it was SLOW right out of the box. Popped in the SSD (and the RAM upgrade) and did the install and it was LIGHTNING fast, and still is.

If you don't mind staying on Catalina (that model is not likely to get the next OS if previous trends continue) spend a little extra and also grab a RAM upgrade to install when you have it open for the SSD swap, 4 GB of RAM is just not much these days.

 

[dubvulture]

I also have a mid 2012 13" MBP that I upgraded to an SSD and it runs great on Catalina. It makes a monumental difference.

 

[DeepIn2U]

The consensus is upgrading to an SSD but that alone doesn’t solve our OPs issue - the SSD would require a fresh OS install and that would be a shotgun solution since no time machine backup has been done. A Solution nonetheless.

CleanMyMac has a few startup listings, OneDrive as well, I’d uninstall both! Reboot and see about a tiny 2.x GB VM that’s there as well. Lastly I’d run Disk Utility First Aid, I recall seeing an issue about drive permissions from that report.

I hope our OP gets this fixed before an SSD purchased. This way the SSD will not have a kernel or software issues as well.

 

[Jack Neill]

The consensus is upgrading to an SSD but that alone doesn’t solve our OPs issue - the SSD would require a fresh OS install and that would be a shotgun solution since no time machine backup has been done. A Solution nonetheless.

CleanMyMac has a few startup listings, OneDrive as well, I’d uninstall both! Reboot and see about a tiny 2.x GB VM that’s there as well. Lastly I’d run Disk Utility First Aid, I recall seeing an issue about drive permissions from that report.

I hope our OP gets this fixed before an SSD purchased. This way the SSD will not have a kernel or software issues as well.

I would clone current install to a new SSD, I like the MX500's. Then I would run AppCleaner and Onyx. If the Mac is still slow, blow it away and fresh install. If the mac is still slow after that, buy a 2020.

 

[hallux]

I should be clear - my 2012 MBP was upgraded to SSD back in 2014, did a full Migration Assistant transfer from the old drive at that time. Since then it's just been OS update after OS update with no clean install and is still snappy.

 

[KeesMacPro]

The only possible cause I havent seen mentioned in this thread is a defective SATA cable, which seems to be a typical MBP 2012 issue...

I'd still recommend a clean install instead of cloning or run AppCleaner or Onyx.
With a clean install you can be 100% sure the issue is software related or not.
Without a TM backup you could easily just copy and past all your data from the original HDD, by just copy the content of your Home folder (don't copy the folder itself, just whats in it).
It might take you like 15 min to reset all your preferences manually, but the OS will run as fast as it is supposed to ...

I would use Onyx with precaution, you have to know very well what you're doing.

 

[collectordave]

Just done exactly the same thing!

After a little digging found that catalina needs 4gb of ram just to run itself.

Check your ram if as me you only have 4gb then clean install of el capitan

One thing I noticed was that just typing in characters into text edit each character took a few seconds to appear.

 

[DaveFlyer8]

I have a mid 2012 Mac. Book Pro with 16 gigs of ram and a Samsung 512 ssd. Ia
so have a 250 gig Internal storage drive. Mine runs Catalina very well and no problems .

 

[avz]

I recently installed Catalina on external 5400rpm 320Gb HDD connected via SATA to USB port on my Mid 2012 13" MBP and I have to say that surprisingly it works great even with FileVault turned on. My MBP has 16GB of RAM and a recent firmware update probably have drastically improved APFS/HDD situation.