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Very strange issue on an iMac

PowerPCFan

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
(As a side note, if you read my post about me “possibly wrecking my Mac,” this was happening before that so this isn’t a result of the possibly corrupted update.)

So my dad, the admin of the iMac 21.5” late 2015, is experiencing very slow performance.

Just going to a website, such as usps.com or hotmail.com, takes up to a minute. And sometimes pages become unresponsive.

However, my account (just regular user, non-admin) is blazing fast even on an 8 year old Mac. I can go to those websites in fractions of a second and apps open really fast too (except for Chrome, lol). I also have way more files, tabs, and apps open and installed at all times.

Does anyone know why the admin is experiencing problems even when doing simple things, but other users get a fast experience?

Have a nice day,
-PowerPCFan

@PowerPCFan on MacRumors and TinkerDifferent
charlies.retro.computing@gmail.com
 
My guess is there's something different between the two user accounts...not because he's an admin.

Is it slow in all browsers, or just a certain one? Perhaps check to see what browser extensions he has installed that you don't. Also check to see if he has any startup programs/login items that you don't (link).

Alternatively, have him create a new admin account for himself and see if it's still slow.
 
Check for suspicious activity in Activity Monitor; like, apps with very high processor usage in the CPU tab, or memory load and page in/outs. And yes, definitely check what's being loaded at startup.
 
I don’t have access to a computer until around 4PM today.

@bogdanw I might have changed some settings that made it faster that he didn’t change. Probably not though.

And @Ben J. I have noticed when he uses the computer, there is a process that takes up 125% cpu usage (it‘s a 4 core i5 so max percentage is 400%) I forgot what it’s called but I think it might be suggest, which I believe is the thing that auto-completes things or corrects your spelling? What’s strange is that even after my dad logs out, it still says under all processes (in my account) that suggestd on my dad’s account is taking up 50% usage. That’s a little suspicious.

@iStorm My dad only ever uses Safari and I use chrome and Safari and both of them have similar speeds, with Safari winning by a little bit. I have 0 safari extensions and 6 chrome extension, and he has 0 extensions. I will make sure to check startup programs, that could be a cause of this, because I notice that whenever he logs in it opens Microsoft word, and in activity monitor it says Word (unresponsive). This could be set as a startup program, for whatever reason. I’ll try the new admin account, and if it’s still slow then maybe it’s admin-related.

EDIT: The suggestd problem has been mostly resolved since the Mac unexpectedly updated from 12.1 to 12.4 (see my other post)
 
Since he's using Safari, another thing to check is to see if he's using iCloud Private Relay (or any other sort of VPN). That can make things a bit slower, but usually not that slow.
 
I just tried everything, it was faster (but still not great) when he held down shift at logon. I disabled iTunesHelper, is that important?
 
I had noted possible issues with proxy settings, I don't know if it's relevant in your case. sorry I don't remember the details
 
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