2017 MB-A, OS 10.14.4, slowness problem with Mail

[wab123]

Previously, I went thru a 2007 17" MBP and then, a new 2012 17" MBP in which the keyboard failed in late Feb 2017. I was told the graphics card "went", not repairable, my MBP is now junk.
I came away in March 2018 with 2017 build MB-A. Which I later upgraded (2018) to Mojave, 10.14.4 no problems, everything going well for my use. After a recent automatic upgrade some 3-4 weeks ago (April) Mail has been slowed almost to the point of being unresponsive. Man in local Apple reseller shop said yes, it's slow but there's nothing wrong with it.
Reading thru forums, other users complain Mail is slow and acting up. Fed up with Mail, I downloaded Thunderbird, it too had composition and send problems. Uninstalled it. Downloaded Mailspring, this app seems to worlk OK, slowness and conflicts seem to have dissapeared but recipients complain attachments have problems in downloading and reading/displaying. After experiencing both TB and Mailspring, I find they not a patch on Apple's "Mail" in user friendliness and efficiency - however, my "Mail" is almost dead. A few times I've restarted and shut down in an effort to let it reset itself. I found several other abnormalities, Launchpad would not display my Apps icon listing and other minor niggles.

Another trip to the Apple reseller (130km/80miles away) to seek assistance. A different tech assistant this time. Ran diagnostics on my MB-A, everything is up to spec.
But ! Didn't I know that an MB-A is considered a student/internet device which was fine using OS High Sierra ? It's not for serious users apparently. Duh !
It transpires the latest OS upgrade is sucking most of the grunt out of the 1.8Gb cpu, he showed me, when running Mail, the cpu is struggling, Mail is using up 70% to 80% of its power.
I was told that my limited amount of apps (including MS Word and Excel) need to be closed if I want to bet a better response from Mail.
The best solution however, is to wipe Mojave from the half full 500Gb SSD and install High Sierra and delete the auto update button as High Sierra does not require the high horsepower Mojave requires.
After reading on this forum and others about MB-A's and slow Mail, this lengthy post may be of benefit.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Despite the advice you have been given, Mail should run the same in Mojave as it did in previous versions of OS X/macOS. It is good that the diagnostics show no issues, so it is a software issue. The MacBook Air is definitely not as powerful as a MacBook Pro or iMac, but it is highly capable for most non-professional needs when running Mojave. It will still run the professional apps like Logic and Final Cut just fine, albeit with a little longer processing time for audio plug-in processing and rendering times for example.

Some things that can cause slowness in the Mail app (device independent):
-Low free space on drive - but you stated yours is only half full, which is good
-Third-party apps like MacKeeper/CleanMyMac/antivirus - especially in real-time/on-access modes
-Large number of emails in the Inbox - it has to sync/re-sync those constantly
-Number of accounts setup - especially with high numbers of emails in the Inboxes, as mentioned above
-Microsoft Office can slow things down - which version are you running?
-Older versions of some software that are running concurrently with Mail - what other apps do you normally have open?

We'll see if we can speed things up for you,

C

 

[wab123]

Thank you Cory for your helpful comment and advice. I reply to your comment list:
SSD free space is 213GB. On checking via Launchpad, I find I have downloaded far too many "apps". The hungriest of these would be
AVG Anti Virus, free version. I've tried but cannot get rid of it, it requests a password that I cannot provide, none of my P/W's work for this.
MAC KEEPER (and it's ilk) IS A DEFINITE NO-NO !
I am running a few Fiplab apps, most are unused, I could delete most.

I am running MS Office for Mac, 2011 and use it daily, no problems.
A year ago I got conned into downloading MS Office 365 and have regretted it ever since. I have not renewed my subscription and won't be despite the gentle reminders. I would love to remove Office 365 !
All these things I don't want, could you please advise the best way to permanently remove them ?

Emails, I hold only 816 email in my server account, these are for May and April, beyond 2 months old, I delete them.
Only 2 email accounts, the one I'm using and one seldom used Gmail account thru Telstra.
Running in the background (usually): Mail, MS Word, Bear, Notes, Dictionary, Firefox (up to date), Contacts, Finder.
I am conscious of the load on the CPU so apps like iTunes, iPhoto, Photos, Apple News, System preferences etc are turned off once used.

I am quite heartened by your advice that my MB-A can handle Mojave, I see now, I was overloading it.

Thanks Cory,
Cheers, Warren

 

[wab123]

Hello Cory,
Can you advise please on the query I raised above:
All these things I don't want, could you please advise the best way to permanently remove them ?
Thanks
Warren

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks for the additional information. Sorry I never got back to you.

Here are directions for uninstalling the applications you mentioned:
AVG Antivirus - FREE
Uninstalling AVG AntiVirus for Mac

MacKeeper
How to uninstall MacKeeper from your Mac

Office 365
Uninstall Office for Mac

Another way to uninstall applications and their support files is by using AppCleaner - FreeMacSoft. Applications that were purchased from the App Store, like the FIPLAB apps, are sometimes easier to uninstall with AppCleaner. Normally, those apps tell you to just delete the application from the Applications folder, but that doesn't remove their support files and preferences.

Here are some tips on speeding up Mojave:
-Verify and remove any unneeded Login Items from  > System Preferences... > Users & Groups > click your account > Login Items
-Check the boxes next to  > System Preferences... > Accessibility > Display > Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency

See if that speeds things up a bit,

C