Advice for a Increasingly Sluggish MacBook Pro?

[NougatCat]

Hello all!
This is just a general request for advice before going so far to call Support.

My MacBook Pro (10.8.5) is only a couple years old, but I'm the type to have a bunch of tabs/windows/a couple apps at once, and use it for long periods, simply putting to sleep rather than shutting down. I know there's different schools of thought to letting your computer 'rest', and I turn it off every once in a while, but a lot of the time, it's running. With that said for context (if a factoring element, or not), there have been times it seems to 'blank out' a little, increasingly so in the past year. I'll switch from an app to the Finder, then when switch back to the app, sometimes the Finder window will do the 'inactive/faded window' look, but stay at the forefront. Sometimes even one Finder window will stay stuck in front of the second Finder window I'm trying to click on, and once or twice the screen even flickered to grey or black when it was struggling before going back to normal.

This is especially a culprit with Safari (heck, I even had trouble with Safari behaving itself with stalling out on my old Mac… is that common for a lot of you?). It will get sluggish (while Firefox is just fine), and sometimes outright pop up with a message saying webpages are not responding and will need to be force reloaded, asking if I still want to visit the page. Thankfully this only happens once in a while, but the worst time it got (twice), everything was loading sluggishly (particularly after watching various videos and episodes), and I noticed it was incredibly hot to the touch at the 'hinge' part where the screen connects to the rest of the computer. How does that happen?

So am I over-using my poor Mac too often, does it need a system cleaning, or is Safari just a pain with dragging everything down? Hope that didn't come across as -too- clueless… I do realize I'm running a system a couple of years old now, but I liked Mountain Lion and didn't see a need to upgrade, and running a disk verification always comes back fine. Then, was hearing quite mixed messages about the new versions... but could it be that it just needs upgraded to run better?

Thanks so much for indulging a lurker on here with any suggestions… googling or checking the Apple site (or for similar topics here) isn't quite answering all of my different elements very concisely!

 

[honestone]

I have a couple of suggestions that might help. Some of them will cost money, and some of them will be free. So, here goes.

First of all, are you currently doing any type of maintenance on your Mac? And if you are, how often do you do it? Associated with that, do you "clean up" your Mac, from a file/folder perspective?

Secondly, I assume your machine has the "stock" amount of memory. Maybe you should consider increasing that.

Third, what type of internal drive do you have? Since you did not specify the exact MacBook Pro model you have (10.8.5 is the version of the OS, ie, Mountain Lion), it is difficult to know. No matter what type of drive you have, how much free space is on it? Also, if it has a "standard", 5400 rpm drive, have you considered upgrading to an SSD? Again, without knowing your exact Mac model, I don't know how easy (or difficult) that would be. Could you let us know the exact MacBook Pro model you have?

Last, and very important, are you performing any kind of backup? And if you are, hopefully you are doing it to an external device.

Now, as for some things you do for free, there should be an invisible partition on your internal drive entitled "Recovery HD". It would be good if you run Disk Utility from there. To start your machine up from that partition, you'll (of course) need to first have your machine off. Then, as it starts up, hold down the Command and R keys simultaneously. It will take some time for the process to complete. This link explains what this partition is about:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

As you can see, one of the choices involves Disk Utility. So, launch Disk Utility from there, select your internal disk, and do the following:

1. Verify and Repair Permissions at each visible Partition level.

2. Verify and Repair the disk at the Volume (ie, top) level.

3. Verify and Repair the disk at each visible Partition level.

Next, you should download and install the excellent freeware program Onyx. Go first to this link:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

Notice where it says "Related Links". You need to download the one for OS 10.8, Version 2.7.4.

Once installed, you should run that and perform a number of its useful tasks. In fact, you should again run the Repair Permissions feature from Onyx. And when you do that, if it does not repair all file permissions on the first run, run it again.

Finally, have you considered upgrading the OS? I do not use Safari much at all (I prefer Google Chrome), but there is the possibility that later versions of Safari are better.

In any event, if you could answer the questions I posed above, and also tried what I suggested, we can maybe help you come more.

 

[NougatCat]

Wow... thorough! Thank you! And of course feel silly now, too, really should have known to include more of that info, sorry, but was just thinking of describing the issue and trying to keep brief. Thanks for all the suggestions, and immediately set on some of them.

Not to sound like I was unaware of regular maintenance fixes, but the issue with being hot to the touch a couple times after heavier activity, only Safari acting up, and the 'floating' window thing just had me wondering if something -else- was wrong, or simply old OS and needed to update in order to work the way it should. It sounds like a lot of these will fix, as I recall them also doing so with issues in the past.

Of course I regularly back up to a hard drive, keep my files tidy, desktop clear, verify the disk, software up to date, quit programs not using, plenty of memory free (a bit under 400gb free), although yes, the RAM is the stock amount of 4gb. I don't see 'SSD' anywhere in the info... 13" MBP, model MacBookPro9,2 with Intel Core i5, the drive is just called 'APPLE HDD HTS547550A9E384 Media'. I will admit it's been some time since I repaired permissions... did it last long ago for another issue, but mistakingly got the sense somewhere that it was a 'troubleshooting' thing to do, and not regular maintenance, so that should help. Also had not heard of Onyx, so got that as well. Thanks... I guess the only way to tell now is to see how it runs from here. Do you think the overheating and screen blanking out was just a symptom of it trying to keep up with bogged down processes?

 

[honestone]

Appreciate the feedback/information. Regarding your internal drive, it is a Hitachi 500 gig, 5400 rpm drive. 5400 rpm drives tend to be somewhat "slow", but still usable. I actually first had a 1 TB 5400 rpm Hitachi drive inside my Mac Mini, but I swapped it out for a 256 gig Samsung SSD, and installed the Hitachi drive inside an external case.

That's good news that you are taking care of your machine as best as possible. But, yes repairing disk permissions should be done more frequently, especially since you leave your machine turned on most of the time. It would also help if you optimize your internal drive, both at the Volume and File "levels". The Mac OS "supposedly" does that, but when I was using actual hard drives inside my prior Macs (use only SSDs now), I found it very helpful to do such optimization on my own. I am not aware of a "good/decent" freeware program that does that, as I have been using TechTool Pro for such a long time, and it has such optimization features. There are other choices out there, but I am very happy with TechTool Pro.

I am somewhat "anal" when it comes to disk maintenance/repair and backups, as I do it every Saturday for both of my machines. (During the week in between Saturdays, I follow what you do: get rid of unnecessary EMails, remove unnecessary/no longer needed files/folders, etc.). The steps I go through for both of my machines are:

1. Using a guide provided my Microsoft, permanently removed all deleted Emails from Outlook (the EMail program I use).

2. Run Onyx, and perform most of its useful tasks. That includes Repairing Permissions (usually need to run that twice), delete various files, etc.

3. Run TechTool Pro to perform various disk cleanup/maintenance/repair tasks. (Micromat, the company that owns TechTool Pro, came up with an ingenious way to having the program run in an "isolated" environment, but from my internal device. It is much faster doing it that way!).

4. Use SuperDuper! to make a bootable backup/clone of everything on my internal SSD to two external devices. If I need to do a complete recovery, it's a snap to do it with SuperDuper!.

I have been doing this for so long, it is second nature to me. And, I rarely have issues with my machines.

Also, since I depend upon that software, I do not upgrade to a newer version of the Mac OS until all that software is up to date and compatible for the new OS. For example, with El Capitan, OS 10.11, due out on Wednesday September 30th, I will not upgrade right away, as Onyx and Tech Tool Pro are not yet compatible with the new OS. I suspect that both those products will be upgraded shortly after the new oS comes out. (Office 2011 is fine, and a new version of SuperDuper!, compatible with the new OS, came out earlier this week).

It is a somewhat time consuming process, but I am actually doing other non-computer tasks while all that is being done, so I am not waisting my time. Again, I understand that I might be going "over board" with all this, but given how long I have been doing it, and the resulting just about non-existence of issues for my machines, it is perfect for me.

One other thing is that for the optimization routines in TechTool Pro, for SSDs, Volume Optimization does not apply (and in fact, the software does not let me even try to do it), so I only need to run File Optimization, which runs quick. If you were to do it with your internal drive, Volume Optimization (needed in your case) does take some time.

As for your overheating/screen blanking issues, part of that (maybe most of it) could be due to "less than complete" disk maintenance, but I am no expert about such issues. Maybe someone else can chime in any provide better assistance.

In any event, sorry for the long post, but wanted to give you a complete perspective of what I do. Maybe some other folks will discuss what they do.

 

[Cory Cooper]

In addition to honestone's good suggestions, I would add the following.

-It is always good to clear temporary/cache files from your browser when browsing becomes sluggish.
-You don't have to power off your Mac, but a restart every day or two is a good idea.
-Repairing disk permissions can solve sluggishness.
-You could check your Network settings to ensure that Wi-Fi or Ethernet is at the top of the services priority list instead of Bluetooth - Change the priority of your network connections.
-Make sure all software is up-to-date - including OS X, Firefox, Adobe Flash, etc.
-Since Mountain Lion is now starting to show its age, you may start to see more website issues. At some point, you may want to consider upgrading OS X.

C

 

[NougatCat]

Wow… thorough again! Thanks for the notes!
Was hoping to just wait and see how it ran after all of that - didn't have much else to add. Plus let my computer 'rest' a bit more, so it was a little frustrating that no sooner than the past few days ago, a few different times, up popped that browser alert again (after similar instances of working in lots of tabs and watched an episode online once) that 'browser not responding, reload all pages?' (really, Safari? c'mon!) and after the episode (heavy use with streaming video?), the 'hinge' part below the monitor was very heated to touch again, and also had another instance of the Finder window doing that 'inactive but floating on top of my other window I was working in' thing I described.

So I took care of the permissions again and verified stuff, both in Onyx, and after rebooting from the disk like you told me. Is it odd that a whole list of permissions were taken care of by the system during the time I rebooted first, and then running Onyx after that just in case, found a long list of its own? Well, we'll see what that does. Took a look at what else Onyx did… you said you had it do all those cleaning maintenance items. All those numerous cleaning things about clearing user/finder/internet caches and recent stuff… do you really do that much?

And yes, Cory, thanks for the comments - your last one is partly why previously asked about the factor of running Mountain Lion. If it was really necessary to upgrade, or if a lot of what I was seeing was due to things getting 'dated' (even though it's generally only Safari that acts up, and the Finder windows). :/

 

[honestone]

Glad to hear things are getting better. For Onyx, given that I do those tasks once a week, besides the important task of repairing permissions (have to run it twice to get all of those permissions repaired), the only thing I am immediately saving on is some small amount of disk space. But, since I truly work hard to avoid issues with my machines, those tasks certainly do not hurt, and probably help keep my machines running fine. I also use TechTool Pro every week (after using Onyx) to help keep things in order, so doing both things, for myself, is a good thing. And, given I have been following that same "script" every week for both of my machines (permanently remove all deleted mail in Outlook, run Onyx, run Tech Tool Pro, and back up with SuperDuper!), it is second nature to me. Most importantly, I rarely have issues with my machines.

Regarding upgrading, you will get a newer version of Safari by moving up to Yosemite, OS 10.10.5. That OS os stable and mature.I would not upgrade yet to El Capitan (OS 10.11), as there are issues occurring, along with an OS 10.11.1 beta upgrade that has been out even before Os 10.11 was released last Wednesday.

By the way, if you upgrade to Yosemite, you'll get version 8.0.8 of Safari (I don't use it, but have it anyway). However, Apple did release version 9.0 of Safari last week on the same day El Capitan came out, and it is compatible with Yosemite. If you want it, you can get it from here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/15675/apple-safari

 

[NougatCat]

Good afternoon, Cory and honestone!
I did some reading through the forum about various issues with the new OS before deciding to just update my old post, if that's okay, since it has all the background context already.
Thanks again for your help earlier... it did help, although unfortunately just minor maintenance tasks aren't enough anymore. Safari continues to stall once in a while to the point of asking if I want to reload all tabs again due to no response, my Finder windows continue to sometimes get 'stuck' in the forefront when switching to other apps, other apps are simply out of date, etc, and just last night again, due to trying to chug through through much at once (or something?), my previously mentioned concern with the 'hinge' part under the screen of my MacBook got over-heated to the touch again. So I'm fairly positive most of those issues are from being old and outdated (although I plan on adding more RAM as well, since I only have two slots of 2gb, and that would likely be a big help).

I feel a little ridiculous being several OS versions behind by now, but as I mentioned, I liked how Mountain Lion looked and worked, and it wasn't broke, so why fix it. (quick recap from above, MacBook 13-inch, mid-2012, running 10.8.5, with a standard 5400 rpm drive) Not to mention all the mixed things I was hearing with each new OS, that made me nervous if I wanted to upgrade if nothing I was using my machine for required me to. With such a hugely varied mix of love/hate I was seeing, my question is - do you feel as though Capitan is fairly stable by this point?
But what's my alternative... were Mavericks/Yosemite so much better (or, curiously, did you like them better), but not even possible to safely download them anymore, is it? (unless I think I know a fellow user I could get a copy from). I already did my backups and all the pre-maintenance stuff suggested before upgrading, checked the compatibility of my apps, and have plenty of memory (aside from the only 4gb of RAM, which I'll upgrade soon). Just wondering, before I plunge in, about how good El Capitan is at this point. Or if I should upgrade the RAM first, before the OS, or be better with a previous OS. I heard some people were having problems with their peripherals (which I imagine has been fixed by now?), or how well/fast an older computer would run it.

Sorry, tend to get wordy, but thanks again for all your advice!

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,



Running hot with occasional fading windows could just be a video card issue, just a thought.

 

[NougatCat]

Hi,



Running hot with occasional fading windows could just be a video card issue, just a thought.

Thanks, but..... not sure it's video? Running hot, maybe (or just overloading without much ram) but the windows don't 'fade', exactly.... I'll switch to another window (Finder, browser, doesn't matter), and sometimes the Finder window I was on will stay 'stuck' to the forefront, even though I can do stuff in the other window, and click on the 'stuck' one and it will go active again. Annoying, and thought it was just the system blipping.
Any thoughts on the rest?