Brand new iMac (late 2015) - Extremely Slow - Etresoft report included

[SoFLJoe]

Hello, I bought this iMac after I had hardware failures on both my MBA 2014 and 2015 MBP - it might be related but I am not sure. Both of those machines had kernels go haywire. With this iMac it was amazing the first few weeks, but without anyone changes its been running so slow. I do know of an individual that has accessed my network and has actively been trying his best to hack myself/and anyone else he could - perhaps this is a result of that? I really don't know. I have solely used these machines to do legal research and compile documentation - along with normal, safe web browsing. I tend to have a lot of tabs open but other than that I cannot think of what I am doing to cause these issues.
This iMac is outrageously slow, here is the report from the Etresoft program:

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)
Report generated 2018-01-02 18:46:39
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 48:20
Performance: Poor

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information: ⓘ
21.5" iMac (Late 2015)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac16,2
1 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5675R) CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok
Handoff/Airdrop2: supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
iCloud Quota: 1.79 TB available

Video Information: ⓘ
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 - VRAM: 1536 MB
iMac 5120 x 2880

Disk Information: ⓘ
APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)
[Show SMART report]
EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB
(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 999.35 GB
Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ⓘ
USB30Bus
SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive
Flash Drive disk2: (63.86 GB)
Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ
Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 998.98 GB (767.02 GB free)
Physical disk: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online
64G IPAD JB (disk2 - MS-DOS FAT32) /Volumes/64G IPAD JB : 63.85 GB (34.95 GB free)
Physical disk: Flash Drive 63.85 GB (34.95 GB free)

System Software: ⓘ
macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 (17B1003) - Time since boot: about one hour

Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection (3.0 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[loaded] 166 Apple tasks
[running] 114 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 35 Apple tasks
[loaded] 171 Apple tasks
[running] 123 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ
[running] com.citrixonline.ShareConnect.LaunchAgent.plist (? 482ed86f 68631b43 - installed 2017-05-19) [Lookup]
[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.frontend.agent.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-09-19) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 4898e928 - installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-11-18)
[running] com.apple.serverd.plist (? 77315927 244a9cec - installed 2018-01-02)
[running] com.citrixonline.ShareConnect.CommAgent.plist (? 6e05f128 68631b43 - installed 2017-05-19) [Lookup]
[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-09-19) [Lookup]
[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.settings.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-09-19) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.rogueamoeba.instanton-agent.plist (Rogue Amoeba Software, LLC - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.apple.serveralertproxy.plist (? 7ce1e1a0 a211e8ad - installed 2018-01-02)
[loaded] com.rogueamoeba.loopbackd.plist (Rogue Amoeba Software, LLC - installed 2017-11-21) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2017-10-19) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 860a8e3e 8fca9cd8 - installed 2017-10-19) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ
EvernoteLauncher SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-11-03)
(/Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EvernoteLauncher.app)
CopiedLauncher SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-12-29)
(/Applications/Copied.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CopiedLauncher.app)
EvernoteHelper SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-11-03)
(/Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EvernoteHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-16) [Lookup]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-10-25)
Flash Player: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-16) Outdated! Update

Safari Extensions: ⓘ
[not loaded] Recent Tab List - Nick van der Ploeg - http://nickvdp.com/tablist (installed 2017-09-18)
[not loaded] Tab Lister - Paul Petty - http://paulgriffinpetty.com/tablister (installed 2017-09-18)
[not loaded] Wipr - Giorgio Calderolla - http://giorgiocalderolla.com/ (installed 2017-09-16)
[not loaded] Adamant - Cocoa App - http://cocoaapp.com/adamant (installed 2017-09-16)
[enabled] Star2Star Browser Extension - Star2Star Communications, LLC. - http://www.star2star.com (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] drago - Xin Ruan - http://ruanxin.github.io/drago-extension/ (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] First Mention - Dan Stillman - https://danstillman.com/firstmention (installed 2017-11-03)
[not loaded] Zoom - Stefan vd - http://www.stefanvd.net (installed 2017-09-18)
[enabled] CronTab - Gowtham - http://ferryfair.com/crontab (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] Aureoo QuickCreator - Boohook S.R.L. - https://www.aureoo.com (installed 2017-11-03)
[not loaded] 1Password - AgileBits - https://agilebits.com/onepassword (installed 2017-09-16)
[not loaded] eBay for Safari - eBay Inc - http://anywhere.ebay.com/browser/safari/ (installed 2017-09-16)
[enabled] Library Access - Lean Library - https://www.leanlibrary.com/ (installed 2017-11-10)
[enabled] TickTick - Appest Limited - https://ticktick.com (installed 2017-11-03)
[not loaded] Honey - Honey Science Corporation - https://www.joinhoney.com (installed 2017-09-16)
[not loaded] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2017-09-16)
[not loaded] OpenSearch for Safari - Thomas Pockrandt & Devran Ünal - http://opensearchforsafari.com (installed 2017-09-18)
[enabled] TabSorter - Andrew Denyes - https://www.diatomics.com/tabsorter (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] SimilarWeb - SimilarWeb - http://www.similarweb.com/ (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] Clip to DEVONthink - DEVONtechnologies - http://www.devontechnologies.com/redirect.php?id=download-extras (installed 2017-11-03)
[enabled] Evernote Web Clipper - Evernote Corp. - http://evernote.com (installed 2017-11-07)
[not loaded] SessionRestore - SweetP Productions, Inc. - https://sweetpproductions.com (installed 2017-10-13)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]
ShareConnect Preferences (installed 2017-05-19) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 998.98 GB Disk used: 231.96 GB
Destinations:
JB 1TB ENCRYPT [Local]
Total size: 999.86 GB
Total number of backups: 21
Oldest backup: 10/7/17, 10:10 AM
Last backup: 10/9/17, 4:59 PM
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk used 231.96 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
5% Finder
4% bird
3% coreaudiod
3% cloudd
2% kernel_task

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
734 MB kernel_task
727 MB com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond
347 MB Safari
336 MB Notes
201 MB Finder

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ
Input Output Process name
5 MB 61 KB AssetCache
2 MB 1 MB mDNSResponder
53 KB 12 KB Safari
22 KB 26 KB apsd
12 KB 2 KB Notes

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ
9.04 coreaudiod
6.90 bird
3.90 com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond
2.06 Astropad Studio
1.98 WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.68 GB Available RAM
20 MB Free RAM
6.32 GB Used RAM
1.66 GB Cached files
0 B Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ
webcam+: 1.1.6 (installed 2017-12-18)
Acorn: 6.0.4 (installed 2017-12-18)
Debit & Credit: 2.5.4 (installed 2017-12-18)
iFax: 3.15 (installed 2017-12-18)
Create Booklet: 1.3.10 (installed 2017-12-28)
PDF to Text: 1.1 (installed 2017-12-28)
Designs for Pages: 1.0 (installed 2017-12-28)
Resume Star: 1.2 (installed 2017-12-28)
Dr. Cleaner Pro: 1.2.1 (installed 2017-12-28)
PDF Photo Album: 1.0 (installed 2017-12-28)
Template Bundle for iBooks Author: 1.01 (installed 2017-12-28)
Batch Video Compress Pro: 3.2.1 (installed 2017-12-28)
Toolbox for iWork - Templates: 3.5.2 (installed 2017-12-28)
Cloud Outliner Pro: 2.3 (installed 2017-12-28)
SimpleMind Pro: 1.19.0 (installed 2017-12-28)
Toolbox for Office - Templates: 3.5.2 (installed 2017-12-28)
NoteAway: 1.1.6 (installed 2017-12-28)
PDFCombo: 1.1 (installed 2017-12-28)
Image Converter: 1.0 (installed 2017-12-28)
1Password: 6.8.5 (installed 2017-12-28)
Open Any Files: 1.4.0 (installed 2017-12-29)
Polarr Photo Editor: 4.4.2 (installed 2017-12-29)
Copied: 2.0.7 (installed 2017-12-29)
PhotoScape X: 2.7.1 (installed 2017-12-29)
SnapNDrag Pro: 4.2.6 (installed 2017-12-29)
EazyDraw: 3.10.7 (installed 2017-12-29)
MacFamilyTree 8: 8.2.7 (installed 2017-12-29)

Install information may not be complete.

 

[chscag]

One thing that is noticeable is the large amount of extensions you have installed to Safari. Are all those necessary? Also, you might consider removing "Dr. Cleaner Pro" as there is no need for any kind of cleaning software for macOS.

Try booting your iMac to Safe Mode and see if it runs any faster that way. Safe Mode is entered by holding down your shift key on a reboot and keep holding it until the Apple appears on the screen. Safe Mode stops all third party kexts and startup items from loading which should give you a clean run. Let us know.

 

[iggibar]

Sorry if this is late, but you stated that you have a lot open tabs. You don't have that much memory. 8gb is just meeting the minimum for heavy internet users these days. You have flash installed, and that, in conjunction with multiple tabs and app daemons running the background, can easily consume your available system resources greatly. All those extensions take power and and memory to keep running. Gett rid of those cleaner apps. They are only taking up space. They run in the background and will probably consume close to 250mb of ram in the background without you even knowing it is open.

Kernel memory can be linked to multiple activities, but I've noticed that web activity is what increases kernel size the most, and is one of the leading causes of MAC OS system crashing/freezes. The rate of kernel size increases rises in sync with computer usage(ESPECIALLY internet with many tabs open), and there is a direct correlation to OS freezes/crashes. It's a cascading effect unfortunately. As you use more system available resources(memory or CPU), the OS automatically clears cache and sleeps apps that are not being used that were previously running in the background. While this is going on, kernel size is slowly increasing. After a certain point, your "kernel" will be utilizing the most system resources out of any other task/program/code. This is when you notice apps crashing. Once the system is no longer able to free resources, your whole OS crashes because it has no more memory that it can reuse from sleeping needless apps.

16gb of ram is your best friend. Seems to be the sweet spot for heavy internet users.

I have MANY tabs open and background apps running on my Mac Pro. Not even 24gb of ram was enough when I'm in my flow on 4 monitors! I've had instances when kernel task took up close to 8gb of ram because I could not stop my task midway!

 

[harryb2448]

As you purchased the 21.5" model with no upgradeable memory, sorry to say you purchased the wrong machine.

This is compounded heavily by the use of a 5400rpm slow as molasses hard drive. if ever you come back by here, consider purchasing an SSD, set it up as external via USB3 or Thunderbolt, clone the operating system etc to it, and in System Preference > Startup Disk, select as the boot drive.