Home Forums Mac Software Mac Operating Systems Etracheck, question

Just upgraded new Etracheck (free version still)

Anyone know exactly what these things are and if you really speed things up by deleting the ones you don't know? And a lot I don't recognize, thanks.

Kernel Extensions:
System Launch Agents:
System Launch Daemons:
Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
User Launch Agents:
User Login Items:

Also says I have multiple anti viris and I don't have an anti virus.

I doubt that deleting any of those items would speed things up, but it's possible that you've got legacy items laying around that can be deleted. (You'd recognize the names as being from apps you've deleted.)

In general, everything in your first three categories is system related and shouldn't be touched, but there may be items in your last four categories that can go.

If you're unsure about anything, post the exact name of the item and where it's located.

More: Does EtreCheck identify the anti-virus apps by name?

Everything on your list could have an impact on system performance and removing any of them could do anything from rendering your system unbootable to disabling functions you use many times every day.

• Kernel Extensions: -- add additional hardware-level interfaces such as printer drivers. As the majority of kernel extensions are written by Apple and essential for system operation, removing them can prevent your system from operating normally, if it will run at all. Kernel extensions do not load unless the device they are associated with is attached and powered up, so any performance impact is necessary for the operation of the device.
• System Launch Agents: Items in /System/Library/LaunchAgents folder. Removing will disable functions and utitilites used by the system. (Never mess with anything in /System folder)
• System Launch Daemons: items in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons folder. Removing will disable functions and utitilites used by the system. (Never mess with anything in /System folder)
• Launch Agents: items in /Library/LaunchAgents folder. Removing will prevent functions and apps used by all users on the system from launching at boot time.
• Launch Daemons: Items in /Library/LaunchAgents folder. Removing will prevent functions and apps used by all users on the system from launching at boot time.
• User Launch Agents: Items in ~/Library/LaunchAgents: Removing will prevent some application or function that is unique to your user from launching at boot time.
• User Login Items: Items in System Preferences > Users & Groups > your account > Login Items. Removing them from this list will prevent their launching at boot time.

Personally I would want to see the ENTIRE Etrecheck report before making any recommendations or suggestions.

Can you tell us EXACTLY what it says?

Thanks guys, / Joe.. here you go: any ideas, what delete prune out? Multiple anti virus?






EtreCheck version: 5.6 (5212)
Report generated: 2020-08-18 15:48:39
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 4:22
Performance: Good
Sandbox: Enabled
Full drive access: Disabled

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be adware and should be reviewed.

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

More than one antivirus app - This machine has multiple antivirus apps installed.
Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.
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.
System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background.
32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps will not work on current versions of the operating system.
Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.
Kernel extensions present - This machine has kernel extensions that may not work in the future.
Sharing enabled - This machine has sharing services enabled that could be a security risk.

Hardware Information:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
iMac Model: iMac17,1
3.20 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-6500) CPU: 4-core
24 GB RAM - Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1867
BANK 0/DIMM1 - 8 GB DDR3 1867
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1867
BANK 1/DIMM1 - 8 GB DDR3 1867

Video Information:
AMD Radeon R9 M380 - VRAM: 2 GB
iMac (built-in) 5120 x 2880

Drives:
disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0512G 500.28 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal PCI 8.0 GT/s x4 Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 500.07 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 500.07 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD - Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 276.07 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 529 MB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 1 MB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 11.28 GB used)

disk2 - Seagate Backup+ Desk 5.00 TB
External USB 5 Gbit/s USB
disk2s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk2s2 [APFS Container] 500.13 GB
disk5 [APFS Virtual drive] 500.13 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk5s1 - D*******************D (APFS) (Shared - 11.24 GB used)
disk5s2 - Macintosh HD - Data (APFS) (Shared - 259.29 GB used)
disk5s3 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)
disk5s4 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)
disk5s5 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared)
disk2s3 - D**********************B (Journaled HFS+) 4.50 TB (2.61 TB used)

disk3 - Seagate Backup+ Desk 5.00 TB
External USB 5 Gbit/s USB
disk3s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk3s2 - M******B (Journaled HFS+) 5.00 TB (2.62 TB used)

disk4 - Seagate Backup+ Desk 8.00 TB
External USB 480 Mbit/s USB
disk4s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk4s2 - T**************B (Journaled HFS+) 8.00 TB (7.41 TB used)

Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD - Data [APFS Virtual drive]
500.07 GB (Shared - 276.07 GB used, 238.10 GB available, 211.95 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data

disk1s3 - Recovery [Recovery]
500.07 GB (Shared - 529 MB used, 211.95 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/Recovery

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
500.07 GB (Shared - 1 MB used, 211.95 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

disk1s5 - Macintosh HD
500.07 GB (Shared - 11.28 GB used, 238.10 GB available, 211.95 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes

disk2s3 - D**********************B
4.50 TB (2.61 TB used, 1.89 TB free)
Journaled HFS+
Mount point: /Volumes/D**********************B

disk3s2 - M******B
5.00 TB (2.62 TB used, 2.39 TB free)
Journaled HFS+
Mount point: /Volumes/M******B

disk4s2 - T**************B
8.00 TB (7.41 TB used, 588.29 GB available, 587.94 GB free)
Journaled HFS+
Mount point: /Volumes/T**************B

disk5s1 - D*******************D
500.13 GB (Shared - 11.24 GB used, 229.17 GB available, 228.83 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/D*******************D

disk5s2 - Macintosh HD - Data
500.13 GB (Shared - 259.29 GB used, 240.29 GB available, 228.83 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data

Network:
Interface en0: Ethernet
Proxy Auto Config:
Interface fw0: Thunderbolt FireWire
Interface en1: Wi-Fi

Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

Remote Management: Enabled
Screen sharing: Enabled
Remote login: Enabled

System Software:
macOS Catalina 10.15.6 (19G2021)
Time since boot: About 2 days

Notifications:
Notifications not available without Full Drive Access.

Security:
Gatekeeper: Enabled
System Integrity Protection: Enabled

Antivirus software: Apple, AdGuard, and Malwarebytes

Remote Management: Enabled
Screen sharing: Enabled
Remote login: Enabled

Unsigned Files:
Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.client.plist
Executable: /Applications/Akamai/loader.pl
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist
Executable:
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.smallcubed.suite.helper.plist
Executable: /bin/zsh -c '$HOME/Library/Application Support/com.smallcubed.suite/SmallCubed Suite Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/SmallCubed Suite Helper'

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist
Executable: /Library/Application Support/Seagate/Seagate Storage Gauge.app/Contents/MacOS/Seagate Storage Gauge -doautolnch '/Library/Application Support/Seagate/Seagate Storage Gauge.app'
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
Executable: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/SwitchBoard/SwitchBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/launch.switchboard
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist
Executable: /Library/Application Support/Flip Video/FlipShareAutoRun.app/Contents/MacOS/FlipShareAutoRun
Details: Exact match found in the legitimate list - probably OK

Plugin: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/DVCPROHDAudio.plugin

Apps: 99

32-bit Applications:
54 32-bit apps

Kernel Extensions:
/Applications/EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.app
EaseUSDriver.kext (WU YANG, 1.0.0 - SDK 10.14)

/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app
prl_hypervisor.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 14.1.3 45485 - SDK 10.9)
prl_netbridge.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 14.1.3 45485 - SDK 10.9)
prl_usb_connect.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 14.1.3 45485 - SDK 10.9)
prl_vnic.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 14.1.3 45485 - SDK 10.9)

/Library/Application Support/Malwarebytes/MBAM/Kext
MB_MBAM_Protection.kext (Malwarebytes Corporation, 4.4 - SDK 10.11)

/Library/Application Support/Roxio
TDIXController.kext (1.6)

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox
VBoxDrv.kext (Oracle America, Inc., 6.0.6)
VBoxNetAdp.kext (Oracle America, Inc., 6.0.6)
VBoxNetFlt.kext (Oracle America, Inc., 6.0.6)
VBoxUSB.kext (Oracle America, Inc., 6.0.6)

/Library/Application Support/com.adguard.Adguard/kext
com.adguard.nfext_signed.kext (Performiks OOO, 1.0.4 - SDK 10.11)

/Library/Extensions
Soundflower.kext (MATT INGALLS, 2.0b2 - SDK 10.10)
FTDIKext.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., 1.0 - SDK 10.14)
ufsd_NTFS.kext (Paragon Software GmbH, 15.4.19 - SDK 10.10)
Seagate Storage Driver.kext (5.0.1)
Wacom Tablet.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., Wacom Tablet 6.3.15-3 - SDK 10.11)
SteerMouse.kext (Plentycom Systems, 4.2.6 - SDK 10.6)

System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 153 Apple tasks
[Running] 143 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 33 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 163 Apple tasks
[Running] 140 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task

Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-02-08)
[Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-08-17)
[Other] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Inc. - installed 2020-07-30)
[Running] com.adobe.GC.AGM.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-07-15)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-07-15)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ccxprocess.plist (Apple - installed 2020-08-10)
[Not Loaded] com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist (? d8faaaae - installed 2009-02-17)
[Other] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2020-03-11)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2020-03-11)
[Loaded] com.maintain.CocktailSystemEvents.plist (Apple - installed 2020-08-16)
[Running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.frontend.agent.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2020-04-21)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-08)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-11)
[Other] com.paragon-software.ntfs.notification-agent.plist (Paragon Software GmbH - installed 2018-10-02)
[Other] com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist (? 502453cc - installed 2010-03-10)
[Not Loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2020-06-22)
[Not Loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2020-06-22)
[Running] com.wacom.DataStoreMgr.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2020-04-13)
[Running] com.wacom.IOManager.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2020-04-13)
[Running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2020-04-13)
[Running] jp.co.canon.ScanGearMF.appl.Canon-MF-Scan-Agent.plist (Canon Inc. - installed 2014-07-22)

Launch Daemons:
[Loaded] TinkerToolSystem-PrivilegedTool.plist (Marcel Bresink - installed 2020-05-27)
[Running] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-07-15)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-07-15)
[Loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 - installed 2010-05-10)
[Running] com.adobe.acc.installer.v2.plist (Adobe Inc. - installed 2020-07-30)
[Loaded] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-07-15)
[Loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Inc. - installed 2020-07-24)
[Loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple - installed 2020-03-26)
[Running] com.code42.service.plist (Code 42 Software - installed 2020-08-04)
[Running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.settings.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2020-04-21)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-08)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-08)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-11)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e - installed 2010-08-25)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-05-11)
[Not Loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? 0 - installed )
[Loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2020-06-22)
[Not Loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2020-06-22)
[Loaded] com.wacom.RemoveTabletHelper.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2018-10-03)
[Running] com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2020-04-13)
[Loaded] com.wacom.displayhelper.plist (Apple - installed 2020-08-10)

User Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-08-15)
[Other] com.akamai.client.plist (? 0 - installed 2010-06-12)
[Running] com.c-command.SpamSieve.LaunchAgent.plist (C-Command Software, LLC - installed 2020-05-29)
[Running] com.code42.menubar.plist (Code 42 Software - installed 2020-08-16)
[Loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2019-08-15)
[Loaded] com.shirtpocket.backupbytime.plist (Bruce Lacey - installed 2020-08-09)
[Running] com.smallcubed.suite.helper.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-10-24)
[Running] jp.plentycom.boa.SteerMouse.plist (Plentycom Systems - installed 2020-06-13)

User Login Items:
[Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app

[Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-08-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app

[Not Loaded] OverflowLauncher (Stunt Software - installed 2019-03-02)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Overflow 3.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OverflowLauncher.app

[Not Loaded] BkmxAgent (Jerry Krinock - installed 2020-05-28)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Synkmark.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/BkmxAgent.app

[Not Loaded] LaunchTTS (Marcel Bresink - installed 2020-05-27)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/TinkerTool System.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/LaunchTTS.app

[Not Loaded] WhatsApp Login Helper (App Store - installed 2020-07-09)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/WhatsApp.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/WhatsApp Login Helper.app

[Not Loaded] SteerMouse Manager (Plentycom Systems - installed 2020-04-23)
Modern Login Item
/Library/PreferencePanes/SteerMouse.prefPane/Contents/Library/LoginItems/SteerMouse Manager.app

Internet Plug-ins:
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-06-03)
AdobePDFViewer: 20.009.20067 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2020-06-03)
ZoomUsPlugIn: 4.6.12 (20615.0421) (Zoom Video Communications, Inc. - installed 2020-04-22)
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (Adobe Inc. - installed 2020-07-30)

User Internet Plug-ins:
User Internet Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

Audio Plug-ins:
BlueJeans Audio: 1.0.6 (Blue Jeans Network, Inc. - installed 2020-06-04)
DVCPROHDAudio: 1.2 (? - installed 2016-04-19)

User Audio Plug-ins:
User Audio Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

User iTunes Plug-ins:
User iTunes Plug-ins need Full Drive Access

Safari Extensions:
Download Video (Parallels International GmbH - installed 2020-05-19)
Open in Internet Explorer (Parallels International GmbH - installed 2019-03-12)
Screenshot Page (Parallels International GmbH - installed 2020-05-19)

3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player (Adobe Inc. - installed 2020-07-24)
NTFS (Paragon Software GmbH - installed 2018-10-02)
SteerMouse (Plentycom Systems - installed 2020-04-23)
WacomTablet (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2020-04-13)

Backup:
Time Machine information not available without Full Drive Access.
17 local snapshots
Oldest local snapshot: 2020-08-17 15:35:26
Last local snapshot: 2020-08-18 15:35:17

3rd party backup: Super Duper!

Performance:
System Load: 1.46 (1 min ago) 1.50 (5 min ago) 1.46 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 1.14 MB/s
File system: 24.48 seconds
Write speed: 573 MB/s
Read speed: 1955 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:
Type Overall
System: 2 %
User: 6 %
Idle: 92 %

Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:
Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)
EtreCheck 18.04 % (App Store)
Other processes 10.27 % (?)
Google Chrome 1.34 % (Google, Inc.)
Activity Monitor 0.14 % (Apple)
Core Sync 0.14 % (Adobe Inc.)

Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:
Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)
EtreCheck 1.28 GB (App Store)
Adobe Photoshop 2020 852 MB (Adobe Systems, Inc.)
Mail 804 MB (Apple)
EagleFiler 551 MB (C-Command Software, LLC)
Microsoft Word 405 MB (Microsoft Corporation)

Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:
Process Input / Output (Source - Location)
Other processes 4 MB / 872 MB (?)
Mail 7 MB / 4 MB (Apple)
Dropbox 1 MB / 1 MB (Dropbox, Inc.)
routined 0 B / 0 B (Apple)
homed 0 B / 0 B (Apple)

Virtual Memory Information:
Physical RAM: 24 GB

Free RAM: 2.44 GB
Used RAM: 15.20 GB
Cached files: 6.36 GB

Available RAM: 8.80 GB
Swap Used: 0 B

Software Installs (past 30 days):
Install Date Name (Version)
2020-07-23 TeamViewer (15.7.6)
2020-08-07 XProtectPlistConfigData (2128)
2020-08-11 Microsoft AutoUpdate
2020-08-11 Microsoft Excel
2020-08-11 Microsoft Word
2020-08-11 Microsoft OneNote
2020-08-11 Microsoft PowerPoint
2020-08-11 Adobe Flash Player
2020-08-13 Portraiture 3 Plug-in for Photoshop (build 3541)
2020-08-13 EtreCheck (5.6)
2020-08-16 macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Supplemental Update
2020-08-16 MRTConfigData (1.64)
2020-08-17 ARMDC Agent Installer
2020-08-17 PortraitPro Trial (19.7.1)

Clean up:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.client.plist
/Applications/Akamai/loader.pl
Executable not found
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist
/Library/Application Support/Seagate/Seagate Storage Gauge.app/Contents/MacOS/Seagate Storage Gauge
Executable not found

Diagnostics Information (past 7-30 days):
Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible.
Enable Full Drive Access to see more information.

End of report

This is the part that tells the story
Ninety-two percent of the time your CPU is IDLE in other words doing nothing. The only practical way to speed up your machine would be to perform the remaining eight percent in less time. That can be accomplished in two ways.

1. Overclocking your CPU which would invalidate your warranty, likely lead to overheating, risk frying the CPU
2. Buying a new computer with a faster CPU, more cores, etc.

In either case I doubt the speed increase would be significant unless you are doing some really heavy duty computing such as video or audio production.

If you look at the rest of these numbers no antivirus app is using a significant amount of your system's resources so removing them will not have a noticeable impact on performance, but if you want to remove them then feel free to do so. Removing the Apple antivirus is not possible without removing the OS. There is some overlap between MalwareBytes and AdGuard, but in general they do different things so you would be reducing your protection.

As for the LauchAgents, LaunchDaemons, and startup items decide what applications you will not be using and Uninstall them (Etrecheck Pro provides some assistance in removing these and it isn't easy), but here again there is no indication they are using a significant amount of system resources so performance improvement would be marginal at best.

You do have fifty-four 32 bit apps that will not run in Catalina and can be deleted which would free up some disk space, but would not improve performance. (Etrecheck Pro would list those apps and assist in removing them.)

YOU MIGHT CONSIDER a complete system housecleaning, by...

• backup up or cloning your system to an external drive
• booting from the Recovery drive
• erasing your internal hard drive
• installing a fresh copy of Catalina on the internal drive
• recovering the user settings and files from the external clone, but NOT the applications.
• a fresh install of ONLY those applications you actually use and know what they are and do.

I would be inclined to agree with joemikeb on his recommendations. My 27" iMac has the same Intel iCore processor (albeit 3.5 GHz), less RAM (16 GB) and is one year older than yours, and I am constantly amazed and horrified at the issues you have reported on this site.

I do note that your log report says "More than one antivirus app" and "a large number of system modifications running in the background". To me, these speak of slowdown. Indeed, consider a fresh start.

Thanks Joe, well I think I had rtp, real time protection off on Malwaryes bytes, I'm inclined to have that running all the time, though I think you run it all the time and say it fine...

Where see 54 32bit apps? I just manually trimmed my app folder a couple weeks ago really well, should not be really any 32 but ones left-- maybe a few.

Don't have the stomach to do all that erasing of drive and restoring.. unless maybe Apple senior supervisor said to do that, even then pretty hairy (for me).

But anyway, you really don't see need for all that yet..?

Ira, but Joe is saying basically everything does not look too bad.

Most stuff you think I'm whining about is from the Catalina upgrade.. and that was a very weird upgrade. Even Dave developer at SD said Catalina is very odd OS upgrade.

Recent beachballing, now seems gone away. (mayabe stopping Malwayer bytes rtp, who knows)

But yeah, I may have 10 times apps you have. I'm doing Photoshop a lot who knows.. so many variables.

I'm talking to Etra Check developer by email, great guy. Let me see if I can post his thoughts here.

Although Etrecheck reported those as "Applications" they may be drivers, kernel extensions, and other executable code and not necessaily what you or i woud think of as an application. As I mentioned Etrecheck Pro would be a lot more specific and informative. You get what you pay for.


There is a lot of detritus in your system and while it does not appear to be significantly slowing your system down at this point, that "stuff" not going to magically go away by itself and may well cause issues in the future. Remember Big Sur is just a few months away and there are even bigger changes under the hood than there were with Catalina. (That said, Bug Sur has been remarkably problem free in beta.)

Thanks Joe, again, what does Pro offer that you really love?, I think only $15, but even owner, does not push it at all in my emails with him.. sort or refers to this as a free app..

More information, more explanation, detailed analytics,
performance snapshots,
help in removing unwanted items.

Thanks Joe aren't most analytics already in mac.. activity monitor etc.

And well, owner said email, not to remove those things deamons, and launch agents.. I started doing removes, but maybe not a good idea?

BTW Joe: guy at Etrecheck says just having an external clone mounted slow things down quite a bit, ever heard that? Say computer will be trying to use apps in it. wow..? Maybe then just unmount it and run clone software every blue moon?

LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons are installed in support of software applications and often provide background support necessary to the proper functioning of the application. Remove them at your own risk.

I have seen installers searching attached clones and have run into issues because of that, but I will take the "Guy at Etrecheck's" word on the other. I unmount the clone drive at the completion of the cloning process. CCC will mount the drive automatically when it runs and unmount it at the conclusion of the cloning process so I don't "see" it happening.

"will mount the drive automatically when it runs and unmount it at the conclusion "

Wow, will ask SD about that... thanks.

PS Joe what about Time Machine? I would assume it causes havoc, anyway to get that unmounted most of the day?

If you can believe it, a editing software (Reaper), I'm learning was launching from TM. And it was not even in Mac HD apps! Have no idea how that happened. I think TM is a source of slowness and chaos too probably right?

And you opinion on cloud backups, I have in in room externals, and one external as security deposit, but I've been doing Crashplan for a few years -- was $5 month, now $10... Never used it once.. just another final emergency layer, but again, I'm sure it's resource intensive, maybe that final layer is not worth the tradeoff? I mean nothing beats having everything in cloud. But I don't think you bother with cloud backup right because of money and slowness it introduces correct?

I actually tried its main competitor Backblaze and they use a process that is even 10x worse, total chaos/ slowness, but I think even Crashplan's softer touch is a problem too.

Just trying to weed out everything than creates slowness.

No it does not cause havoc of any sort and I leave both of my Time Machine drives mounted all the time so backups can occur on schedule every hour.


I can't even conceive how that happened unless something really bizarre was done to install and/or launch it. If it is truly launching from the Time Machine data set, I would expect it to be painfully slow launching, but once launched it shouldn't make any difference whatsoever what drive it was launched from. If it had been installed on the Time Machine drive by error and not in a TM Dat Set it might be a bit slower launching simply because the speed of the external drive and interface, but even that should not cause a major slowdown.


All of my data is on iCloud, all of my applications are on the Big Sur boot drive. I will occasionally see a file being moved to or from iCloud, but given there is also a mirror image on the boot drive there is no detectable impact on performance other than it allows me to save a few hundred dollars on the price of a new computer because I can use a smaller drive. Additionally, all my data files are available on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. NOTE: In Big Sur Time Machine only backs up the data volume. Restoring anything on any of the other volumes is done by re-installing from the Recovery volume. That is currently true of cloSuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloner, TinkerTool System, and TechTool Pro as well.


I have no experience with either Crashplan or backblaze. Apple's iCloud has always served my purposes quite well and no additional software, drivers, etc. required.
But iCloud is NOT my primary backup. That is the realm of Time Machine which has proven quite reliable, imposes a minimal drain on computing resources, and after the initial setup is virtually invisible, until you need to recover something from the past.

You said you have an "in room" external and an "external as a security deposit". From you descriptions I suspect those are clones. If I may make a suggestion for secure backups. Time Machine will happily back up to two or more drives by alternating which one it backs up to. If you had two "in room" externals setup as Time Machine Drives and once a month swapped one or the other out with the "external as a security deposit drive" even if one of the intenal drives failed the most you would lose is half of the backups for one day. If there was a disaster and both in room externals were destroyed you would only lose any files created since the last time you swapped out the security deposit drive. Total cost for an additional external drive would probably be less than a years rental for on-line backup space.

Thanks Joe, lot to absorb:

So for you icloud, is your crashplan, lot data in the sky? How much $.. does icloud even do 1-2 Terabytes?

I had a lot on icloud -- not lot -- maybe 25 important documents - and was notice huge instability. Just me, something went haywire, and icloud sync got fooled, so Apple icloud makes me queasy.

With crashplan, no syncing between different devices, so that what happened at some point. One device time signature overwrote something, I'm phone with Apple for hours..

IN Big Sur, you have heard that Time Machine wont back up external drives? or maybe I misunderstand. If true very bad news as my Mac HD is only 500 GB whereas externals are 2-3 tB.

Never heard of the idea of multiple Time Machines....but yeah, if that happens with Big Sur what you say then that is an idea, of course, why do you need Carbon Copy Cloner if your TMs are handling that essentially? (but may not anymore with Big Sur?)

Yes iCloud does multiple TeraByte storage.

I have all of my data on iCloud and have encountered no instability or data loss.

Time Machine does backup external drives but the TM drive needs to be 2 to 3 times the size of the drive(s) being backed up so for every 1TB external drive you are backing up in Time Machine you would need 3TB of Time Machine storage. My qustion would be what do you have on those external drives? How dynamic is their content? Your best option may well be a RAID array configured RAID 5 or 6 so the array becomes its own backup.

In Catalina and Big Sur there are 5 APFS volumes and Big Sur only pemits one of those, the data volume, to be backed up or cloned regardless of the technology you are using and four of the five volumes are necessary to boot the system. If you insist on a bootable backup, a RAID 5 or 6 array (which would require four identical drives) may be the best option. At least at this point in time.

Time Machine backups are not bootable, until Big Sur, clones have been bootable.

thanks some this don't understand, but my TM now is 8tB so plenty large.

I don't understand Raid, never did. Dittle, all these volumes apfs.. still cloudy to me...but will learn.. look into.

Big Sur is more limited that Catalina? Is that odd?

But Time Machine will work worse be more limited later?

Two good sources of information on RAID are...

1. SoftRAID a division of OWC.
2. Wikipedia

The type of RAID I use is RAID 5 in which the data is spread among three disks and a fourth disk contains parity data. Should any one of the four drives fail, the entire data set can be rebuilt from the data on the other three. One of my drives did fail and I "hot-swapped" it with a new drive and the array was rebuilt overnight while the array remained in use. That is reliability in spades! RAID I/O is typically faster than a single drive.

Up until Catalina, a SoftRAID array could be used as a boot drive. SoftRAID hopes to add APFS file formatting and restore bootability in the next release.

It occurs to me that you may be chasing a performance rainbow without a realistic idea of what an iMac like yours is, or is not, actually capable of. To find that kind of information, you need to use a standardized performance measurement utility like GeekBench 5. GeekBench 5 will not only measure your iMac's CPU and GPU performance, it will show you how yours compares to other IMacs of the same model and configuration as well as other iMac configurations. BlackMagic will tell you how your internal and external drives are performing. If your scores out of line then you need to start looking for the reasons why. If not then realistically you are not going to be able to squeeze any more performance out of it. It won't solve a problem but it will tell you if you really have a problem.

Thanks Joe, will check all this stuff out!