Painfully slow mac

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So I bought a 2017 iMac 21.5 2.3Ghz 8GB 1TB from a friend who had no problems with it. After migrating about 180gb of stuff off my MacBook it has since been ridiculously slow to the point it is unusable. It is running OS Catalina 10.15.1 Beta, I thought using a time machine external storage device would help but it didn’t. I’m not great with macs so any help would be appreciated I’ve tried an etrecheck but it is like reading a foreign language to me!
 

Cory Cooper

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Hello and welcome.

It may have to do with the Catalina beta. I would use Software Update and upgrade to the latest version of macOS Catalina 10.15.7. Also, are you running any antivirus applications?

C
 
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Need to ask some questions, along with some suggestions:

1. Is there a Fusion Drive inside your iMac?
2. How much free space is on the Hard Disk Drive?
3. Have you done any disk cleanup since you received the iMac? And particularly with the 180 gig from your MacBook, can you get rid of any of it?
4. Why a beta version of Catalina? Catalina is a mature, stable OS, and it is currently at V10.15.7.
5. Are there any applications on the iMac you no longer need?
6. Just to confirm, you are making frequent backups to an external device, correct?
 
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Hello and welcome.

It may have to do with the Catalina beta. I would use Software Update and upgrade to the latest version of macOS Catalina 10.15.7. Also, are you running any antivirus applications?

C
Upgrade to the commercial version of Catalina, and it will run slow until it catalogs in spotlight. After that it should run fine. To get the best OS for your hardware restart with command-R and after doing disc utilities first aid, select install macOS, and it will install the proper macOS; and that usually fixes most problems like this. Best, Seth
 
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Regarding Spotlight, a long, long time ago I downloaded and tried the excellent freeware program EasyFind:


I was pleased with how good a job it does with searches. So, I "turned" Spotlight off, and I have not had any slow downs due to Spotlight for a long, long time.
 

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