long delays in opening System Preferences

[Doug Lassiter]

My college age daughter uses a MacBook, and is running 10.5.8. When I was helping her reset some things (new Bonjour location for printer, some new network params, etc.), I was stunned to see her System Preferences take 15-20 seconds to open. "Oh, it's been that way for a long time", she said. Huh?

Now, she doesn't download lots of apps and extensions. It's a pretty generic setup.

What could be causing this? I've never seen anything like that before on any of our other systems. Not clear what System Preferences needs to think hard about before opening.

[trevor]

Does the problem continue from a newly-created user?

What pref panes does she have under the "Other" category, if System Preferences is set to:
View > Organize by Categories?

Do any error messages appear in your logs (easily viewed using the Console app, found in /Applications/Utilities) when launching System Preferences?

Trevor

[benwiggy]

Check the Console to see if any relevant messages are being written at the time.

[Doug Lassiter]

Nothing on the Console around when this happens.

In the "Other" category, we just have Adobe Version Cue, Flash, Flip4Mac, and Perian.

Of some interest is that Sys Preference opens promptly if it has just been closed.

[jsalmi]

Quote: Originally Posted by Doug Lassiter Of some interest is that Sys Preference opens promptly if it has just been closed.

So the delay in opening has somehow resolved itself?

[Doug Lassiter]

No, it's not resolved. Just saying that if I haven't been using System Prefs for a while, there is a long delay (and audible disk activity) in opening it. Once opened, and closed, it will open quickly immediately after that. When I open System Prefs, it's unlikely that I've been doing it a lot, which is why a delay is annoying.

[trevor]

Does the problem continue from a newly-created user?

Trevor

[Doug Lassiter]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor Does the problem continue from a newly-created user?

No, it doesn't seem to. Now, the first time you do anything in a new account, it seems to take a lot longer than it should, presumably because it's setting stuff up. That's certainly the case with MS Word applications.

But our impression is that this (and a bunch of other stuff that seems unusually pokey) problem is significantly lessened in a newly-created account.

[trevor]

Here's hayne's generic prescription for fixing user account problems:

Quote: Originally Posted by hayne ---------------------------------- You have determined that the problem is only with the one user account. The problem thus is almost certainly due to something under your home folder. And it likely is something under ~/Library ( ~ = your home folder) The most likely thing is a bad preference file under ~/Library/Preferences You could start by removing the preference files for the apps you are having trouble with. (The names of preference files usually include the name of the app they are for.) If the problem persists, you need to narrow the problem down - you could start by moving (via drag & drop) the whole "Preferences" folder that is under ~/Library to the Desktop, then log out and log in again. A default copy of the Preferences folder will have been recreated. Does that improve things? If so, you could use a divide & conquer approach to figure out which of the preference files is causing the problem - move half of the preference files back into the Preferences folder, log out & in again, etc. If the problem persists, try the same thing with the other sub-folders of ~/Library. E.g. with ~/Library/Caches, ~/Library/InputManagers, ~/Library/Fonts, ~/Library/PreferencePanes, ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Application Enhancers, contents of ~/Desktop, etc. Also remove any files owned by your user in /Library/Caches (the Library folder at the top-level of the drive) or the sub-folders of /Library/Caches (e.g. the font caches under /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS)

Trevor

[Doug Lassiter]

Thanks. That's sensible. Just as a test, the first experiment might just be to remove (and save) the whole preference folder, and let applications recreate them. To the extent that improves things, one could go in and diddle with individual preference files.

[mnewman]

I just did an experiment. I haven't opened System Preferences in a few days.

First time this morning: 7 seconds

Second time and subsequent times: 2 seconds

This on a 2009 MacMini, 4GB RAM, Seagate hybrid drive, 10.8.2

How does that compare with others?

[trevor]

On my 2009 MacBook Pro 15" running 10.6.8, 8GB RAM, also with a Seagate hybrid drive, it opens in less than one second. The icon barely begins it's bounce and the app is open. I've already opened System Preferences several times today, so this would count as 'second and subsequent times'. Guess I'll have to check 'first time in the morning' tomorrow.

Trevor

[jsalmi]

On my 2011 mini running ML w/4 gig of ram & 5400 rpm drive, currently running an initial Time Machine backup, just over 1 second. I will also check after I reboot the box & open a couple of apps.

On my ML 2011 MPB + ssd, it's more or less instantaneous.

[mnewman]

I just got back from my morning run. So, about an hour since I opened System Preferences. Tried again. Seven seconds. Obviously, like the OP, something wrong.

I'd attempt hayne's generic prescription for fixing user account problems, but that seems like a process that could take many, many hours. I'm not sure I'm willing to trade those hours for a six second improvement in System Preferences opening time....

There must be a better way.

[mnewman]

Same machine, my wife's account:

First time: 7 seconds

Next time: less than one second

[mnewman]

Quote: Originally Posted by mnewman There must be a better way.

There seems to be. I ran the maintenance utility Onyx from Titanium Software and let it do all of it's tasks.

Now System Preferences opens in two seconds the first time and almost instantly after that.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor Guess I'll have to check 'first time in the morning' tomorrow.

For the first time in the morning opening System Preferences, it still opens in less than one second on my computer.

Trevor

[Doug Lassiter]

Sorry that took so long ...

I did do a full run of Onyx on the machine, and my impression is that things are significantly less pokey now. Sys Prefs took four seconds to open the first time, but after that opened almost immediately repeatedly. Other applications open more promptly as well.

So I consider this problem largely solved, and the lesson is to run Onyx once in a while.

[mnewman]

I think what does the trick is the cache cleaning.