X

Security Update (2010-001) slowing Macs down?

Reports of the latest Apple Security Update (2010-001) are citing the installation for causing extremely slow start-up times and poor performance for a number of programs.

Joe Aimonetti MacFixIt Editor
Joe is a seasoned Mac veteran with years of experience on the platform. He reports on Macs, iPods, iPhones and anything else Apple sells. He even has worked in Apple retail stores. He's also a creative professional who knows how to use a Mac to get the job done.
Joe Aimonetti
2 min read

Some Mac users are reporting that the latest Apple Security Update, (2010-001), is causing extremely slow start-up times and poor performance or crashing for several programs, including Skype, Firefox, and Photoshop CS3.

Apple Support Discussions user "Forgiss" reports their issue:

"I installed the security update this morning, and rebooted the machine."

Startup was extremely slow. in the region of about 5-10 minutes with a consistent beachball untill startup has completed."

After startup, I could not launch any non-apple product so far. That includes:

  • Skype
  • Firefox
  • CaptureONE Pro
  • Photoshop CS3 or CS4
  • Microsoft office suite (word, excel, etc)"

Some application would open, and then as soon as I try and open a file, it would crash (microsoft and Adobe Products) some would just bounce in the dock (skype, firefox) and some would start to open and then crash after the ID screen has been up for a few seconds."

My Wacom Tablet is not recognised and crashes (through USB) although my itunes and Ipod Touch seems to work fine (so it's not the USB drivers, per se)"

I have not had any problems with this computer since my upgrade to snow leopard (10.6) and have had no indication that there are any system issues."

This particular issue seems to bring up a point that is lost on many users. The help in the forum suggests that the hard drive on the computer was being slowly damaged to the point that Disk Utility (via Permissions Verify/Repair) was not noticing anything. The update seems to have been the catalyst for the hard drive damage to become evident to the system. It is important to have some sort of regular maintenance cycle for you Mac. There are many programs out there that can help you, though one of my favorites is the free Onyx, which provides several scripts for disk checks and maintenance schedules.

How do you keep your Mac running at top performance levels? Let us know in the comments.


Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
Do you have questions, issues, or stories you would like to see on MacFixIt? Email Us.