Originally Posted By: JBjorgen
Originally Posted By: tanstaafl.

At the very least wouldn't a "nuke and re-pave" with the latest OS the hardware supports restore it to whatever performance levels it had when it was new?


MacOS doesn't generally need the occasional nuke and re-pave like Windows does (or did in the days before I switched) as a form of regular maintenance. Usually the slowness is caused by OS upgrades that demand more powerful hardware to run well, but are more or less necessary for security and software compatibility reasons.
A review of what software is installed on the Mac Mini may also be worthwhile. Perhaps there are unnecessary things running in the background.

There is some potential for malware to be resident.