Question : Problem: Why is my macbook so slow all of a sudden?

hey

Last night, my little sister was using my computer for who knows what.  I opened my computer this morning and all of a sudden it's been so slow, it's unbearable. Starting my computer took 5 minutes for everythign to lead. everything i do takes two minutes, and then the spinning beach ball pops up. What I've done so far is restart/reboot the computer. I've done this like 5 times, and it gets slower and slower each time. I've also tried going to disk utility. It seems like firefox is the culprit, but I don't know. the spinning beach ball thingy as my cursor is driving me insane.

 i was looking around for some help and i saw someone said to check the console.app on the utilities folder and this is what i found for my console.log...
      
Mac OS X Version 10.4.11 (Build 8S2167)
2008-08-11 18:04:24 -0400
2008-08-11 18:04:27.226 HPEventHandler[286]: DebugAssert: Third Party Client: (NULL != m_lock && 0 == errno)  Can't create semaphore lock[/Volumes/Development/HP/Mac-Sirani/mac-software/components/HPEventHandler/Sources/Core/HPTMNotificationManager.cpp:62]
2008-08-11 18:04:32.437 SystemUIServer[280] lang is:en
2008-08-11 18:35:35.616 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.650 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.652 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.653 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.654 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.655 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.657 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.658 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.659 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.660 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.661 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.662 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.663 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.664 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.665 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.666 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.667 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.668 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.669 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.670 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.671 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.672 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.673 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.674 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.675 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.676 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:36:26.639 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:26.640 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:26.640 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQL query failed:
DELETE FROM Articles WHERE id IN (7336,7337,7338,7339,7340,7341,7342,7343,7344,7354,7355,7356,7357,7358,7359,7360,7361,7362,7374,7375,7376,7377,7378,7379,7380,7381,7382,7421,7422,7423,7424,7425,7433,7434,7435,7436,7442,7453,7454,7455,7456,7457,7458,7459,7462,7463,7464,7465,7466,7467,7468,7478,7480,7481,7488,7489,7490,7491,7492,7493,7494,7495,7496,7497,7498,7499,7500,7501,7502,7503,7504,7505,7533,7534,7538,7541,7542,7543,7544,7545,7566,7567,7568,7569,7570,7571,7572,7578,7579,7588,7593,7594,7595,7596,7597,7598,7599,7600,7601,7602,7603,7604,7605,7606,7607,7630,7631,7632,7633,7634,7635,7636,7637,7638,7639,7640,7641,7651,7652,7655,7656,7660,7663,7667,7670,7671,7683,7684,7685,7686,7687,7688,7689,7690,7691,7692,7693,7694,7695,7703,7704,7707,7708,7709,7710,7711,7712,7713,7714,7715,7716,7717,7718,7720,7727,7753,7754,7755,7762,7763,7764,7765,7766,7767,7768,7769,7770,7799,7800,7801,7802,7803,7804,7805,7806,7807,7808,7809,7810,7811,7812,7813,7814,7816,7817,7818,7819,7820,7821,7836,7837,7838,7839,7840,7841,7842,7843,7845,7846,7847,7848,7894,7895,7896,7897,7898,7899,7900,7901,7902,7911,7912,7914,7915,7916,7936,7937,7938,7939,7940,7941,7942,7944,7945,7959,7960,7961,7962,7963,7964,7965,7966,7967,7968,7969,7970,7971,7973,7986,7987,7988,8000,8001,8002,8003,8004,8005,8006,8007,8008,8009,8011,8012,8030,8031,8032,8033,8034,8035,8036,8037,8038,8039,8040,8041,8042,8047,8048,8049,8050,8051,8052,8053,8054,8055,8056,8057,8058,8059,8079,8080,8081,8084,8085,8086,8087,8088,8089,8090,8091,8092,8093,8094,8095,8096,8097,8098,8099,8100,8101,8102,8103,8104,8139,8140,8141,8142,8143,8144,8145,8146,8147,8160,8161,8162,8163,8164,8165,8166,8167,8168,8169,8178,8179,8181,8182,8183,8184,8185,8186,8187,8188,8189,8190,8191,8192,8193,8194,8195,8225,8226,8227,8228,8229,8230,8231,8232,8233,8234,8235,8237,8238,8239,8240,8241,8242,8243,8244,8245,8254,8255,8256,8257,8258,8266,8267,8268,8280,8281,8282,8283,8285,8288,8290,8291,8292,8297,8298,8299)
2008-08-11 18:36:50.135 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:50.135 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:50.136 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQL query failed:
DELETE FROM Articles WHERE id IN (7391,7392,7393,7394,7395,7396,7397,7398,7399,7400,7401,7402,7403,7404,7405,7406,7407,7408,7409,7410,7411,7412,7413,7414,7415,7416,7417,7418,7419,7420,7728,7729,7730,7731,7732,7733,7734,7735,7736,7737,7738,7739,7740,7741,7742,7743,7744,7745,7746,7747,7748,7749,7750,7751,7752)
2008-08-11 18:36:50.400 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: ArticlesStore: Fatal database error: exiting!



 could this be the culprit ? if it is what do i do about it?





 if not what else could be the problem?

Answer : Problem: Why is my macbook so slow all of a sudden?

The Spotlight database may be corrupted. You can force Spotlight to rebuild it by adding the affected disk to the Spotlight Privacy exclusions in System Preferences, closing System Preferences, then removing it from the exclusion list. Spotlight will begin rebuilding the Spotlight database immediately. (This may take several hours.)

Suggest you try this and let the computer re-index overnight, then see if performance is better in the morning.