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Did you check via &quot;Software Update&quot; in the top bar at the Apple symbol?
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By the way, you will have difficulty upgrading to El Capitan. When Apple ships a new OS, it removes the older OS's from its store. So El Capitan is not now readily available. See: &nbsp;<a href="http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/if-you-havent-got-el-capitan-get-it-now.1998870/#post-23649388" rel="ugc">http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/if-you-havent-got-el-capitan-get-it-now.1998870/#post-23649388</a>
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Also, there is a pretty good Mac troubleshooting guide here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html" rel="ugc">http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html</a><br />
<br />
although it is a bit out of date.
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You didn't mention which model Mac your client has. Hardware requirements for Sierra are:<br />
<br />

<div class="indent">
<b>2009 and later</b><br />
<br />
MacBook<br />
iMac<br />
<br />
<b>2010 and later</b><br />
<br />
MacBook Air <br />
MacBook Pro<br />
Mac mini <br />
Mac Pro
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<br />
If your client's Mac is incapable of running Sierra because it is not listed above, then as Rindi said, El Capitan rather than Sierra should be available from Software Updates.
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Apple stopped distributing OS X El Capitan ever since the release of macOS Sierra on the App Store. You should consider doing a clean install of macOS Sierra onto your client's Mac. Clean install removes everything from the Mac and install a clean version of the OS. <br />
<br />
If you really want to look into installing El Capitan instead of Sierra then follow this link. I am not sure if it really works but try it with your client's Mac. Open the link below with Safari. It should automatically open the App Store page of El Capitan.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12" rel="ugc">https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12</a><br />
<br />
Let me know the result.
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Hi All - Will be testing on the mac tonight as its available for me. <br />
By the way its an early 2009 iMac with 8GB of ram.<br />
<br />
Many thanks
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Hi All &nbsp;- sorry for the delay on this one - the client was unreachable for over a week so i couldn't get onto the mac again. I ran the disk repair utility and it found a number of errors which it repaired. Since then the client has reported an improvement in performance. So far so good i guess, though this mac is quite old so i may recommend he replace it eventually. Thanks all for your contributions.
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Hi - My client is experiencing a little slowness on his mac. He has an early 2009 Mac with 8 GB of ram and running Yosemite.<br />
I still struggle to work out what to do with macs when they run slow. With pcs its easier. I read that El Capitan helps performance wise compared to Yosemite and its successor Sierra. Though despite on the website for Apple i cannot find where to download El Capitan - Its not on the App Store as they claim it is or perhaps i am doing something wrong?<br />
Some advice would be helpful thanks.<br />
<br />
D
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Hi - My client is experiencing a little slowness on his mac. He has an early 2009 Mac with 8 GB of ram and running Yosemite.
I still struggle to work out what to do with macs when they run slow. With pcs its easier. I read that El Capitan helps performance wise compared to Yosemite and its successor Sierra. Though despite on the website for Apple i cannot find where to download El Capitan - Its not on the App Store as they claim it is or perhaps i am doing something wrong?
Some advice would be helpful thanks.

D

Want to upgrade to El Capitan instead of Sierra

Mac OS X is the desktop operating system from Apple Inc., found on Macintosh computers. OS X consists of a Mach/BSD-based kernel, operating system interfaces primarily based on FreeBSD and additional frameworks (written in C, C++ and Objective-C providing user interface and application-level services.

Mac OS X

Apple's early computers ran on a variety of operating systems, including a Pascal version and one based on CP/M, before releasing its ProDOS with the advent of its 16-bit computer. With the release of the Lisa, which had its own OS, Apple and computing entered the graphical age; it was followed by the Macintosh, which offered a series of "System" operating systems. Other Mac operating systems included PowerPC until Apple acquired NeXT and folded it into the Mac OS. Current operating systems for Apple devices are Mac OS-X and iOS.