Say you were using Safari browser on your Mac to browse the web, but now you have switch to Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Or you have installed third-party plugins, extensions to your existing Mac apps. Probably you have added a couple of plugins to Spotlight for searching more files and special folders. All this is fine, but your Mac will show signs of slowness.

As you install more apps, plugins, and extensions on your Mac, you will notice a significant drop in performance. This is when you should be wide awake and take action in fixing your Mac — what better way to start than by troubleshooting?

Troubleshooting is not an easier process, especially if you have lots of apps and plugins installed all over the place. That’s why we have apps, free and paid ones, that does a great job in finding what’s causing an issue or thwarting your Mac’s performance. Today, we will look at a free, and probably one of the best, troubleshooting utility for Mac OS X.

Developed by an Apple engineer, Consultant Canary is a python script that swiftly runs on your Mac machine to reveal a pile of information. It shows your Mac’s hardware and OS details, then the number of plugins installed on all the programs.

From login items to Address Book plugins or Safari Plugins that are installed on your Mac will be displayed in your Mac’s Terminal.

Download Consultant Canary [Works on 10.8 Mountain Lion]

Using Consultant Canary requires no special setup. Once you have downloaded Consultant Canary, extract it and launch the program — this will automatically launch Terminal and a python script will scan your Mac for plugins and extensions.

Consultant Canary will not remove any of the plugins or extensions — it just shows what’s installed on your machine, and the rest of the task is on your shoulder. Along with Consultant Canary, you can also use utilities like iBoostup to optimize your Mac’s performance.

Related: Guide to Speed Up Your Mac’s Performance