beachball

I do't see any of the usual suspects. The only thing I did find in your report is that the heard drive is very, very slow and may be failing. It's read and write speeds are only:

  Write speed: 57 MB/s

  Read speed: 52 MB/s

If you were to get an external SSD your read and write speeds could be around

  Write speed: 460 MB/s

  Read speed: 500 MB/s

If you're considering getting an external SSD I recommend you contact OWC (MacSales.com) Customer Support to see what they recommend from their many options what unit might be best for your particular iMac, workflow and budget.

Here's one thing you can try right away: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

Isn't not guaranteed to fix your problem but can help a bit with improving system and application performance.

Okay, the only things that jump out to me would be:

1TB 5400 RPM Apple HDD is a low-end slow hard disk that Apple was selling in the 21.5" iMacs being sold mostly to schools in bulk. It was to reduce the overall cost of the iMac. Best I can tell, Apple no longer sells HDDs nor Fusion drives.

I would highly recommend upgrading the internal HDD to an SSD. It would result in the single most performance boost possible. Upwards of 20-50 times faster than the HDD. Adding some RAM by going to 16GB would also be worth it while the iMac disassembled.

However, doing so is going to require a professional that has experience opening an iMac and putting it back together without breaking it. That involves pulling the front glass by using suction cups and a breaking the seal around the glass. Then removing the glued gasket and the LCD panel to reach the system board behind. Then you can swap the drive and put things back including a new iMac gasket. This is a nerve wracking procedure even for skilled technicians so you want a shop that has done this previously more than once.

The other less serious issues are the DIVX software which has to do with playing older video formats rarely used. You can remove this software and install IINA which can play any video format. There's also Macaroni which is meant to run system maintenance tasks. Today's macOS Ventura will do this automatically and no need for the Macaroni software. The developers of Macaroni are no longer updating the software and you can remove it.

The previously posted crash dump logs for the kernel panic seem to be referencing a sparse disk image and that's most likely related to Time Machine backups. I would consider running Disk Utility to test the WD Passport drive with a First Aid scan.

There's a bunch of old printer drivers installed that are likely not being used. You may wish to find the HP and Epson removal tools to clean out the old stuff. Then for HP install the HP Smart utility from the App Store and it should support most all HP printers. Most printers that are networked will offer AirPrint which requires no drivers.

MalwareBytes isn't so much a problem but I usually don't leave it installed and if it's old you should consider removing it.

If it were me, I would ensure I had a good backup and I would create a Ventura bootable install drive. Then I would boot from that flash drive and erase the internal disk completely and then install Ventura 13.1 from scratch. Then restore just the user data from Time Machine and re-install only the necessary software.

The alternative is to consider buying a new M1 iMac 24" or wait for the M2 model to arrive. At this point the iMac is about 4 years old and that's about the time to consider a new system for most people. Every 4-5 years is typical in the corporate world. The performance difference between an M1 iMac 24" and this iMac is night and day. It's incredible even if you go with the cheapest model.

Please post the full Etrecheck report as follows:

Download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

Please go to System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Full Disk Access and add Etrecheck to have full disk access. Re-run Etrecheck and post the report using the Additional Text button in reply. We need to read the report to get the full details about your hardware and software to determine why you are seeing kernel panics and perhaps slow performance.

This is a kernel panic report for macOS 12.5.1 regarding a problem with a Sparse Disk Image file which could be a corrupted damaged Time Machine backup or other disk image you are mounting. This might indicate your Time Machine backup disk is having hardware problems.

This report indicates that you are still running macOS Monterey 12.5.1 you should consider upgrading to Monterey 12.6.2 and then subsequently Ventura 13.1 afterwards. There should be pending updates to Monterey 12.6.2 that you can install. I wouldn't upgrade to Ventura until you are fully up-to-date with Monterey.

Please reply with the Etrecheck scan report as well. You can install etrecheck from https://etrecheck.com and remember to grant it Full Disk Access or it won't provide all the necessary details.