The slowness is caused by the CPU being overloaded. The iostat command shows that the CPU utilization is
100%, which means that there are more processes competing for CPU time than the CPU can handle. The other options are incorrect because:
* The system is not running out of swap space, as shown by the iostat command, which shows that there is no swap activity (si and so columns are zero).
* The memory is not exhausted, as shown by the free -m command, which shows that there is still available memory (avail column) and free buffer/cache memory (buff/cache column).
* The processes are not paging, as shown by the vmstat command, which shows that there are no major page faults (majflt column) and no swap activity (si and so columns). References: CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide, Fourth Edition, page 417-419, 424-425.