Instructions: what to do if the Mac is crazy

If your Apple Mac is causing problems and spinning around, there can be several reasons. If the finder is too slow or if the colorful beach ball keeps popping up, this can be due to an overfilled system memory, among other things. Quite often I get queries from readers describing very strange behavior on their Macs. That's why I created this post to collect a few troubleshooting tips.

Your Mac is crazy and is getting really slow? You don't know what is slowing down macOS and what the colorful beach ball is annoying? Maybe I can help you with your Apple Mac problems!

Irregular problems with the Apple Mac

In the respective inquiries about problems with the Apple Mac, iMac or MacBook I read again and again about the same bitches that the computer makes. Often the corresponding behavior shows no regularity, so that recording, re-enactment or precise explanation of the Mac problem is difficult.

Here is just a small selection that shows you what can happen:

• The finder is extremely slow
• The finder hangs himself
• The colorful beach ball comes at regular intervals and slows everything down
• The Mac crashes with no rule to be seen
• Every few minutes, Apple Mail drains over 100% CPU power

Solutions that anyone can do

Often times, these and other problems with the Mac, macOS and individual programs can be solved with a few simple steps. I would recommend the following steps for a slow / buggy system:

1. Boot Mac in Safe Mode and check whether the problems arise there
2. Boot the Mac with a newly created user and see if the problems arise there
3. Clear PRAM and perform SMC reset and then test again

Contact for more Mac help

Should you find any other issues, such as that the Mac does not wake up from sleep, or if the steps outlined above do not help, please contact me - for example via the Contact Form. Please describe the problem as precisely as possible. You can also use the search text field (on the right side of this page) to find additional help articles and instructions. Sometimes there are simple solutions to problems. Every now and then you need to reinstall OS X or macOS. If you need help on the Mac, let me know;)

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Jens Kleinholz( Founder & Sir Apfelot )

Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He appears as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with problems of a technical nature. In his free time he drives electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with his iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions for current bugs.