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How to Stop Your Mac from Freezing Up

This wikiHow teaches you how to prevent your Mac computer from freezing and displaying the rotating color wheel. While there are some steps you can take to fix a currently frozen Mac, outright prevention is the best solution. Refrain from...
Method 1 of 5:

Preventing Freezing

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    Refrain from running more than a few programs at once. While Macs are renowned for their multitasking abilities, any computer will slow down if you have several programs running at once, particularly if they are high-usage programs like video-editing software.
    1. The same goes for tabs and windows in browsers.
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    Note programs that cause freezes. Not only will corrupted files, documents, or programs can cause your Mac to freeze or crash, they will do so consistently. If you notice that opening a certain program, file, or document causes your Mac to freeze, delete it or move it off of your Mac (e.g., to an external hard drive).
    1. You can force-quit unresponsive programs once you've determined that they cause freezes to return your Mac to its normal state.
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    Empty the trash. Files that you delete go straight to the Trash Can where they will remain until you delete them again, meaning they still take up space. To empty the Trash Can:
    1. Click the Trash Can app in your Mac's Dock.
    2. Click Empty Trash... in the pop-up menu.
    3. Click Empty Trash when prompted.
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    Make sure your apps are up-to-date. Out-of-date apps can cause any device to freeze, be it a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, or a smart TV. You can update Mac apps in the App Store, while third-party apps or programs must be updated by going to the app's webpage and downloading the most recent version.
    1. Most programs will alert you upon being opened if there is an update available.
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    Use Safe Mode. Safe Mode will run diagnostic checks on your hard drive and folder structure, and will only load the files necessary for your computer to start. This is helpful if your Mac is freezing on startup.[1]
    1. You can update your Mac from Safe Mode, which may fix your freezing problems if your Mac is using an unsupported version of OS X.
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    Wipe your Mac's files. If all else fails and you simply cannot get your computer to stop freezing, you may need to wipe your drive. You will lose all of the data on your hard disk, so be sure to save everything you need to an external drive or upload it to the cloud.
    1. Make sure you try everything else in this article before you even consider wiping your drive.
    2. You can install the latest version of MacOS on your Mac after wiping the drive.
Method 2 of 5:

Updating Your Mac

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    Open the Apple Menu
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    . Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
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    Click About This Mac. It's an option at the top of the drop-down menu.
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    Click the Overview tab. This tab is in the upper-left corner of the window.
    1. The About This Mac window loads to the Overview tab by default.
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    Click Software Update…. It's in the lower-right side of the Overview window. Doing so will check for updates.
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    Wait for the update(s) to install. If there are updates available for your Mac, they will install, or you will be prompted to upgrade your operating system.
Method 3 of 5:

Finding and Deleting Excess Files

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    Open the Apple menu
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    . Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
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    Click About This Mac. It's at the top of the drop-down menu.
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    Click the Storage tab. This tab is at the top of the About This Mac window.
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    Click Manage…. It's on the right side of the Storage window.
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    Review your current storage. In the left-hand pane of the storage window, you'll see a list of different types of file types (e.g., Applications, Documents, Photos, etc.) as well as a number to the right of the file type that indicates how much space is being used by those files.
    1. For example, you might see here that you have 40 gigabytes of applications here. On a 250 gigabyte hard drive, that's a lot of space.
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    Select a file type. Click one of the headings in the left-hand column to view a list of its files.
    1. For example, you would click Applications to view a list of currently installed applications.
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    Delete items you don't need. Select a file or application you no longer use by clicking it once, then click the Edit menu item and click Delete in the drop-down menu. Repeat for as many files, folders, and programs as needed.
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    Empty the trash. Click the Trash Can icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, then click Empty Trash... in the pop-up menu. Click Empty Trash when prompted to permanently rid your Mac of your deleted files.
Method 4 of 5:

Checking for Hard Drive Errors

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    Restart your Mac. Click the Apple logo
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    in the top-left corner of the screen, click Restart... in the drop-down menu, and click Restart when prompted.
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    Hold down ⌘ Command+R. Hold these keys down immediately after hearing the Apple start-up sound.
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    Release the ⌘ Command+R keys when you see the Apple logo. You'll see a recovery window appear.
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    Select Disk Utility. It's a hard drive-shaped icon near the bottom of the window.
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    Click Continue. You'll see this in the bottom-right corner of the window.
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    Select your Mac's hard drive. It's in the upper-left corner of the page, just below the "Internal" heading.
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    Click First Aid. This tab is at the top of the window.
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    Click Run when prompted. Doing so will prompt Disk Utility to begin looking for errors on your hard drive.
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    Wait for the disk errors to be repaired. Once you see the Done button appear, click it to restart your Mac.
    1. If there are several errors unresolved, restart and run Disk Utility again. If you run Disk Utility more than four times and errors still remain, take your Mac into a professional repair service.
Method 5 of 5:

Force-Quitting Unresponsive Apps

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    Open the Apple Menu
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    . Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
    1. If you can't use your mouse, skip to substep below the last step in this section.
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    Click Force Quit…. It's in the middle of the drop-down menu. This will open the Force Quit Applications window.
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    Select the unresponsive app. Click the app that you suspect is causing your Mac to lag or freeze.
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    Click Force Quit. It's in the bottom-right corner of the Force Quit Applications window.
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    Click Force Quit when prompted. This will quit the app. If your Mac resumes running like normal, the app in question was the problem. You can usually fix this problem by uninstalling the program and then reinstalling it.
    1. If this doesn't work, press the ⌘ Command, ⇧ Shift, ⌥ Option, and Esc keys down for three seconds to force the currently open app to quit.
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