Are you faced with an unstable macOS experience? At least once, it’s happened to the best of us. However, if your Mac is constantly slow, freezing, or unresponsive, it definitely needs troubleshooting. In this post, we shed light on the causes behind a slow and freezing Mac, including steps to fix it.
Let’s start from the beginning: Why do Macs slow down and freeze? The causes vary, ranging from lack of storage and abundance of active processes to faulty browsers and software.
Let’s see what you can do to fix those issues.
Expand storage.
Due to the lack of available space, your Mac can become sluggish. Thus, you can start troubleshooting this issue by checking the disk space status: Go to the Apple logo in the menu bar – About this Mac – Storage, where you’ll find out how much space is available on your disk. If you see that the storage is almost filled up, it’s strongly advised to clear some space on your disk. You can do it using Mac’s native tools under the Manage button in the Storage tab.
Speed up your browser.
Troubleshooting a slow browser takes several steps. For one, you should figure out what’s causing the slowdown. Let’s say you ran into a problem using Google Chrome as a default browser, try switching to another one, for example, Safari, and see if the problem persists. If the problem appears to be with Chrome, use the following methods to bring it back to speed:
- Clear the browser cache;
- Disable or remove browser extensions;
- Update your browser;
- Reinstall the browser if the above steps have been inefficient.
Assuming all your browsers are working slowly, it’s best to run a network check. You can check your Wi-Fi by clicking the Option button and holding down the Wi-Fi icon simultaneously. That will generate a report that you can download and show to your provider’s support representative.
Fix a crashing application.
Many things can cause an app to stop in its tracks. The most unpleasant thing about freezing apps is that they may affect the entire system. If an app like this comes your way, quit it by right-clicking its icon in the Dock. Sometimes, an app won’t close that easily, so you can use the Force Quit option for those instances. That will close the app, and you can relaunch it to see if it’s been fixed. If not, it’s a good idea to delete and reinstall it from scratch.
Troubleshoot an unresponsive macOS.
Generally, macOS is a reliable operating system, but a tiny error can sometimes bring it to a halt. Your first thought can be that an app or document you worked with recently caused macOS to crash, so try to close and relaunch it. If macOS responds well to that action, you can continue working with that file or app. Assuming that your operating system still behaves oddly, then that file or app is the likely problem here. The best way to fix it is to quit and reinstall it from the group up.
Sometimes macOS won’t let you close a file or app, and the only way to fix that is to restart your Mac. You can do it by pressing and holding down the power button and then choosing Shut Down. If your Mac doesn’t restart after that, you’ll have to go with the emergency quit option by pressing Command + Control + Power at the same time.
A good practice is to keep your operating system current, which prevents many issues, including freezing macOS. If you ran into a problem, update macOS to the recent version by going to the Apple menu in the menu bar – About this Mac – Software update. Then, install the most recent macOS version.
Accelerate a slow startup.
When you start your Mac, you also launch many processes that keep running latently as you continue using your Mac. Those processes may slow your Mac down, but don’t worry. You can fix it using a simple method, such as startup items management, which will take a lot of pressure off your Mac. Here’s how you can do it:
- Go to the Apple menu in the menu bar and open System Preferences – Users & Groups;
- Choose your username in the left sidebar;
- Switch to the Login Items bar;
- Review the list of your login items and “minus” the apps you don’t need to launch upon startup;
- That’s all! The apps you chose will be dormant until you need them.
So, this is how you fix a slow and freezing Mac. Note that if the problem doesn’t vanish after you’ve taken the above steps, be well advised to contact Apple Support for expert help.
