If that doesn't work, then your only choice is to force a restart of the Mac. See: ' Frozen: How to Force the Restart of a Mac. If you suspect some other app, you can try this to bring up the OS X. To be able to enable TRIM on non-Apple SSD volumes with the trimforce command, the Mac will need a third party SSD, and to be running either OS X El Capitan 10.11.x or OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 or later versions, the command does not exist in prior releases of OS X (though earlier versions of OS X can use the third party TRIM Enabler utility). Steps to reproduce: Have ESO open, not in full screen window mode because that's still broken, but in window mode. Open an application that needs permissions to the accessibility area and add the new application. Return to ESO, you will find that the application is spinning as soon as it's focused.
Known as spinning color wheel, Spinning Pinwheel, Rainbow Wheel, or Spinning Beach Ball, in reality, is just a wait cursor that Mac displays when it is busy with some internal operations.
The quick and easy way to stop the spinning color wheel is to close the unresponsive app. Click on Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen and select 'Force Quit…'. In the Force Quit Applications window select the unresponsive application and click on 'Force Quit' button.
This way, you will force quit (Apple's name for terminate) the hung app. Unfortunately, this is not the best way to deal with the problem, and it's not suggested if you want to stop a spinning wheel on Mac without losing work.
If the issue is happening too often I suggest to investigate the root cause and fix the underlying problem.
Following are eight possible solutions to get rid off spinning wheel once and for all:
Check Mac for Viruses
There is a common myth that Macs don't get viruses, but this is not true. Macs can get viruses and malware, so having an antivirus installed is always a good idea.
If your Mac gets a virus, the latter can impact the computer performance in various ways: use too much CPU and internet and deprive other apps of resources, cause instability in running apps and freeze Mac.
And it's not just my opinion. Last year, when I had issues with my old MacBook, I decided to call Apple support and see if they could help. The first thing the Apple tech made me do is to install and run Malwarebytes for Mac.
But even if you don't think you got a virus, it never hurts to run a malware check just to be safe.
Upgrade Mac By Adding More Memory (RAM)
If the Mac freezes too often, then it is likely that the computer does not have enough hardware resources. The Mac experiences so-called hardware pressure.
There are three main variations of hardware pressure: CPU, Disk, and memory (RAM).
It's easy to know if your Mac is experiencing memory pressure.
Start Activity Monitor by doing one of the following:
- Open Finder. Go to Applications and then to Utilities folder. Find Activity Monitor and start it.
- Start Spotlight Search by pressing Command and Space. In the search window type in Activity Monitor and hit Enter.
In Activity Monitor application, click on the Memory tab. Hover over the Memory Pressure box at the bottom of the app screen.
According to Apple, 'memory pressure is indicator of system's ability to meet the memory requirements' and higher memory pressure indicates the system performance may degrade.
On the screenshot below that was taken from my laptop, you can see that currently, only half of the available physical memory is being used: 3.9GB from available 8GB.
The box on the screenshot is green, which means there is no memory pressure on my MacBook. In the case of memory pressure, the box will turn red.
If there is no sufficient memory for my applications, for instance, I was using a memory hungry app, such as a video editing tool, then the computer would start swapping data from RAM to the hard drive.
Since the hard drive is significantly (50-500 times) slower than RAM, all operations will slow down and cause waits and frequent spinning wheels.
Additionally, all disk activities will also be affected because the hard drive has to provide support for memory functions, which cause further performance issues.
Unfortunately, this solution is not always possible. For the last several years, most MacBooks had their RAM soldered, which means you cannot extend the memory.
The only time when the upgrade is possible during purchase. I found a link that lists MacBook models that can be upgraded for a fee. To be clear, I am not suggesting to use their services, just use it as a tool to find upgrade eligibility.
Clean Disk Storage and Uninstall Unnecessary Apps
But even if you don't think you got a virus, it never hurts to run a malware check just to be safe.
Upgrade Mac By Adding More Memory (RAM)
If the Mac freezes too often, then it is likely that the computer does not have enough hardware resources. The Mac experiences so-called hardware pressure.
There are three main variations of hardware pressure: CPU, Disk, and memory (RAM).
It's easy to know if your Mac is experiencing memory pressure.
Start Activity Monitor by doing one of the following:
- Open Finder. Go to Applications and then to Utilities folder. Find Activity Monitor and start it.
- Start Spotlight Search by pressing Command and Space. In the search window type in Activity Monitor and hit Enter.
In Activity Monitor application, click on the Memory tab. Hover over the Memory Pressure box at the bottom of the app screen.
According to Apple, 'memory pressure is indicator of system's ability to meet the memory requirements' and higher memory pressure indicates the system performance may degrade.
On the screenshot below that was taken from my laptop, you can see that currently, only half of the available physical memory is being used: 3.9GB from available 8GB.
The box on the screenshot is green, which means there is no memory pressure on my MacBook. In the case of memory pressure, the box will turn red.
If there is no sufficient memory for my applications, for instance, I was using a memory hungry app, such as a video editing tool, then the computer would start swapping data from RAM to the hard drive.
Since the hard drive is significantly (50-500 times) slower than RAM, all operations will slow down and cause waits and frequent spinning wheels.
Additionally, all disk activities will also be affected because the hard drive has to provide support for memory functions, which cause further performance issues.
Unfortunately, this solution is not always possible. For the last several years, most MacBooks had their RAM soldered, which means you cannot extend the memory.
The only time when the upgrade is possible during purchase. I found a link that lists MacBook models that can be upgraded for a fee. To be clear, I am not suggesting to use their services, just use it as a tool to find upgrade eligibility.
Clean Disk Storage and Uninstall Unnecessary Apps
Less disk space available for memory means more frequent swapping. As a result, the computer will run even slower.
Additionally, a disk is required for other applications to store their temporary files, and a lack of space may cause application crashes.
So, the following are the tips to improved the disk usage.
Clean the primary storage periodically
As a rule of thumb, keep at least 10% or better 20% of the startup disk (the main Mac Drive) empty. This free space on startup drive is needed for memory swapping discussed above.
It is possible to clean the disk storage without any software. If you are interested in DIY option, I have a post on this topic.
Another option is to use cleaning applications. There are many of them, e.g. CleanMyMac and MacKeeper.
Uninstall apps you don't need anymore
When you have a computer for a while, you naturally keep installing new applications. Very often, we forget about those and do not really need them anymore.
Unfortunately, they may still be running on the background and sucking up the CPU and memory. For instance, some people like to install different messaging tools starting with Skype and ending with Google Hangouts.
All these apps like to run on the background so they can notify you in case the new message has come.
But if you don't need some of those tools, it's a good idea to uninstall them to free up disk space, CPU, and memory resources.
In macOS, there is no standard uninstall procedure like in Windows. You simply move the app to the trash, and you're done.
The problem with this approach is that the deleted program may have left some undeleted files on the disk. Some apps make sure that other apps are getting uninstalled correctly. Again, either CleanMyMac or AppCleaner could help you with that.
Reindex Spotlight Search
Spotlight Search is a wonderful tool that allows you to start an application without thinking where it is located. This speed, however, comes with a little downside.
In order to perform its function, the Spotlight Search needs to update its database continually, and it does it in the background.
To check if the Spotlight Search is a culprit of wheel-spinning start Activity Monitor and check for processes named mds, mdworker, and mdimport.
If one of the processes is consistently consuming a lot of CPU you may switch it off for specific drives or folders.
Run Apple Diagnostics Test
MacBooks and other Apple computers last a very long time compared to other brands. But even they become less efficient over time, especially the ones that had moving parts (HDDs instead of SSDs).
And broken or intermittently failing parts can cause a spinning wheel waits when the application is trying to communicate.
For instance, if the disk has bad sectors, then any app which tries to read data from it, will be stuck for a long time waiting for a response. Eventually, the app will either crash or hang up.
Every Mac comes with free built-in hardware diagnostics test.
To run it follow these steps:
- Reboot the Mac
- While Mac is booting push and hold D key until you see a progress bar
- After progress bar pick the language from the list
- Hit Enter (Return) key
- Choose a Test to run
Turn Off Energy Saving Settings
Mac allows setting energy-saving parameters, and it is possible that you have changed those settings a while and completely forgot about them. However, there is a setting that puts hard disk to sleep and, as a result, causes a wait (and spinning wheel).
To check the settings, open Energy Saver settings by doing one of the following:
- Click on the Apple logo in the menu bar in the top left screen and in a list that drops down click on System Parameters option. Then find and open the Energy Saver folder, which is represented with a light bulb icon.
- Spotlight Search by pressing Command and Space. In the search window type in Energy Saver and hit Enter.
There is a setting called Put hard disks to sleep when possible in both Battery and Power Adapter modes. Uncheck that setting and prevent hard disk falling to sleep unexpectedly.
Replace Safari With Another Browser
One of the applications that routinely gets hung up on a color wheel is Safari.
Web browsers run HTML and Javascript from different web sites, and those scripts are not always best. Some browsers deal with imperfections in JavaScript better than others.
If Safari is an application that gets stuck with a spinning wheel, try a different browser like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Also, check Safari for possible adware.
Some users report that by simply switching from one browser to another, they get rid of spinning wheels for a long time.
Enable Software Updates
macOS is built by programmers, and even best programmers introduce bugs. That's why it's a good idea to have auto-update turned on.
In case if it was turned on, your Mac tries to get the latest updates and see if they fix the problems.
To enable automatics updates, open System Preferences and tap on Software Update icon.
Make sure that 'Automatically keep my Mac up to date' option is enabled. Also click on 'Advanced' button and enable all options.
You can call it ‘spinning wheel,' you can call it ‘beach ball,' you can call it ‘wheel of death' or any other way you like. The thing is, whatever you name it, the result will be the same – a slower MacBook Pro or Air, iMac or Mac mini. A spinning wait cursor (an official name) can easily drive most of the users mad. Instead of breaking your Apple computer against the wall in rage, try to find out the main cause of the problem without losing your temper and then solve it ASAP.
For starters, we'll remind that spinning wheel stands for an app trying to cope with more operations than it can at a time. It usually happens to different browsers like Safari, Google Chrome, or Mozilla. It is not necessarily the fault of weak/slow Internet connection.
If you're lucky, you will observe the beachball for a minute or just several seconds. In other situations, it may show up over and over again. Sometimes, it gets endless so that a Mac owner has nothing else to do except for force quitting the hung app or restarting the device. Of course, the entire data is lost this way. That is why a spinning wheel is also dangerous in addition to being matchlessly irritating. In any case, a beach ball on your screen means that the software is closing the processing tasks to free up space and memory for the new commands. When the application becomes fully unresponsive, it hangs, making the user worried or sleepy. It depends on how urgent the tasks are.
Spinning Artillery Mac Os Pro
Both Apple native utilities and third-party cleaners provide Mac maintenance. Basically, keeping your Mac clean and healthy is the only sure-fire way to get rid of the Spinning Beach Ball of Death (SBBOD). Many Mac owners treat it as the cause of some larger problem. But it is not actually true. The beach ball is a symptom of the 'disease,' and you should know the primary cause(s) to fix it properly and on time.
Purchasing a new machine is the measure of last resort. A user may need it once the processor is dead, but it's not the case with the beach ball.
There are plenty of reasons why Mac slows down, and its owner starts seeing the annoying spinning wheel of death on its screen – e.g., a huge number of startup items, resource-hungry apps running in the background or filled hard drive. Of course, some users can spend some money on new RAM or SSD, but what about people who do not want to start with extra expenses?
In the next section, take a closer look at the possible ways to fix problems associated with the beach ball.
First and Foremost Steps to Get Rid of the Spinning Color Wheel Issue
Are you stuck on Apple logo and spinning wheel? Both Mac OS X and macOS can experience problems associated with the rainbow-colored pinwheel/circle. Below you can find a list of the possible ways to fix problems that could lead to the never-ending turning spinning beach ball on your screen.
Method #1: Uninstall useless apps and extensions
You can do that by simply dragging and dropping them to Trash. Preferably, you also should clear out app-related stuff that may stay on your Mac even after you remove unneeded software. Usually, it lurks in the Library folder and contains the name or the acronym of the app or its developer in the title.
To speed up the process, you can make use of specially designed cleaning apps that will do the job in your place.
Method #2: Free up some disk space
Many ways to free up the disk space on Mac exist. With the help of Activity Monitor, search for the largest and outdated files on your Apple computer. You may also look for the duplicates with the help of the third-party cleaner of your choice. Other types of junk include temporary files, login items, startup items, cache, cookies, downloads, etc.
Method #3: Re-index Spotlight
Spotlight is something that allows searching for the files you store on your Mac. The utility creates and maintains the index. Sometimes, it appears to be corrupted. Thus, take the recommended steps to fix it:
Spinning Artillery Mac Os Download
- Select Apple menu and go to System Preferences. There you will find Spotlight.
- Pick the Privacy tab.
- Drag the target item you wish to index once more to the locations list that Spotlight cannot research. An alternative is to select a plus button and pick the desired folder/disk.
- From this list, pick the folder/disk you have added recently. After that, push the minus button to replace it.
- Shut down System Preferences. The spotlight will re-index the contents of the folder/disk.
Setting up a third-party cleaner might be an excellent solution for those who do not possess enough skills and experience to erase useless files or choose extra RAM/SSD/HDD. Working with utilities like Terminal may be risky for the newbies, so it is better to decide on the special cleaning tool.
However, if you decide to buy extra RAM, be ready that only advanced users can install it properly. Otherwise, you'd better contact an Apple Store or an authorized service center to have RAM installed.
As far as Safari is the most popular browser among Mac owners being set by default, it would be useful to dedicate a separate block to solving the problem with its spinning wheel. After the upgrade to macOS Sierra or High Sierra, you may notice that the browser is hanging up too often. There is nothing left except for the Force Quit option.
Force Quit is not the best decision as the browser may finally fail. A smarter way out is to follow this step-by-step instruction for Mac users to test Safari's work and fix the issue.
- Start with erasing caches.
- Shut down all windows and stop the apps.
- Push the Option key and pick Go in the Finder application.
- From the drop-down menu, choose Library. Go to Library → Caches →apple.Safari
- Right-click the com.apple.Safari and choose Move to Trash.
- Shut down the windows. Restart Safari.
- Eliminate com.apple.Safari.plist.
- Start with the backup with the help of TimeMachine, iCloud, or other available options.
- Pick Empty Trash.
- Stop all apps.
- Push the Option button and select Go in Finder window.
- Pick Library form the offered menu.
- Move this way: Library → Preferences →apple.Safari.plist
- Right-click and choose Move to Trash.
- Reboot the computer and restart the target browser. Pick Start Using Safari link.
- In case this method proves ineffective, restore com.apple.Safari.plist from Trash. To do so, take the following steps:
- Right-click the Trash icon in the Dock. Choose Open.
- Right-click the com.apple.Safari.plist and pick Put Back.
- Select Replace.
- In case your preferred browser rejects loading a page/website or its items are not available, read Apple's troubleshooting guides for Safari here and here.
We hope, this article will help you resolve your issues, and you will be seeing the rainbow-colored ball on a sunny beach but not on the screen of your Mac!
