Applications not responding on iMac

[Michael McQuillan]

Hello,

I have a mid 2010 IMac with a 3.2 i3 and 12gb ram running El Capitan. This computer is used everyday and has always ran without issue. However, about a week ago I started having to force quit applications due to the beachball. They will work for a little while then freeze. When I force quite I see that the programs are “not responding” There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to which programs are the issue as it is sporadic and happening to many I use. So far I’ve had to force quit all programs in the Office suite, Safari, mail, calendar, firefox, chrome, etc. Seems like everything I use I eventually have to force quite. Sometimes I can restart the program right away, other times I have to restart the computer to regain functionality. This has never happened before.


I have tried running disk utility (many times) I ran malwarebytes, uninstalled Chrome and reinstalled it, deleted old applications I no longer use, deleted all browsing history and cache & cookies and nothing seems to work. Issue remains. I was thinking about restoring my computer from my time machine back up but am thinking that the issue would just be reinstalled with back up.


Any help suggestions would be very much appreciated.


Thanks,

Mike

 

[honestone]

It sounds like your internal drive could be going bad. Have you ever done any disk maintenance on the drive? Disk Utility of OK for that, but either Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro is much better.

 

[Michael McQuillan]

It sounds like your internal drive could be going bad. Have you ever done any disk maintenance on the drive? Disk Utility of OK for that, but either Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro is much better.

Hi, thanks for the quick feedback. I have never heard of a hard drive creating such an issue. I assumed it was a software thing, not hardware. BUT, i'm a novice so i'll try anything. I looked up those two programs. Do you have any suggestions for a free version?

 

[honestone]

If you have done little or no disk maintenance/repairs (via software), the drive can become problematic. Remember, they are mechanical devices, just like automobiles, and require periodic maintenance.

Neither of those excellent programs come in a free version. What you can do is the following:

1. Clean off any unnecessary stuff from your machine.

2. Download, install, and run the excellent freeware program Onyx. You can get it from here:

http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

Since you are using El Capitan, make sure to get the correct version, V3.1.3.

You should execute as many of its useful tasks as possible, especially the one for Repairing Permissions. And, most likely, you will need to run Repair Permissions at least twice.

3. Boot to the Recovery HD partition, and run Disk Utility form there. This link discusses how to boot to that partition, and what is on it:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

When you launch Disk Utility from there, you should 1) Verify and Repair the disk at the Volume level (ie, top) level, and 2) Verify and Repair the disk at the Partition level (ie, second level).

One other thing, are you using the latest version of El Capitan, V10.11.2? If you are not, you can get the Combo Updater from here to get to V10.11.2:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1850?locale=en_US

Oops, forgot something else. For Office 2011, Version 14.5.8 is compatible with El Capitan. And, Version 14.5.9 came out last month. You can get V14.5.9 from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50361

Hopefully, all of that will help resolve your issues. And, whether you can use the current drive or get a new one, it would be a good idea to perform periodic disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. And, with that, you should invest in a program like Disk Warrior (expensive, but excellent at what it does), or TechTool Pro (another excellent choice, and cost less than Disk Warrior). I have both of them, but I run Onyx and TechTool Pro on both of my Macs every week (along with doing constant cleanup/other cleanup chores), and my Macs run smoothly. (By the way, do you use Outlook? If you do, there is a way to permanently get rid off all the EMails you delete via Outlook. I apply that process once a week also).

 

[Michael McQuillan]

If you have done little or no disk maintenance/repairs (via software), the drive can become problematic. Remember, they are mechanical devices, just like automobiles, and require periodic maintenance.

Neither of those excellent programs come in a free version. What you can do is the following:

1. Clean off any unnecessary stuff from your machine.

2. Download, install, and run the excellent freeware program Onyx. You can get it from here:

http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

Since you are using El Capitan, make sure to get the correct version, V3.1.3.

You should execute as many of its useful tasks as possible, especially the one for Repairing Permissions. And, most likely, you will need to run Repair Permissions at least twice.

3. Boot to the Recovery HD partition, and run Disk Utility form there. This link discusses how to boot to that partition, and what is on it:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

When you launch Disk Utility from there, you should 1) Verify and Repair the disk at the Volume level (ie, top) level, and 2) Verify and Repair the disk at the Partition level (ie, second level).

One other thing, are you using the latest version of El Capitan, V10.11.2? If you are not, you can get the Combo Updater from here to get to V10.11.2:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1850?locale=en_US

Oops, forgot something else. For Office 2011, Version 14.5.8 is compatible with El Capitan. And, Version 14.5.9 came out last month. You can get V14.5.9 from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50361

Hopefully, all of that will help resolve your issues. And, whether you can use the current drive or get a new one, it would be a good idea to perform periodic disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. And, with that, you should invest in a program like Disk Warrior (expensive, but excellent at what it does), or TechTool Pro (another excellent choice, and cost less than Disk Warrior). I have both of them, but I run Onyx and TechTool Pro on both of my Macs every week (along with doing constant cleanup/other cleanup chores), and my Macs run smoothly. (By the way, do you use Outlook? If you do, there is a way to permanently get rid off all the EMails you delete via Outlook. I apply that process once a week also).

Thanks again for the info. I tried everything you suggested. I did everything in Onyx except rewrite the hard drive to 0s. I may do that if nothing else works! My Disk Utility doesn’t look as described any longer. It used to, before El Caption, but now just has a first aid button. I ran the first aid button few times just to be sure and my Office suite is at version 14.6 so I should be good there.

I’ll let you know what happens!!
All the Best,

Mike

 

[honestone]

Thanks again for the info. I tried everything you suggested. I did everything in Onyx except rewrite the hard drive to 0s. I may do that if nothing else works! My Disk Utility doesn’t look as described any longer. It used to, before El Caption, but now just has a first aid button. I ran the first aid button few times just to be sure and my Office suite is at version 14.6 so I should be good there.

I’ll let you know what happens!!
All the Best,

Mike

I just booted to the Recovery Partition, and yes, it says First Aid. But, that function (I believe) will Verify and Repair both at the Volume and Partition Levels. (I did not run it, as I use TechTool Pro for disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs (along with Onyx).

Not sure what else to suggest. Thanks for the info about V14.6 of Office 2011. I just downloaded it and upgraded my Office 2011 suite to V14.6 on my Mac Book Air. Works flawlessly.