Mac locking up for no reason

Most of us who've been around this forum for a few years have read a lot of etrecheck reports and supported a lot of people through problems. I haven't kept count of the number of times people have come here with similar problems and, after removing CMM, those problems disappear. However, it's been a very large number of people.

You went to the effort of asking for advice. That seems like wasted effort if you're not going to take it. Why don't you test it yourself? Uninstall it and see if it helps? If it doesn't help, re-install it.

Consider the possibility of a third party software conflict.  EtreCheck can be used to investigate what is installed.

CleanMyMac isn't even doing anything when the lockups occur.

It doesn't need to be if its attempt at "cleaning" has already damaged the OS or third party apps.

If all it cleaned were simple things like cache files and old logs, then I wouldn't have an issue with it. The problem is the app tries to do more than that in is attempt to recover as much disk space as possible. As mentioned, such apps are all known to remove files it shouldn't in that attempt.

With thousands of apps and the resulting millions of possible files they could collectively install, there's no way in this universe any engineer, or group of them could write an app so perfectly that it would always, 100% of the time, never remove files it shouldn't. It simply isn't possible to write an app that would recognize every possible file and know not to remove them.

Saying CMM can "damage the OS" is pure FUD.

Based on the hundreds of users here who have removed such apps, reinstalled the OS and then found themselves back to a correctly functioning computer, my comments are very far away from FUD.

You're not getting all of these comments from multiple, experienced members to remove such apps simply out of petty dislike. The many positive results of removing such apps speaks for itself.

But, believe what you want. It's your Mac to do with as you wish.

Mojave has some serious problems. One I've reported to both Adobe and Apple is folders being locked to the user using Mojave. And then, only (in what I've tested), when using the Adobe CC suite. This is a nasty one.

The issue is any device where you're sharing the same folder. That can be a server, or just a shared folder on a Mac multiple users are trying to work out of at the same time. We narrowed it down to specifically being in the same folder, and one of the Macs with that folder open is running Mojave. That person doesn't even have to have a file open. Simply opening the folder and having it be the active forefront folder on their desktop causes all files in that folder to be locked to the user running Mojave. It doesn't matter what version of macOS any other Mac is running. You instantly get messages that you cannot save your file.

When these write errors occur, you end up with hidden junk files that get left behind in the folder. Depending on how you connected to the server, either .afp.deletedxxxx or .smb.deletedxxxx files. The xxxx being a number. These can accumulate by the dozens rather quickly, eating up lots of server space as they're the same size as the image you were working on. Some will be removed by the server when you dismount. Others you have to get rid of manually.

We were able to prove that by having the person copy some files we were both working from to a dummy folder on the server. As long as the user running Mojave was in that folder, and I in another, we could work on and save files all day without a single write error.

Given the other person didn't even have a file open suggests (to me) that the Adobe apps aren't directly the issue, but rather something Mojave is doing. You can't even overwrite a same-named file from another Mac if a Mojave user has that folder open. Literally, just open. Not even having a file open in an app on the Mojave user's end. You'll get the standard question asking if you want to overwrite the file. You say Okay. And then, nothing happens. The file does not get copied and the old file is still there.

You either can't work off the server (if the files everyone needs to work on are in the same folder), or you work in separate folders.

With one person working on files in a folder from the Mac running Mojave, and myself in a different folder, we can do that all day without a single write error.

We also tested if both of us working in Mojave would stop the problem. Nope, it doesn't. Then each user locks the other out of the folder.

You can be in the same folder, but only if you're copying files out to your desktop or other folder to work on, then copy the completed files back and overwrite. Though even then, you can't always do something as simple as overwrite a file if a Mojave user has that same folder open.

What you can never do is open a file from any type of shared folder and try to work on it from there if anyone running Mojave so much as even just opens that same folder. That, plain and simple, should never happen.

Mojave is doing something seriously wrong in how it locks an entire folder to itself merely by opening it.

First thing to try is to completely eradicate CleanMyMac, which is a notorious troublemaker.

Call it hate, if you like.

CMM is well known to delete files that should be left alone, and cause many problems.

The first rule of keeping a mac working smoothly is not to install junk.

There is no need whatsoever to install anything to "clean" your mac.

Any program that claims to otherwise is starting from a false premise.

It is your mac, do as you wish. Maybe your problems were caused by something else, of course. My mac is not locking up.

I'm surprised no one suggested disabling Spotlight, which has caused endless headaches for people since its inception. I've disabled it by going to Spotlight prefs > Privacy, and dragging all my HDs to that list. We'll see if this clears things up.

Did you try removing CMM? It's far more likely to be the cause of your problem than Spotlight.

Never had any problems with Spotlight.

It isn't the footprint it takes up as the problem. It and pretty much any other "cleaning" app are known to remove files they shouldn't. Like those belonging to the OS. Or to a third party app you want installed, but the cleaning app thinks it's junk and removes some of its components. That leads to crashing for that app.

It's almost a given that if the user has run a cleaning app, you must both remove that app, followed by a reinstall of the OS to undo the damage. And that's only the OS. It's still a game to figure out what third party apps it damaged. You basically end up reinstalling everything.

The fact that there is malware doesn't mean that having some software package scanning your computer all the time is good or necessary. They generally cause more trouble than they prevent.

The Mac has built in protections that are very good. Make sure that you install MacOS updates as they become available. Follow the suggestions in the article I linked to.

A couple of times a year, I download the free version of Malwarebytes and run it. I haven't found anything for years. I haven't run anti-virus software on my computer since the aforementioned Norton catastrophe which rendered my computer inoperable for most of a day while I got rid of the "protection" software.

Sure, you can be totally careful about what you download and install, until someone is more clever than you.

And you can run AV software until the miscreants are more clever than the software. Being careful what you download doesn't interfere with the running of your computer.

I think there is a "share report" button, then you can copy and paste the result here using the "additional text" button in the editor window here

How do forum-goers feel about Bitdefender?

Also not necessary.

And what are some recommended apps to remove an app's related files? I hate just dragging apps to the trash can and leaving all their junk behind.

Follow the developer's instructions for un-installing. If the application needs more than just dropping it in the trash, the developer will usually have an uninstaller.

I've never used any kind of uninstaller in all the years I've owned a Mac (about twenty years). With the exception of the last time I ever installed anything from Norton on my computer, dragging things to the trash has worked just fine.

Don't install junk applications and there is much less likelihood of junk being left behind.