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Slow user switching

Fast-user switching has become slow (15s freeze) since I moved to Catalina.


I frequently switch between 2 user accounts. Switching under Mojave was reasonably fast. But under Catalina, the machine freezes literally for about 15 seconds. With either the color wheel spinning, or the spinning gear freezing (if the login screen is displayed).


I have a mid-2018 MacBook Pro 13" with 4 cores, so the age of the computer should not be the issue.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 3:40 PM

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127 replies

Nov 13, 2019 8:36 PM in response to VKME

Default scaling here on my 2017 iMac 27 running 10.15.1. Still take at least 20 seconds to switch users.


Just a side note; I spent years trouble shooting Mac issues before I retired. I had a secretary who was complaining of constant headaches when using her Mac (she thought the monitor was defective). When I checked she had scaled the resolution to make the text larger in the finder and in her word processor. Everything was just slightly blurry. Anyone who knows eyes knows that when the eye cannot resolve focus, it keeps trying. This results in massive tension headaches in the user. It is good practice to always use a monitor at its default resolution. That is what the manufacturer designed it to work at and give best performance. If you need to scale the text, use other means such as changing the zoom level in a word processor or spreadsheet. In the finder just go to preferences and set the text size to your liking.

Dec 3, 2019 12:27 AM in response to jmow

Same here, but it's not just user switching. All these functions are noticeably and PAINFULLY slow now since Catalina :


  • waking from sleep
  • opening PDFs
  • opening any MS Office programme
  • opening any MS Office document
  • animated dock - jittery, launching an app from the doc pauses / stretches the animation
  • launching the date / calendar from top right corner


I could go on. Catalina has completely ****ed my Mac, which I have been using completely painlessly for 3 years. There are days now I want to throw it out the window and go back to, well....Windows


OS Catalina 10.15.1 running on 3.4GHz Quad-core 16GB 21.5" Retina iMac

Dec 3, 2019 11:04 AM in response to Eugene-8

Definitely. I've tried to boot up in Safe Mode (hold Shift on reboot until login screen appears, keyboard is attached with USB, did not check with Bluetooth one). So what can I say - user switching experience is like from good old times. In a blink of an eye (iMac 27'' 2017). Hardware is not the reason. Safe Mode does not draw translucent menu bar, dock and other eye-candies. Maybe this is the reason. Someone upper on thread have noticed the abnormal WindowServer CPU usage. I guess this is it. Applying visual effects to desktop is broken. That's my opinion.

Dec 3, 2019 11:59 AM in response to jmow

Im so hacked off with the damage Catalina has done to my Mac, I check the System Preferences 'Software Update" every day, and every day it tells me my Mac is up to date with 10.5.1. So 10.5.2 must still be beta


Release it Apple!! I'm so sick of the sight of that stupid little rainbow wheel of doom





[Edited by Moderator]

Slow user switching

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