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User profile for user: lorie57
lorie57 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

After downloading Big Sur, open programs become repeatedly inactive during use

I recently downloaded Big Sur on my MacBook Air (2018). Now when I'm in the middle of using any program (Safari, Word, Mail, ZOOM, etc.), it becomes "inactive". I don't know how else to describe it. For example, I've been typing this question here in Safari and 12 times so far I've had to re-click in this text box to finish describing my problem. I'll be typing and suddenly the program isn't accepting my typing anymore. The menu bar shows I'm still in that program, but I have to re-click the box/document to continue working. It's annoying and VERY time-consuming. It's only started since downloading Big Sur. I've even slowed my typing down to make sure I'm not hitting another key. I'm not sure if it is an update problem, or something worse! Has anyone else experienced these types of problems? Any help would be appreciated!!

MacBook

Posted on Dec 6, 2020 6:17 AM

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User profile for user: TheLittles
TheLittles
User level: Level 10
195,711 points

Posted on Dec 6, 2020 3:33 PM

lorie57 Said:

"After downloading Big Sur, open programs become repeatedly inactive during use"

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Create a New User:

See what happens when you create a new Administrator User? Do you still get this error? If so, then it is a misconfiguration in the current user. If not, then you may need to reset something.


Safe Mode:

Boo into Safe Mode, wait 30 seconds once logged in, shutdown the Mac, and then log in as normal. In Safe Mode, login items do not run, and corrupt system files(caches) are fixed. So, see if that fixes this. To boot into Safe Mode, hold down the shift key upon boot.

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User profile for user: TheLittles
TheLittles
User level: Level 10
195,711 points

Dec 6, 2020 3:33 PM in response to lorie57

lorie57 Said:

"After downloading Big Sur, open programs become repeatedly inactive during use"

-------


Create a New User:

See what happens when you create a new Administrator User? Do you still get this error? If so, then it is a misconfiguration in the current user. If not, then you may need to reset something.


Safe Mode:

Boo into Safe Mode, wait 30 seconds once logged in, shutdown the Mac, and then log in as normal. In Safe Mode, login items do not run, and corrupt system files(caches) are fixed. So, see if that fixes this. To boot into Safe Mode, hold down the shift key upon boot.

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User profile for user: SeaPapp
SeaPapp
User level: Level 7
26,486 points

Dec 6, 2020 3:15 PM in response to lorie57

You might be surprised how light a brush the heel of your hand has to make on the trackpad to move the cursor to another part of the screen. You should at least give it a try to see if it helps. I've turned it off on my Macbook Air and it's made a world of difference.

It's highly unlikely that it's a problem with Big Sur.

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After downloading Big Sur, open programs become repeatedly inactive during use

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