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Slow loading Finder in Mavericks?

I bought the brand new Macbook Pro Retina that came with Mavericks plus I upgraded my old Macbook Pro Retina to Mavericks before my new one came. On both computers I am noticing a few different things that are rather annoying.


When attaching documents to emails, etc... it is taking my finder forever to load the contents of the directory I am trying to access. It is doing this on both computers, so I am assuming this is something to do with Mavericks and not the new computer. It is rather frustrating because for my job, I am contstantly attaching documents to emails every day, but having to wait a good minute or two for a directory to load to find what I am looking for to attach is getting rather annoying.


Even my stickie notes load slow now when opening them in Mavericks and it has never done that before. They kind of appear laggy when loading. Usually they just popped right up.


Is anybody else experiencing this problem? Any suggestions for a fix? I really enjoy Mavericks but it seems to be messing with the overall performance of some things.

Posted on Oct 30, 2013 8:05 AM

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261 replies

Nov 20, 2013 7:56 PM in response to djackson13

Success! Finally, no more 20-25 second wait to open files.


The file is in a hidden folder called "etc". The files is called ".auto_master.swo. The file is text, but not .txt. It's .swo, it can't be opened with a text editor.


If you still want to see it you can show hidden files with this terminal command:


defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE


Change "TRUE" to "FALSE" to hide again.


WARNING: These file are probably hidden for a reason.


I'm no terminal wizard so I found an easier way (for me at least) to make required changes in terminal:


1. Open Terminal


2. Type: sudo nano /etc/auto_master (using nano instead of vi makes it a little more user friendly)


3. arrow down to the command: /net -hosts -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid add a # to the front so it reads:


#/net -hosts -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid


4. press control + X to exit


5. Press Y to save


6. press Enter


7. Close Terminal


8. Reboot


All is well.


I have no adverse effects. If you discover any just remove the "#" before the command.

Nov 21, 2013 9:17 AM in response to kufan0001

Sorry if this has already been suggested as there are multiple threads on this issue and I can't go through so many pages of posts to check, BUT


I've read this thread and at least one other as I have been having the same issue since upgrading. I am looking at all these potential fixes including re-installing Mavericks and am scratching my (cyber) head since I am not nearly as sophisticatd and many of you obviously are.



EVERYTHING was slow and one site on the 'net was ridiculous (although most of the others worked just fine)


I mean everybody's probably heard the story about the truck stuck under an overpass and all the engineers stumped at how to get it unstuck when a little boy happened to walk by and suggested letting some air out of the tires,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


I realize this is pretty simplistic but nowhere did I read about anybody suggesting to simply re-boot. "Shut down" (totally) and then re-start with your "power" button ???


I was "afraid" to do it for fear the machine wouldn't boot at all but finally just couldn't stand it. I shut down totally (NOT "re-start") and then clicked the power button to restart.


It came up at "normal" speed and EVERYTHING is back to normal (except for one "Numbers" document I happene to have open when I did the install (Pages documents I had open during the instal are fine))


Just a thought from a not very sophisticated user,,,,,,,,,,,,,



Again, sorry if this has already been suggested,,,,,,,,,

Nov 21, 2013 10:51 AM in response to kufan0001

I am going to have to strip this OX and go back to ML. I have waited over 15 minutes to try and get to a folder to download and update for pro tools. This is insane. I have tried all the tricks and nothing seems to work. I am a power user with an 8 core Mac pro that is loosing time due to productivity. I can't beleive Apple won't even address this or say they are working on a fix. This has to be the worst OS I have seen since win vista. I went to MAC so I wouldn't have these problems.

Nov 21, 2013 10:56 AM in response to nelsonmay

Have you tried what Snaggletooth_DE suggested below? I have tried numerous things and NOTHING was helping me either - I was close to going back to lion myself. But surprisingly this did WORK for me. Make sure you eneter the commands right. It did work for me! Good luck! I know how frustrating this problem is!


Snaggletooth_DE



1. Open an Terminal.


2. enter "sudo vi /etc/auto_master"


3. edit the textfile you have open now (auto_master is a textfile)


4. save and quit vi


5. reboot or enter "sudo automount -vc"

Nov 23, 2013 11:27 PM in response to kufan0001

Found the culprit for folders on desktop not showing contents for 20 - 30 seconds after restart. Turn off your wireless. Restart your computer. Open any folder, and you'll see that they populate immediately. So it has something to do with wifi. At least for me. Anyone else? I upgraded my internet recently to 12mbps so that must have something to do with it. So its not necessarily a Mavericks thing.

Slow loading Finder in Mavericks?

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