Spotlight Hanging - MDSWorker Thread Exceptions

It looks like you have an obsolete version of Xcode installed, or partially installed. I suggest you remove Xcode completely, including the /Developer folder, and then install the latest version from the App Store if you still need it.

Because it's picking up an incompatible importer, a common cause of indexing failures. That may or may not be the solution, but you should do it anyway, as the old Xcode isn't doing you any good.

Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, select the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name), and run Repair Disk (not Repair Permissions.) If any problems are found, repeat. Then reboot as usual.

If you don't already have a current backup, you must back up your data, if possible, before you take the above step.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. Step 1 should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

P=/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy; E () { [ "$o" ] && echo $'\n'$1: && echo "$o"; }; F () { o=$($P -c Print "$2" | awk -F'= ' \/$3'/{print $2}'); E "$1"; }; { o=$(kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'); E "Loaded extrinsic kernel extensions"; o=$(launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)|\.[0-9]+$/{print $3}'); E "Loaded extrinsic user agents"; o=$(launchctl getenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES); E "Inserted libraries"; o=$(crontab -l); E "User cron tasks"; o=$(cat /e*/lau*); E "Global launchd configuration"; o=$(cat ~/.lau*); E "Per-user launchd configuration"; F "Global login items" /L*/P*/loginwindow.plist Path; F "Per-user login items" L*/P*/com.apple.loginitems.plist Path; F "Safari extensions" L*/Saf*/*/E*.plist Bundle | sed 's/\..*$//;s/-[1-9]$//'; o=$(find ~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 \) | wc -l); [ "$o" == 0 ] || printf "\nRestricted user files: %s\n" $o; cd; o=$(find -L /S*/L*/E* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,In,Keyb,Mail/Bu,P*P,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo}* -type d -name Contents -prune | while read d; do $P -c 'Print :CFBundleIdentifier' "$d/Info.plist" | egrep -qv "^com\.apple\.[^x]|Accusys|ArcMSR|ATTO|HDPro|HighPoint|driver\.stex|hp-fax|JMicron|microsoft\.MDI|print|SoftRAID" && echo ${d%/Contents}; done); E "Extrinsic loadable bundles"; o=$(find /u*/{,*/}lib -type f -exec sh -c 'file -b "$1" | grep -qw shared && ! codesign -v "$1"' {} {} \; -print); E "Unsigned shared libraries"; for d in {,/}L*/{La,Priv,Sta}* L*/Fonts; do o=$(ls -A "$d"); E "$d"; done; } 2> /dev/null | pbcopy; echo $'\nStep 1 done'

Remember that you must be logged in as an administrator for this step. Do as in Step 1 with this line:

E () { [ "$o" ] && echo $'\n'$1: && echo "$o"; }; { o=$(sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix\.cron)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'); E "Loaded extrinsic daemons"; o=$(sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook); E "Login hook"; o=$(sudo crontab -l); E "Root cron tasks"; o=$(syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |hfs: Ru|I/O e|find tok|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|pagin|timed? ?o' | tail | awk '/:/{$4=""; print}'); E "Log check"; } 2> /dev/null | pbcopy; echo $'\nStep 2 done'

You can then quit Terminal.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, set one before taking Step 2. If that’s not possible, skip the step.

Remember, Steps 1 and 2 are all copy-and-paste — no typing is involved, apart from your password. Also remember to post the output.

You have a lot of issues, so I'm going to spread the response out over 3 comments.

Please read this whole message carefully, especially the warnings, before doing anything.

1. I can only guess which of the modifications you've made to your system is causing the problem. The changes suggested here should be considered provisional; they may not help, or they may remove functionality that you find useful. If a third-party system modification that you want to keep is at fault, refer to its developer for support.

2. WARNING: Back up all data now if you haven’t already done so. Before proceeding, you must be sure you can restore your system to its present state, even if it becomes unbootable. If you’re not sure you can do that, STOP — DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING.

If you don't like the results of the procedure suggested below, restore from your backup.

I will not be responsible for the consequences, and I will not be able to help, if you ignore this warning.

3. You should either remove or update the following system modification(s), if an update is available from the developer:

Tuxera NTFS

VirtualBox

and definitely remove at least the following:

† McAfee

Parallels (partial installation)

4. Whatever you remove must be removed completely, and (unless otherwise specified in this message) the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the third-party developers, or to follow their instructions. If the software has been incompletely removed, you may have to re-download or even reinstall it in order to finish the job. I can't be more specific, because I don't install such things myself. Please do your own research.

Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickMyMac” (a hypothetical example.) First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickmymac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, contact the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickMyMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickMyMac.” If not, open “BrickMyMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button.

Again, please don't ask me to do this research for you. You can do it better than I can, because I don't use the product and I may not even know what it is.

You will generally have to reboot after uninstalling a system modification. Until you do that, the uninstallation may have no effect, or unpredictable effects.

5. If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase and install OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.

WARNING: Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

6. I recommend that you never reinstall the modifications marked with a dagger (†) above, if any. If your problem is resolved after uninstalling all the above modifications and rebooting, but you still want to use some of those not marked with a dagger, you can experiment with putting them back, one at a time, testing carefully after each step. Keep in mind that system modifications may be incompatible with each other or with future OS X updates, so it may not be clear which one is at fault.

7. If you still have problems after making the suggested changes and rebooting, post again. Remember: if you don’t like the results of this procedure, you can undo it by restoring from the last backup you made before you started.

Uninstall the McAfee product by following the instructions on whichever of the pages linked below is applicable:

This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.

Step 1

If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.

Enter the following command in the Terminal window in the same way as before (triple-click, copy, and paste):

{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null

This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.

Step 2 (optional)

Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.

Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select

Utilities ▹ Terminal

from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:

res

Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

resetpassword

Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.

Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.

Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

Select

 ▹ Restart

from the menu bar.

An external storage device is malfunctioning. Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.

Try a different cable.

If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.

If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.

Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.

Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.

If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.

Failing all the above, you may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one.

If you find this comment too long or too technical, read only sections 5, 6, and 10.

2. All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files, and to block insecure web plugins. This feature is transparent to the user, but internally Apple calls it "XProtect." The malware recognition database is automatically checked for updates once a day; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders.

The following caveats apply to XProtect:

Gatekeeper doesn't depend on a database of known malware. It has, however, the same limitations as XProtect, and in addition the following:

For the reasons given above, App Store products, and other applications recognized by Gatekeeper as signed, are safer than others, but they can't be considered absolutely safe. "Sandboxed" applications may prompt for access to private data, such as your contacts, or for access to the network. Think before granting that access. OS X security is based on user input. Never click through any request for authorization without thinking.

4. Starting with OS X 10.8.3, a third layer of protection has been added: a "Malware Removal Tool" (MRT). MRT runs automatically in the background when you update the OS. It checks for, and removes, malware that may have evaded the other protections via a Java exploit (see below.) MRT also runs when you install or update the Apple-supplied Java runtime (but not the Oracle runtime.) Like XProtect, MRT is effective against known threats, but not against unknown ones. It notifies you if it finds malware, but otherwise there's no user interface to MRT.

Fortunately, client-side Java on the Web is obsolete and mostly extinct. Only a few outmoded sites still use it. Try to hasten the process of extinction by avoiding those sites, if you have a choice. Forget about playing games or other non-essential uses of Java.

7. Never install any commercial "anti-virus" or "Internet security" products for the Mac, as they all do more harm than good, if they do any good at all. Any database of known threats is always going to be out of date. Most of the danger is from unknown threats. If you need to be able to detect Windows malware in your files, use one of the free anti-virus products in the Mac App Store — nothing else.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!H0TBABEZ4U!!!!!!!.AVI♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.exe

The ClamXav developer won't try to "upsell" you to a paid version of the product. Other developers may do that. Don't be upsold. For one thing, you should not pay to protect Windows users from the consequences of their choice of computing platform. For another, a paid upgrade from a free app will probably have the disadvantages mentioned in section 7.

I did have an external drive fail on me, but that is now disconnected for a few days, so the message cant be related to that can it?

If it was still connected on Dec. 14 at 18:33, yes. Otherwise no.

Can I ask why not use McAfee? I would like virus protection of some description and paid #80 for it.

I'm not always on the same page as Linc with regard to anti-virus software, but when it comes to McAfee, I'm in full agreement with him. Get rid of it.

First, Macs are pretty secure out of the box, with some basic anti-virus features built-in, and thus they have little need for anti-virus for the most part. I won't say that there is never a need, but the advantages and disadvantages need to be carefully weighed. In most cases, disadvantages will outweigh the advantages. See my Mac Malware Guide for more information on that kind of thing.

Second, McAfee is pretty awful at detecting Mac malware. When I tested it back in January, it detected less than half of the then-active malware that I threw at it. See:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mac-anti-virus-testing-01-2013/

If you're going to choose to use anti-virus software on a Mac, you'll want something that can at least do a decent job of detecting Mac malware.