What is the cause of the Spinning Wheel of Death (SWOD) and how can we fix it?

Apple provides malware protection as part of Mac OS x.

You do not need additional protection. Get rid of.

[failed] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist [Click for support] [Click for details]

Try running /applications/utilities/activity monitor and see what it says when your system slows down.

24 July 2015 Have Spinning Wheel of Death that lasts for a number of minutes at times. I did a hardware check & found a problem with one of my RAM cards....

Installing cache-cleaning tools, system performance optimizers, anti-malware tools, anti-virus tools and various other tools is a futile effort, and can be a wasteful and problematic approach. These tools are very common sources of problems. Whenever faced with these issues, please first remove the add-on tools. Why? Because those tools quite often do not usually solve the problem that they're intended to solve — in the case of anti-malware tools, that's also because the signature-based tools are trivially bypassed by the malware, too.

There's no shortcut to sustem security. There just isn't one. Good and unique passwords, keeping current software, and not installing random software from random sites helps, and avoiding Oracle Java and Adobe Flash Player will generally suffice — or use a plug-in blocker for Java or Flash, if you really need it. Not installing anything you didn't go looking for, and only installing software from the Mac App Store or — and this is getting tougher — from the original source of the software, and not from any of the aggregator web sites.

Now hangs and beachballs can be hardware problems... But it's best to first remove and test without the anti-malware tools, the kernel extensions and the add-ons. Narrowing down a problem in a particularly complex system such as this one is not easy, either — the interactions can be very complex.

Carbonite can be hogging your network bandwidth doing a backup, and cause web browsing, email, or any other app that wants to use the network to stall and spin the beach ball.

You have some Carbonite launch agents and daemons that loaded, and some that failed. Perhaps your Carbonite needs to be updated to a Yosemite compatible version, or maybe there are multiple versions, with older ones that are now working or are conflicting with each other. All guesses based on seeing some failed carbonite additions.

What is avatron doing for you? Is it essential? Is it the version that is designed for Yosemite 10.10.4? Kernel extensions can be very sensitive to OS X version changes, especially if they do not use approved kernel APIs. I do not know anything about avatron, just that it is a kernel extension.

I agree with previous comments about anti-virus and Mac cleaner apps. They are counter productive and in some cases destructive.

How does Mac OS X protect me?

<http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/>

Configuration files: ℹ️

/etc/sysctl.conf - Exists

This is often not a good idea. If you did not personally create a sysctl.conf, then it was most likely something you installed. Most people do not have a sysctl.conf file.

LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.935 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

LogMeInSafari32: Version: 1.0.935 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

SInce LogMeIn went to a paid model, most people do not need the LogMeIn plug-ins. Unless you are still using LogMeIn, you may just want to do some house cleaning and remove these plug-ins.

Finally, in the future you should consider starting your own new thread so you can control the discussion. While at the high level it might look the same as someone else's problem, chances are the cause is different, because everyone has different software installed, especially for spinning beach balls, and mixing multiple discussions in a single thread can be confusing. You can always post a pointer to a previous thread.

Thank you for your response. Removed carbonite & avg. Ran Disk Utility. Still getting SWOD occasionally.

Activity Monitor shows % CPU (top 3)

FireFox 9.1

WindowsServer 5.7

Activity Monitor 2.2

Memory: (top 3)

kernal_task 1000.4MB

FireFox 975.1MB

Finder 121.5MB

Can take screen shots of Activity Monitor if that would help.

Any other suggestions?

susieqk wrote:

Thank you for your response. Removed carbonite & avg. Ran Disk Utility. Still getting SWOD occasionally.

Remove CleanMyMac3, remove AVG, and remove the plug-ins. As a general approach toward resolving these beachball spinning wait cursor cases, keep removing individual hunks of add-ons until the problem is resolved.

I agree, and please pardon my ignorance. I should have started a new thread but do not see how to do so. I believe that was the first time I had ever visited this forum. I see how to start a new 'discussion', is that the same thing?

forgot to add that I removed cleanmymac as well.

I do still use logmein, I can remove it if you it might be causing a problem though

I checked for the list of plug-ins on my macbook. Here is a list of what it says I have:

1) OpenH264 Video Codec 1.4 provided by Cisco Systems, Inc, says it is automatically installed by Mozilla to comply with WebRTC specs to enable WebRTC calls with devices that require the H.264 video codec. (says always active)

Is this for Skype?

2) Shockwave Flash 18.0.0.209 (says always active)

All other plug-ins say "ask to activate". Can a plug in that is apparently not running cause a problem?

3) Citrix Web Online Deployment Plugin 1.0.0.105 1.0.105

4) Default Browser Helper 600

5) LogMeIn Plugin 1.0.0.935 1.0.935

6) QuickTime Plug-in 7.7.3 7.7.3

7) RocketLife Content Manager 1.0.0.18702

Have no idea what this program is used for

8) RocketLife Secure Plug-in Layer 1.0.5

9) Silverlight Plug-in 5.1.30514

Are you suggesting I delete the "sysctl.conf" file?

I looked on the internet & it is associated with "Red Hat Linix" system. I am not using a Linix system. Do not know where it came from. Think it is safe to remove it? If so, how do I remove it?

Thank you so much for your help with this issue. I am about ready to throw this computer out & go back to a windows based system.

sysctl.conf is a concept that some Unix implementations use. OS X is one of them. However, typically it is empty. The fact that you have something in your sysctl.conf, and you do not remember doing it, is a strong indication that one of the 3rd party programs you had installed was changing system configuration variables.

susieqk wrote:

Thank you for your reply. Is there any way to find out what 3rd party program would have put something in that sysctl.conf file?

no. There is no audit trail. Just a modified sysctl.conf file.

First of all... you don't speak for most of us.

I have the problem too. I've had it with Microsoft word and powerpoint for mac. I thought it was USB interface with my iMac because my iMac likes to unmount my Lacie external if the computer goes to sleep so I had to disable sleep mode.

Now I get the SWOD in word and powerpoint now and then and I have to force quit which looses any work I've done since last saves.

The files I'm working on have been on my Lacie external so I suspect it's the iMac's inability to maintain connection via USB to this drive and the software just freezes.

Either way, the problem is more prevalent than your tight nit group.

Two things I would do:

1. Reinstall of Yosemite to fix all the failing system items.

2. Uninstall MacKeeper, which is total crap.

What is Yosemite and why did this start now? And what do I do?

Here is my new thread. If you could help me there I'd really appreciate it. Spinning Wheel and stalling getting really bad

cwglover wrote:

Help is needed here.

Help has been provided, but you have to participate. How would you like to proceed?