spinning beach ball with every click

I had the same issue yesterday and after I saw this I was ready to call the rm command

cd ~/library/caches;rm -rfv *

on Terminal after desperately waiting for a response after each click, but before I could do that I remember I downloaded some reggae torrents before I went away from my desk for Christmas vacay...so I just deleted the torrents and instantly the spinning beach ball went away and my imac worked as it is again.

This could be due to a variety of things.

Check this out:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

Hmm, CleanMyMac may well 'clean' essential system files!

It's not a good idea to run these tools – there are many threads here if you want the various reasons, personally I don't think they are neccesary & wouldn't want to waste system resources on background jobs that the OS should be doing anyway.

Do you know what changed around the time of the slowdowns? Did you upgrade to Mavericks? How has this Mac been used, e.g. have you installed every OS & upgrade it without doing actual house cleaning? Have you got years of work & apps on it?

How much free space do you have on disk?

If you have older apps installed they may well have system level background jobs that could effect performance.

This app will show you what is running… post the full report here if you want help with it.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Hi AcousticAM,, no need for any 3rd party magic for most of these fixes. You can remedy most of this within OSX.

This is a routine (work instruction) you OUGHT do when ever you have time after much maintenance. Read carefully..

This always clears up most MAVERICKS systems.....

Note: and FWIW many of those 3rd party so called "MAC fixer-upper-ers" are not worth the money northe waste of your time.. 😠 .. Many install agents into yoru system that make it worse in my experience.. steer clear of them.

I'm post this simple work instruction because this always works and we use this as a first step with our clients when they describe symptoms similar to yourself.

BTW.. have you looked though the system logs? there will be many messages from I/O errors, to dumps to all kinds of things logging error conditions... you can clean these up as well. If you have installed a lot of app, look for the LAunchagents / daemons etc and selective remove them if you don't need them.. There;s loads of tips on these forums from very experienced people.

IN any case this procedure always has a positive impact on the use of mavericks.

1. clear out your CACHE in your home directory... don't use the finder. here are the steps:
   • close all applications that you have started.
   • then open the /applications/utilities/terminal.app and enter exactly these commands.. you can copy and paste them
     • cd ~/library/caches;rm -rfv *
     • or..CARE CARE: if you are confident enough.. get it right! just enter rm -rfv ~/library/caches/*
   • there will be a lot of output to show you that the caches files are being deleted (not moved into the trash)
   • LOGOUT of your user using command+shift+q (⌘+⇧+q) then
   • log back in.. so this setw up new ~/library/cache files.
   • yes,, there are many oter places to cull lots of junk however this is under FINE TUNING
2. next... repair the main file system using the RECOVERY PARTITION in OSX 10.9.x (as in 10.7 etc)
   • restart you mac and HOLD THE OPTION KEY DOWN
   • select the RECOVERY PARTITION 10.9.x .. not the Macintosh HD or whatever your volume is named.
   • it will start up and wait for a pane that has list of 4 items.
   • select the LAST ITEM -- your friend the DISK UTILITY.app and click on it so it launches.. then
   • select the FIRST AID tab . its probably already selected
   • then.. select the Macintosh HD volume and lastly
   • at the bottom right hand corner select "Repair DIsk" and let it run. (optionally you can do a verify and see what errors).
   • now if that DOESN'T work and you have loads of RED errors and the volume CAN'T be fixed by disk utility.app... go immediately to STEP 4. else
3. whilst in "Disk Utility" perform a "Repair Permissions"

   contrary to incorrect myths this only repairs permissions in the folder and NOT the /Users folder .. NOT the /users!

4. IF you have LOADS of RED errors from Step 2... get a copy of all the volumes contents. The file structures are in error and DU cant fix them
   • go to STEP 5 if you like else
     
   • copy all the stuff you can (read) onto somewhere because the volume may be irreconcilable.. and it may need to be formatted or replaced....plenty of these unhelpful bad tidings on this in these forums.
5. Buy and use DISK WARRIOR.app for a standalone system and attempt to repair your disk or somethig mentioned below.
   

   we ALWAYS use DIsk Warrior.app to clean up the fil systems anyway as part of our regular maintenace anyway as it corrects errors that DU (Fsck) doesn't seem to find .. yes yes there's a few others like Techtool Pro7 (which we have) and Drive Genius... I like Disk Warrior..app.. use to your taste....

Steps 1-3 and optionally Step 5 always work and yield some noticable performace and usage improvement.

Hope that helps.

Post your results for others to see.

Warwick

Hong Kong

Good lord, is there a Mac based kernel extension that you don't have installed?

I'm willing to explain how to try to clean this up, but frankly an erase & reinstall could be simpler & give you better results (I suspect you'll get a bit more disk space back).

What backups do you have? Can you make a copy of this machine in preparation for erasing & starting afresh?

If you choose to go the cleanup route instead you'll still want a good backup. The basic idea for cleanup is to remove all the old software or update it all, but you must take care to find the correct way to remove them.

[not loaded] com.Apogee.driver.DuetFWOverideDriver (1.4.4) Support

[not loaded] com.digidesign.fwfamily.driver (9.0f4) Support

[kext loaded] com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal (10.0f56 - SDK 10.6) Support

[not loaded] com.digidesign.usb.elevenrack.driver (1.0.1) Support

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3G (2.1) Support

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3GData (2.1) Support

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.DisableAutoInstall (1.0.1) Support

[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support

[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.8) Support

[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.8 - SDK 10.3) Support

[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.8 - SDK 10.6) Support

[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support

[kext loaded] com.rogueamoeba.HermesAudio (3.0.1) Support

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSupport (1.4.0) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSupportKicker (1.4.0) Support

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessCDC (3.2.6) Support

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessModem (3.2.6) Support

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessSerial (3.2.6) Support

[not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSB (3.0.11) Support

[not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSBDev (3.0.11) Support

Either update or remove all of the above using the developer's uninstall instructions.

Also remove CleanMyMac2.

CleanMyMac2 Un-install

Any idea on this end. I am getting the spinning ball a bit.

EtreCheck version: 1.9.12 (48)

Report generated July 28, 2014 at 10:15:27 PM PDT

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) (Verified)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro7,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores

4 GB RAM

Video Information:

NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software:

OS X 10.9.4 (13E28) - Uptime: 0 days 1:21:35

Disk Information:

Hitachi HTS545025B9SA02 disk0 : (250.06 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 249.2 GB (201.11 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898

USB Information:

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers

Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

[not loaded] com.vsearch.daemon.plist Support

[running] com.vsearch.helper.plist Support

Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist Support

[running] com.vsearch.agent.plist Support

User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist Support

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Spotify

Dropbox

Internet Plug-ins:

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.8 - SDK 10.6 Support

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Safari Extensions:

Conduit Search for Safari: Version: 1.0

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:

Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

User Internet Plug-ins:

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 Support

ConduitNPAPIPlugin: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

3rd Party Preference Panes:

None

Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

4% Microsoft Outlook

1% fontd

0% Microsoft Database Daemon

0% Creative Cloud

0% WindowServer

Top Processes by Memory:

147 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

127 MB Finder

86 MB mds_stores

86 MB Google Chrome

74 MB Dropbox

Virtual Memory Information:

1.26 GB Free RAM

1.56 GB Active RAM

436 MB Inactive RAM

523 MB Wired RAM

726 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

Thanks Warwick - this worked for me! 🙂

Hi all,

I have exactly the same problem.( Macbook Pro 4 GB, 2.5 ghz) As I´m writing this the nororious beach ball appears and the computer actually writes on its own!!

It all began when I downlodaed Yosemite and parallel desktop plus Windows 7 because I needed to run a program that was not compatible with Mac. Except from Yosemite,this are now deleted.

Its sooooo annoying. I have done the usual stuff.

1. Cleaned my desktop.

2 Used Ccleaner to free up some space.

3. Cleared my cache

4. Used Disk Utility to repair disk permissions

5. Run Clamxav ( Nothing unusual)

6 Rebooted the computer several times

I´ve also noticed that sleep mode is no longer active when I close the screen. I can still hear the harddrive is active as if it was in use.

Facebook suddenly turned into portuguese language and im from Denmark!!!

A screeen saver is now active and I have never activated nor used a screen saver before!!! ( Since september 2012)

Im looking forward to any suggestions

I have just picked this thread up - can you help? I have the same problem. My report from Etre check as follows: thank you Jayne

Problem description:

OSX Yosemite V 10.10.2

Macbook late 2008

2GHz intel core 2 duo

2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Mac HD

NVIDIA GeForce 940

running soooooo slow

EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

Report generated 4 March 2015 09:51:32 GMT

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) (Technical Specifications)

MacBook - model: MacBook5,1

1 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

2 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 1042

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 15:30:16

Disk Information: ℹ️

FUJITSU MHZ2160BH FFS G1 disk0 : (160.04 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

[redacted] HD (disk0s2) / : 159.18 GB (68.81 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

TOSHIBA STOR.E PARTNER 1 TB

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Untitled 1 (disk1s2) /Volumes/Untitled 1 : 999.86 GB (761.91 GB free)

Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Telink Wireless Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.2.19) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.2.19) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.eltima.SyncMate.kext (0.2.5b15) [Click for support]

Startup Items: ℹ️

MobileBrServ: Path: /Library/StartupItems/MobileBrServ

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️

[killed] com.apple.accountsd.plist

[killed] com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist

[killed] com.apple.bird.plist

[killed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.cloudd.plist

[killed] com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist

[killed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist

[killed] com.apple.EscrowSecurityAlert.plist

[killed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist

[killed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist

[killed] com.apple.recentsd.plist

[killed] com.apple.sbd.plist

[killed] com.apple.scopedbookmarkagent.xpc.plist

[killed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist

[killed] com.apple.spindump_agent.plist

[killed] com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist

17 processes killed due to memory pressure

Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[killed] com.apple.awdd.plist

[killed] com.apple.cache_delete.plist

[killed] com.apple.coresymbolicationd.plist

[killed] com.apple.ctkd.plist

[killed] com.apple.diagnosticd.plist

[killed] com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist

[killed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist

[killed] com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesd.plist

[killed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist

[killed] com.apple.MobileFileIntegrity.plist

[killed] com.apple.nehelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist

[killed] com.apple.periodic-daily.plist

[killed] com.apple.sandboxd.plist

[killed] com.apple.softwareupdate_download_service.plist

[killed] com.apple.softwareupdated.plist

[killed] com.apple.spindump.plist

[killed] com.apple.sysmond.plist

[killed] com.apple.tccd.system.plist

[killed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist

20 processes killed due to memory pressure

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist [Click for support]

[running] syncmateStarter.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[running] rapiback.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] .dat005a.000 (hidden) [Click for support]

/usr/bin/osascript /usr/bin/osascript osascript -e tell application "Folder Actions Dispatcher" to tick

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.google.GoogleContactSyncAgent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.wondershare.mobilegodaemon.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

iSyncr Application (/Applications/iSyncr.app)

Software Update Application (/System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app)

AutoLaunchApp Application (/Applications/3Connect/3Connect.app/Contents/Resources/AutoLaunchApp.app)

EvernoteHelper UNKNOWN (missing value)

Amazon Cloud Drive UNKNOWN (missing value)

Adobe Reader Application (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app)

ScanSnap Manager Application (/Applications/ScanSnap/ScanSnap Manager.app)

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

SoundTouch music server Application (/Applications/SoundTouch/SoundTouch.app/Contents/MacOS/SoundTouchMusicServer/S oundTouch music server.app)

HP Scheduler Application Hidden (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Software Update/HP Scheduler.app)

Director Docker Application (/Applications/Hewlett-Packard/HP Photo and Imaging Software/HP Photo and Imaging Director/Director Docker.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.5.4 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 Check version

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.8 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Click for support]

Silverlight: Version: 4.0.50826.0 [Click for support]

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

Evernote Web Clipper

Cashback Notifier - TopCashback

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]

FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 159.18 GB Disk used: 90.37 GB

Destinations:

Untitled 1 [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 12

Oldest backup: 2013-01-12 18:32:54 +0000

Last backup: 2015-02-21 08:22:55 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk size 159.18 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

15% backupd

6% WindowServer

1% mtmd

1% SoundTouch music server

1% mds

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

60 MB Google Chrome

45 MB Preview

37 MB Finder

32 MB backupd

28 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

53 MB Free RAM

434 MB Active RAM

398 MB Inactive RAM

475 MB Wired RAM

5.90 GB Page-ins

86 MB Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Mar 3, 2015, 06:16:33 PM Self test - passed

Mar 2, 2015, 10:03:48 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/discoveryd_2015-03-02-100348_[redacted].crash

Mar 2, 2015, 08:35:19 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/softwareupdated_2015-03-02-083519_[redacted].cp u_resource.diag [Click for details]

Mar 2, 2015, 08:18:33 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/discoveryd_2015-03-02-081833_[redacted].crash

You should start your own thread so you can control the discussion. What you are doing it called thread-jacking.

But it seems you do not have nearly enough RAM to support the very large number of 3rd party additions you have installed, and the large number of startup items you launch when you boot and login to your account. 2GB is not much RAM for Yosemite.

I suggest you start by removing the kernel extensions, launch daemons, launch agents, startup items and Login Items listed by EtreCheck.

I do not know what your maximum RAM capability is, but either max your Mac out, or start thinking about getting a new Mac with a lot more RAM.

<http://Curcial.com>

<http://MacSales.com>

are highly recommended in the forum as reliable RAM Mac vendors.

My computer was running slow so I used your suggestions to try to improve its performance, and all of the icons on my desktop disappeared. My wallpaper also disappeared. What happened?

Do a backup.

Thanks a lot, Eric, I'll give it a shot in the next day or two and let you know how it goes.