Q: I want to launch applications at Startup.  When I click on Login Items, System Preferences FREEZES every time.  Running iMac 2.93 GHZ Intel Core i7 OS X Yosemite 10.10.2

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Step 1

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Step 2

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Back up all data before proceeding.

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

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist

Right-click or control-click the line and select

          Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. Log out or restart the computer and test.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination  command-C. In the Finder, select

          Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.

Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.

2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.

You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.

In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.

You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message. See, for example, this discussion.

Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.

4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:

☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.

☞ Paste into the window of another application.

☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.

☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.

The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.

5. Try to test under conditions that reproduce the problem, as far as possible. For example, if the computer is sometimes, but not always, slow, run the test during a slowdown.

You may have started up in "safe" mode. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.

6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.

7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.

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

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);b=(com.adobe.{AAM.Updater-1.0{,},AdobeCreativeCloud,CS{4,5}ServiceManager,fpsaud,SwitchBoard{,}} ${k[21]}{aelwriter,{AirPortBaseSt,SafariNotific}ationAgent,FolderActions.enabled,installer.osmessagetracing,mrt.uiagent,ReportCrash.Self,{rp,usb}muxd} com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate com.google.keystone.{agent,daemon} com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper com.oracle.java.{Helper-Tool,JavaUpdateHelper{,}} com.teamviewer.{Helper,teamviewer{,_desktop,_service}} org.macosforge.xquartz.{privileged_{,},}startx );c=(879294308 4071182229 461455494 3627668074 1083382502 1274181950 1855907737 2758863019 1848501757 464843899 2636415542 3694147963 1233118628 2456546649 2806998573 2778718105 842973933 2051385900 3301885676 891055588 998894468 695903914 1443423563 4136085286 3374894509 1051159591 892310726 1707497389 523110921 2883943871 3873345487 );s=(' s/[0-9A-Za-z._]+@[0-9A-Za-z.]+\.[0-9A-Za-z]{2,4}/EMAIL/g;/faceb/s/(at\.)[^.]+/\1NAME/g;/\/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^ /]+/\1USER/g;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;' ' s/^ +//;/de: S|[nst]:/p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};/er:/;/y:/&&$2<'${p[4]} ' s/:$//;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: (E[^m]|[^EO])|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[9]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Genesy|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;} ' ' BEGIN { FS=":";if(system("sw_vers -productVersion|grep -q ^10\.1")) d="^'"${k[21]}"'launch(d\.peruser\.[0-9]+|ctl\.(Aqua|Background|System))$";} { if($2~/[1-9]/) { $2="status: "$2;printf("'"${f[4]}"'",$1,$2);} else if(!d||$1!~d) print $1;} ' ' { sub(/ :/,"");print|"tail -n'${p[10]}'";} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[7]}' { print $4;} ' ' ($1~"wir"&&$2>'${p[22]}')||($1~"uts"&&$2>'${p[19]}') { print $1" "int($2);} ' '/YLD/s/=/ /p' ' { 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BEGIN { split("'"${p[1]}"'",m);FS=":";} $2<=m[$1]{next} $1<9 { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n   "$3" (UID "$4"): "$2;} $1==9&&$5!~"^/dev" { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n   "$3" (UID "$4") => "$5" (status "$6"): "$2;} $1==10&&$5 { p="ps -c -ocomm -p"$5"|sed 1d";p|getline n;close(p);if(n) $5=n;o[$1]=o[$1]"\n   "$5" => "$3" UID ("$4"): "$2;} $1~/1[12]/ { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n   "$3" (UID "$4", error "$5"): "$2;} END { u1="Mb/s";u2="per sec";u3="ms/s";u4="KiB/s";u5="%";u6="total";u7="MB";u8="ports";u[1]=u1;u[2]=u1;u[3]=u3;u[4]=u4;u[5]=u5;u[6]=u6;u[7]=u7;u[8]=u8;u[9]=u2;u[10]=u2;u[11]=u2;u[12]=u2;l[1]="Net in";l[2]="Net out";l[3]="I/O wait time";l[4]="I/O requests";l[5]="CPU usage";l[6]="Open files";l[7]="Memory";l[8]="Mach ports";l[9]="File opens";l[10]="Forks";l[11]="Failed forks";l[12]="System errors";for(i in o) print "\n"l[i]" ("u[i]")\n"o[i];} ' ' END{if($3~/[0-9]/)print$3} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[17]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n   "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n   [N/A]";"cksum "F|getline 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{@c[execname,uid,copyinstr(arg0),errno]=count()} syscall::execve:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return {@d[execname,uid,ppid]=count()} syscall::fork:return, syscall::vfork:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return /arg0 < 0/ {@e[execname,uid,arg0]=count()} syscall:::return /errno != 0/ {@f[execname,uid,errno]=count()} io:::wait-start {self->t=timestamp} io:::wait-done /self->t/ { this->T=timestamp - self->t;@g[execname,uid]=sum(this->T);self->t=0;} io:::start {@h[execname,uid]=sum(args[0]->b_bcount)} tick-10sec { normalize(@a,2560000);normalize(@b,2560000);normalize(@c,10);normalize(@d,10);normalize(@e,10);normalize(@f,10);normalize(@g,10000000);normalize(@h,10240);printa(\"1:%@d:%s:%d\n\",@a);printa(\"2:%@d:%s:%d\n\",@b);printa(\"9:%@d:%s:%d:%s:%d\n\",@c);printa(\"10:%@d:%s:%d:%d\n\",@d);printa(\"11:%@d:%s:%d:%d\n\",@e);printa(\"12:%@d:%s:%d:%d\n\",@f);printa(\"3:%@d:%s:%d\n\",@g);printa(\"4:%@d:%s:%d\n\",@h);exit(0);} '" '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/'${k[21]}'*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true \) -execdir stat -f:%Sc:%N -t%F {} \;' '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc*' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' /\ kMDItemContentTypeTree=${k[21]}{bundle,mach-o-dylib} :Label "/p*/e*/{aut*,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {/p*,/usr/local}/e*/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/{Lau,Sec}*/*t .launchd.conf" list '-F "" -k Sender hidd -k Nle 3' /Library/Preferences/${k[21]}alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' -I --dns -get{dnsservers,info} -P -m\ / '' -n1 '-R -ce -l1 -n5 -o'{'prt -stats prt','mem -stats mem'}',command,uid' -kl -l -s\ / '--regexp --files '${k[21]}'pkg.*' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' ${k[21]}dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' '-Fcu +c0 -l' -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' '-F \$Message -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq "'{'n Cause: -','(a und|I/O |jnl_io.+)err','USBF:.+bus'}'"' -name\ kMDItem${k[16]} -T\ hfs '-n get default' -listnetworkserviceorder :${k[16]} :CFBundleDisplayName $EUID {,'/{S*/,}'}'L*/{,Co*/*/*/L*/}{Cache,Log}s $TMPDIR../C -type f -size +'${p[11]}'M -exec stat -f'%z:%N' {} \;' \ /v*/d*/*/*l*d{,.*.$UID}/* '-app Safari UserStyleSheetEnabled' "-o ',\"name\":\"[^\"]+' L*/A*/Fi*/P*/*/a*.json" users/$USER\ HomeDirectory '{/,}L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist -exec plutil -s {} \;' ' -F "\$Time \$Sender \$(RefProc): \$Message" -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility R'{'ne "user|','eq "'}'console" -k Message CRne "^ |sandbox ex" ' getenv '/ "kMDItemDateAdded>=\$time.now(-'${p[23]}')&&kMDItem'${k[16]}'=*"' );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..15};do c2[N1+j]=SP${k[j]}DataType;done;l=({Restricted\ ,Lock,Pro}files POST Battery {Safari,App,{Bad,Loaded}\ kernel,Firefox}\ extensions System\ load boot\ args FileVault\ {2,1} {Kernel,System,Console}\ log Activity SMC Login\ hook 'I/O per process' 'High file counts' UID Daemons Agents XPC\ cache Startup\ items {Admin,Root}\ access Stylesheet Library\ paths{,' ('{shell,launchd}\)} Font\ issues Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi 'Elapsed time (sec)' {Root,User}\ crontab {Global,User}' login items' Spotlight Memory\ pressure Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching Nets Volumes {Continuity,I/O,iCloud,HID,HCI}\ errors {User,System}\ {caches/logs,overrides} Shutdown\ codes Heat Diagnostic\ reports Bad\ plists Free\ space VM Bundles{,' (new)'} );N3=${#l[@]};for i in {0..8};do l[N3+i]=${k[5+i]};done;F() { local x="${s[$1]}";[[ "$x" =~ ^([\&\|\<\>]|$) ]]&&{ printf "$x";return;};:|${c1[30]} "$x" 2>&-;printf "%s \'%s\'" "|${c1[30+$?]}" "$x";};A0() { Q=6;v[2]=1;id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]))||{ Q=7;sudo -v;v[2]=$?;((v[2]))||Q=8;};v[3]=`date +%s`;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';printf '\n[Process started]\n\n'>&4;printf 'Revision: %s\n\n' ${p[0]};};A1() { local c="${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;c="$c ` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};v=`eval "$c"`;[[ "$v" ]];};A2() { local c="${c1[$1]}";[[ "$c" =~ ^(awk|sed ) ]]&&c="$c '${s[$2]}'"||c="$c ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;local d=` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`;((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};local a;v=` while read a;do eval "$c '$a' $d";done<<<"$v";`;[[ "$v" ]];};A3(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};B1() { v=No;! ((v[1]))&&{ v=;P1=1;};};eval "`type -a B1|sed '1d;s/1/2/'`";B3(){ v[$1]="$v";};B4() { local i=$1;local j=$2;shift 2;local c="cat` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";v[j]=`eval "{ $c;}"<<<"${v[i]}"`;};B5(){ v[$1]="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d: <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F: ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`egrep -v "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"|sort`;};eval "`type -a B7|sed '1d;s/7/8/;s/-v //'`";C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { B4 0 0 63&&C1 1 $1;};C4() { echo $'\t'"Part $((++P)) of $Q done at $((`date +%s`-v[3])) sec">&4;};C5() { sudo -k;pbcopy<<<"$o";printf '\n\tThe test results are on the Clipboard.\n\n\tPlease close this window.\n';exit 2>&-;};for i in 1 2;do eval D${i}0'(){ A'$i' $@;C0;};';for j in 2 3;do eval D$i$j'(){ local x=$1;shift;A'$i' $@;C'$j' $x;};';done;done;trap C5 2;o=$({ A0;D10 0 N1+1 2;D10 0 $N1 1;B1;C2 27;B1&&! B2&&C2 28;D12 22 15 63;D10 0 N1+2 3;D10 0 N1+15 17;D13 3 0 N1+3 4;D13 4 0 N1+4 5;D13 N3+4 0 N1+9 59;for i in 0 1 2;do D13 N3+i 0 N1+5+i 6;done;D13 N3+3 0 N1+8 71;D13 62 1 10 7;D13 10 1 11 8;B2&&D13 18 19 53 67;D12 11 2 12 9;D12 12 3 13 10;D12 13 42 70 101 25;D12 65 6 36 13;D12 45 20 52 66;D13 66 7 37 14;D13 17 8 15 38;D10 9 16 16 77 45;C4;B2&&D10 35 49 61 75 76 78 45;B2&&{ D10 28 17 45;C4;};D10 12 40 54 16 79 45;D10 12 39 54 16 80 45;D13 31 25 37 15&&{ B4 0 8 103;B4 8 0;A2 18 74;B6 8 0 3;C3 32;};B2&&D13 19 21 0;B2&&D13 40 10 42;B2&&D12 2 29 35 46;D12 44 34 43 53;D12 25 22 20 32;D12 33 0 N1+14 51;D12 34 21 28 35;D13 35 27 29 36;A1 40 59 81;B3 18;A1 33 60 82;B8 18;B4 0 19 83;A1 27 32 39&&{ B3 20;B4 19 0;A2 33 33 40;B3 21;B6 20 21 3;};C2 36;D13 50 38 5 68;B4 19 0;D23 37 33 34 42;B2&&D13 46 35 45 55;D13 38 32 31 43;B2&&D13 59 4 65 76 91;D13 63 4 19 44 75 95 96;B1&&{ D13 53 5 55 75 69&&D13 51 6 58 31;D13 56 5 56 97 75 98&&D10 0 N1+7 99;D12 55 5 27 84;D13 61 5 54 75 70;D13 14 5 14 12;D13 15 5 72 12;C4;};D13 16 5 73 12;A1 13 44 74 18;C4;B3 4;B4 4 0 85;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 5 19 102;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 8;B4 4 0 88;A2 14 24 89;C4;B4 0 6 19 102;B4 4 0 86;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 7 19 102;B5 11 7;B4 11 11 73 102;B2&&{ A1 18 26 94;B7 11;B4 0 0 11;C3 23;};A1 18 26 94;B7 11;B4 0 0 11;C3 24;D13 60 14 66 92;D13 58 14 67 93;D13 26 4 21 24;D13 42 14 1 62;D13 43 37 2 90 48;D13 41 10 42;D12 48 36 47 25;A1 4 3 60&&{ B3 9;A2 14 61;B4 0 10 21;B4 9 0;A2 14 62;B4 0 0 21;B6 0 10 4;C3 5;};D13 9 41 69 100;D12 29 21 68 35;D12 49 21 48 49;B4 4 22 57 102;A1 21 46 56 74;B7 22;B4 0 0 58;C3 47;D13 54 5 7 75 76 69;D13 52 5 8 75 76 69;D13 57 4 64 76 91;D12 0 4 4 84;D12 1 4 51 84;D13 21 22 9 37;A1 23 18 28 89;B4 0 16 22 102;A1 16 25 33;B7 16;B4 0 0 34;D20 31 47;D13 64 4 71 41;C4;B4 4 12 26 89 23 102;for i in {0..3};do A1 0 N1+10+i 72 74;B7 12;B4 0 0 52;C3 N3+5+i;((i))||C4;done;A1 24 22 29;B7 12;B3 14;A2 39 57 30;B3 15;B6 14 15 4;C3 67;A1 24 75 74;B3 23;A2 39 57 30;B3 24;B6 23 24 4;C3 68;B4 4 13 27 89 65;A1 24 23;B7 13;C3 30;B4 4 0 87;A2 14 61 89 20;B4 0 17;A1 26 50 64;B7 17;C3 6;D13 7 11 6;A3;C2 39;C4;} 4>&2 2>/dev/null;);C5

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.

9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter

exec bash

and press return. Then paste the script again.

10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.

If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.

11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, a series of lines will appear in the Terminal window like this:

[Process started]

        Part 1 of 8 done at … sec
        …
        Part 8 of 8 done at … sec

        The results are on the Clipboard.

        Please close this window.

[Process completed]

The intervals between parts won't be exactly equal, but they give a rough indication of progress. The total number of parts may be different from what's shown here.

Wait for the final message "Process completed" to appear. If you don't see it within about ten minutes, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, press the key combination control-C or command-period to stop it. Then go to the next step.

12. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it because it was taking too long, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.

At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.

If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I may not agree with them.

______________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

Please post a screenshot that shows what you did. Be careful not to include any private information.

Start a reply to this message. Drag the image file into the editing window to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

You didn't select the whole line. Please review the instructions and try again.

The line you're trying to copy should end like this: C5

It may scroll horizontally in the browser window. Scroll all the way to the right to see the end of the line. If it's really being cut off somehow, then we will have to do without the test results. That's going to mean a lot more work for you. If it's not cut off, you can select the whole thing by triple-clicking anywhere in it.

I just noticed that you're using the tcsh shell. Follow the instructions in part 9 of the comment in which I posted the script.