Q: My Early 2015 MacBook Pro freezes at seemingly random times

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

Launch the Console 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.

In the Console window, select

          DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION ▹ System Diagnostic Reports

(not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

          View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar.

There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of reports. A panic report has a name that begins with "Kernel" and ends in ".panic". Select the most recent one. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste to post the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot.

If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a panic, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.

In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)

Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report.

I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.

When you post the report, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

Post a kernel panic report per these instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201753

Also download and post an Etrecheck report:

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Ciao.

The machine is defective and must be repaired under the warranty. The "etrecheck" stuff is irrelevant.

It appears that you have not posted the entire kernel panic report. I would appreciate it if you could check.

This is an enemy that you should get rid of:

It is a good way of introducing malware into your MBP.

There is adware installed in your MBP. If you do not want it, run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac.

http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php

Ciao.

Under no circumstances should you ever use any kind of "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" software on a Mac. That's asking for nothing but trouble.

Linc Davis wrote:

 

Under no circumstances should you ever use any kind of "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" software on a Mac. That's asking for nothing but trouble.

Be advised that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac is not an ""anti-virus" or "anti-malware" software" and is perfectly safe to use.  A search of these forums will substantiate that (Note that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac was formerly Adwaremedic which achieved great success).

Ciao.

Your question brings up the subject of removing adware. This is a general comment on that subject.

The only tools that anyone needs to detect and remove adware are the Finder and a web browser, both of which you already have. Anyone who has enough computer skill to install adware can just as well remove it without using anything else.

Under no circumstances should you ever allow anti-virus software to delete something for you.

Apple doesn't endorse any third-party "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" product. Here and here are its general statements about malware protection, and here are its instructions for removing the most common types of ad-injection malware. None of those support pages mentions anti-malware products. An Apple employee who recommends such a product is speaking only for himself or herself, not for the company. See this thread for an example of what the results can be.

You become infected with malware by downloading unknown software without doing research to determine whether it's safe. If you keep making that mistake, the same, and worse, will keep happening, and no anti-malware will rescue you. Your own intelligence and caution are the only reliable defense.

The Windows/Android anti-malware industry had more than $75 billion in sales in 2014 [source: Gartner, Inc.] Its marketing strategy is to convince people that they're helpless against malware attack unless they use its products. But with all that anti-malware, the Windows and Android platforms are still infested with malware—most of it far more harmful than mere adware. The same can be expected to happen to the Mac platform if its users trust the same industry to protect them, instead of protecting themselves.

You are not helpless, and you don't have to give full control of your computer—and your data—to strangers in order to be rid of adware.

These are generalities. Regarding the "malwarebytes" product in particular, you may be told that there are no reports that is has caused damage. In fact, I know of two such reports: one by ASC user Big Kev55 in this thread, and one by LizardMBP in this thread. Draw your own conclusions from those reports. There are also many reports that the Windows version of the product has deleted essential Windows system files; see, for example, this thread on the developer's own support forum.

Whether the software damages the system or not, it takes full control and connects to a server controlled by the developer. There is no way of knowing what information it sends to that server.

The question then is: as a security-conscious computer user, do you want to take such risks when there is no offsetting benefit whatsoever?

Linc Davis wrote:

The only tools that anyone needs to detect and remove adware are the Finder and a web browser, both of which you already have. Anyone who has enough computer skill to install adware can just as well remove it without using anything else.

The problem with this statement is that there are situations where third party applications are more efficient and comprehensive than what is offered by Apple. I know that to be factual because I have experienced it. I have used Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac with great success. Apparently you have not done so leading you to post this inaccurate statement.

Apple doesn't endorse any third-party "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" product.

What you omit is that Apple does not prohibit or discourage the use of third party applications to be used for problem solving. It does not now nor has it in the past. The implication that a user should not use a third party application is a false one. If I am incorrect, please advise and post your source

An Apple employee who recommends such a product is speaking only for himself or herself, not for the company.

How untrue this statement is. Any employee whose job is to communicate with a company's customers is speaking for the corporation because that is their job. These include the persons who staff the telephone support service or the genius' at an Apple genius bar. When they recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac, they are speaking for Apple and many of them have made that recommendation. Why? Because they have found it faster, simpler and more efficient than the Apple support article that you seem wedded to. They work with such problems daily and I submit that they will use what their expertise and experience has shown to be the best approach in solving a given problem.

If you disagree with my statement please advise who does speak for Apple and under what circumstances.

Your attempt to set a premise that non Apple approaches to solving malware and adware problems is at variance with Apple corporate policy is a spurious one. What you are doing is a disservice to the third party reader who may be a neophyte in these situations and may not understand the nuances and differences involved. I suggest that you include all the elements involved in your argument, not simply ones that may support your narrow agenda.

Ciao.

ncco wrote:

 

Hi Ogelthorpe, the only part I omitted from the kernel report log was the Anonymous UUID line at the beginning.

Then I am baffled. What you have supplied is not the normal kernel panic log that I am used to seeing.

I see nothing specific that I can advise you as being a possible cause from the supplied information.  The only thing I can offer are these trouble shooting articles:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200553

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

Ciao.