Spotlight on MacOS High Sierra doesn't respond first time

If you're going to advocate the merits of using utterly worthless garbage on a Mac, I have no interest in it. My tolerance for non-Apple "anti-virus" and "cleaning" products isn't low, it's nonexistent. As far as I'm concerned that discussion is over before it began. I'm simply not interested.

It's your Mac. Do with it as you please, but don't come to this site looking for solutions for problems you willingly inflict upon yourself, with consequences you refuse to accept.

(I hope you're not confusing CleanMyMac with MacKeeper, I hope, which is a notoriously bad program and adware to boot.)

Of course not. I have used both of them and am intimately familiar with what they do to a Mac. In fact MacKeeper isn't nearly as bad. Its uninstaller is a model of near-perfection unmatched by useful and highly respectable apps. Its marketing techniques are simply more tawdry than "CleanMyMac".

It's worse than you might think, because the very first thing I do with any Mac that has ever been affected by "cleaning" junk is to completely erase it. Those products really are that bad.

... I was a PC user for many years before Mac

That's obvious. I was never a PC user, and never perceived the need to use that junk. If Windows PCs never existed, we'd all be better off. Having become accustomed to PCs, you have been led to assume a Mac needs the same daily pampering and care. Personally I'm incredulous that such beliefs continue to persist these many years into the 21st century, but I guess that's my problem. If you want something that needs daily attention, get an exotic pet. Or perhaps a classic British motorcycle.

I've already tried Sophos and it slowed things down too, so I'm shopping for a new AV.

Good luck with that. Your Mac will never work properly. Read Effective defenses against malware and other threats if you wish, but it seems your mind is already made up.

There are two easy ways to check. Create a new user account and see if it has the same problem. The other is start in Safe Mode and test.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

Good luck.

Etrecheck output: I have this problem too. Will try safe mode and will tell you results.

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2018-01-29 17:43:12

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 5:54

Performance: Below Average

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

Keyboard shortcut to open spotlight search needs double click to activate.

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir7,2

1 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5250U) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 426

iCloud Quota: 5.00 GB available

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 6000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 1440 x 900

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0128G disk0: (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 121.12 GB

USB Information: ⓘ

USB30Bus

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 121.12 GB (7.47 GB free) (Low!)

Encrypted: Yes (Unlocked)

Physical disk: disk0s2 121.12 GB (7.47 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 121.12 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 121.12 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 121.12 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 121.12 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 121.12 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 121.12 GB

System Software: ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 (17B1003) - Time since boot: about 5 hours

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Clean up: ⓘ

/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist

/Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF

Executable not found!

One orphan file found. [Clean up]

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.1.14) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.1.14) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.1.14) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.1.14) [Lookup]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (2.0b2 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.9.3 - SDK 10.8) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.3.3 - SDK 10.8) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.asix.driver.ax88179-178a (1.4.0 - SDK 10.9) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.driver.LogJoystick (2.0 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.logitech.driver.LogiGamingMouseFilter (1.0 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.logitech.driver.LogiWheelDriver (1.0 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.logitech.manager.kernel.driver (6.72.1 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs (14.2.288 - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]

/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.logitech.LogiWheelForceFeedback (1.0 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.ni.Fantom.nxtfwdl (1.1.1) [Lookup]

Startup Items: ⓘ

Fantom: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Fantom

noip2: Path: /Library/StartupItems/noip2

Startup items no longer function in OS X Yosemite or later

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 165 Apple tasks

[running] 71 Apple tasks

[killed] 44 Apple tasks

44 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 35 Apple tasks

[loaded] 185 Apple tasks

[running] 76 Apple tasks

[killed] 34 Apple tasks

34 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist (Logitech Inc. - installed 2016-09-18) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-02-15) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist (? 40bd3462 0 - installed 2017-08-03) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]

[running] com.logitech.manager.daemon.plist (Logitech Inc. - installed 2018-01-02) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? a73a8b34 72ac4dde - installed 2017-11-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotify.agent.plist (? dcda45f4 848b1897 - installed 2016-10-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.facebook.agent.plist (? 95fb0bd4 e9648c48 - installed 2016-10-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.paragon.updater.plist (Paragon Software GmbH - installed 2016-04-23) [Lookup]

[not loaded] net.culater.SIMBL.Agent.plist (? 850e6250 5e1e9602 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2016-10-26) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[failed] ch.tripmode.nke.TripMode.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-10-25)

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 0 - installed 2017-02-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-12-14) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-12-03)

[running] com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist (? a7cbca7 345dfe5 - installed 2016-05-03) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-10-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2016-06-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (Shell Script e3fefdd2 - installed 2017-09-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotify.daemon.plist (? 66744841 b1cb5590 - installed 2016-08-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.launch.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-10-25)

[running] com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist (? 595582c 212092b1 - installed 2015-11-02) [Lookup]

[not loaded] net.privatetunnel.ovpnagent.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2016-06-15) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2016-10-26) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (Shell Script 700b9385 - installed 2017-02-21) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist (? d4207e05 0 - installed 2016-10-30) [Lookup] - /Library/Application Support/Wireshark/ChmodBPF/ChmodBPF: Executable not found!

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.pia.pia_manager.plist (London Trust Media Incorporated - installed 2016-12-17) [Lookup]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2018-01-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 57e66107 20cab575 - installed 2017-12-17) [Lookup]

[loaded] net.culater.SIMBL.Agent.plist (? 850e6250 5e1e9602 - installed 2017-07-16) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist (? e782d02b 97f27e3d - installed 2017-02-21) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist MachInit - Hidden

(/etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist)

Mach Init items are deprecated

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.137 (installed 2018-01-10) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-10-25)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 18.009.20050 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2017-05-07) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 28.0.0.137 (installed 2018-01-10) [Lookup]

PepperFlashPlayer: 28.0.0.137 (installed 2018-01-11) [Lookup]

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2015-12-11) [Lookup]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2017-11-05) Check version

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[disabled] DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (installed 2018-01-26)

[enabled] Price Comparison Tool from GoSale.com - GoSale - http://www.gosale.com/ (installed 2018-01-12)

[enabled] Keepa - Amazon Price Tracker - Keepa.com - https://keepa.com (installed 2017-11-24)

[enabled] Honey - Honey Science Corporation - https://www.joinhoney.com (installed 2017-11-07)

[enabled] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2017-10-09)

[disabled] Favicon Bar - Rory Combe - https://github.com/RoryCombe/FaviconBar (installed 2017-04-18)

[disabled] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2017-11-15)

[enabled] The Camelizer - Price Tracker - Cosmic Shovel, Inc. - https://camelcamelcamel.com (installed 2017-11-24)

[enabled] Translate - SideTree.com - Apps for Mac - http://SideTree.com/extensions.html#Translate (installed 2017-11-02)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-12-14) [Lookup]

FUSE (installed 2016-10-19) [Lookup]

Java (installed 2017-11-05) [Lookup]

Logitech Control Center (installed 2016-09-18) [Lookup]

Logi Options Launcher (installed 2018-01-02) [Lookup]

Paragon NTFS for Mac® (installed 2016-10-29) [Lookup]

Seagate Dashboard for Mac OSX (installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

29% WindowServer

23% Preview

7% kernel_task

3% Microsoft Word

3% hidd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

797 MB kernel_task

236 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

90 MB Preview

82 MB Safari

57 MB Finder

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

28 MB 5 MB openvpn

327 KB 311 KB mDNSResponder

37 KB 52 KB Spotify

13 KB 18 KB netbiosd

0 B 992 B SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

2.50 Safari

2.44 Preview

1.98 MATLAB

1.34 WindowServer

1.10 Spotify

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

383 MB Available RAM

25 MB Free RAM

3.63 GB Used RAM

358 MB Cached files

742 MB Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-01-02)

Logitech Options: (installed 2018-01-02)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2018-01-02)

Paint 2: 5.6.6 (installed 2018-01-04)

LanScan: 4.3.2 (installed 2018-01-04)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-01-10)

Adobe Pepper Flash Player: (installed 2018-01-11)

Paint 2: 5.6.7 (installed 2018-01-17)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2018-01-19)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2018-01-19)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2018-01-19)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2018-01-19)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-01-19)

Remote Mouse: 2.900 (installed 2018-01-19)

LanScan: 5.0 (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2018-01-23)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-01-27)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2018-01-27)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ

2018-01-29 12:37:23 SIMBL Agent.app Crash [Open]

Cause: dyld: launch, running initializers

/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

2018-01-27 18:27:40 calibre.app Hang [Open]

2018-01-27 17:48:26 analyticsd Crash [Open]

"CleanMyMac" claims another victim.

That model Mac will run just fine if you get rid of the completely useless junk affecting its performance. Uninstall "BitDefender".

The effects of having used ill-conceived "cleaning" junk may prove more difficult to correct.

I have this problem too, on a 2017 iMac running the public betas of High Sierra. The problem has persisted over the last several beta releases. I don’t have Clean My Mac or Bitdefender or any of that stuff.

It is extremely annoying... with muscle memory you just hit cmd-spacebar and start typing immediately, expecting it to work, and then you look up to realize you’ve just typed some nonsense into a document you had open, because Spotlight didn’t actually trigger.

It it seems to happen primarily when the computer has been idle for a while. It’s almost as though Spotlight is sort of going to sleep somehow, and not waking up right away.

I get the same problem whether using Magic Keyboard via bluetooth, or a usb wired keyboard.

I’ve reported the bug using the Feedback app in the public beta.

😠⚠

Yup. This is driving me crazy.

Macbook Air 13in mid-2011 Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.2

Actually messed up some work due to this bug as a result of miskeying as npydyuan mentioned. I hit the spotlight shortcut, begin typing, and since it never showed up I've accidentally typed a key-command into the focused app, causing a critical problem.

This is not just an annoying bug, it's the kind that causes users' input to be potentially harmfully mis-interpreted: a cardinal no-no in any interface design convention.

JosephKnight wrote:

This is not just an annoying bug, it's the kind that causes users' input to be potentially harmfully mis-interpreted: a cardinal no-no in any interface design convention.

My two cents. I have 4 different Macs running High Sierra 10.13.2. I've never seen this behavior. So I'm thinking, either the command key and/or space bar are not being fully depressed or the keyboard is dirty.

Other users who do NOT have your despised software installed are also having this spotlight shortcut problem. You don't just imply that this problem is a result of CleanMyMac you outright state it. You sir, are incorrect and your dismissal of this legitimate problem is quite possibly harming our attempts to find a solution. In short, you are not helping.

You showed up to state how your interest is now zero and proceed to write a 4 volume novel of spite. Please don't downplay our issue with your vitriol. It's my geniune hope that future readers of this forum topic will ignore your ego-centric post regardless of your lengthy involvement with this site.

No. That's a bit insulting to be honest. If that were the case I'd have mis-keys while typing these words, occasionally missing a space, or while using other command shortcuts.

It's not hardware. It is certainly software.

Thank you but your suggestion truly NEEDS to be dismissed in the search for answers.

JosephKnight wrote:

No. That's a bit insulting to be honest.

If you find that insulting I doubt anyone can help. If it was an Apple software problem we would all experience it. It may be caused by some other third-party app. But you're on your own.