Imagine this frustrating scenario: You’re in the middle of performing an important task on your Mac, and suddenly, everything stops. You can’t click anything, and the screen is frozen.
This can be a nightmare for anyone using a Mac desktop or MacBook laptop.
We’ll explore what causes your Mac to freeze and show you some easy solutions to get it working again. If your PC is frozen, try these steps to fix the problem: Click here.
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Man frustrated by frozen computer (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
4 reasons why your Mac freezes
1. Applications that consume excessive memory or CPU resources and hang
2. Newly installed extensions or drivers cause compatibility issues with MacOS
3. Keyboard, mouse or other external devices malfunction
4. Malware infection increases CPU and memory load.
A woman who is frustrated by her computer freezing (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
How to Fix a Frozen Mac
Tip 1 — Force Quit the Application
If an application freezes, it may be temporary. Wait a minute or two to see if your Mac remains frozen. If it does, you may need to force quit the frozen application.
To force quit an application, use the following key command: Command + Option + Escape. The Force Quit menu will open, or App Dock Icon Select Force QuiSelect from the menu:
Woman using a laptop (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
Tip 2 — Restart your Mac
If Force Quit doesn’t work, restart your Mac. If you can move the mouse pointer, Apple Menu In the upper left corner Reboot.
If you can’t control the pointer, there are a few other things you can do.
- If you have an older Mac desktop or MacBook with a DVD drive, Cmd + Ctrl + Eject
- If you have a newer Mac with Touch ID, Cmd + Ctrl + Options + Power button
- If you have a newer Mac and the steps above don’t work, Hold down of Power Switch Force your Mac to turn off.
Mac on desktop (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
Tip 3 — Free up RAM
Running out of RAM can also cause your Mac to freeze. Random Access Memory (RAM) is the memory your Mac uses to run applications and process active tasks. When you open an application, load a file, or perform a task, it is loaded into your Mac’s RAM for quick access.
If your Mac doesn’t have enough RAM to handle all active processes, it will start using virtual memory. Virtual memory is a portion of your hard drive that acts as temporary RAM. Virtual memory is much slower than using real RAM because it takes time to read data from your hard drive. Here are some easy ways to free up RAM on your Mac:
- Close unused applications This is because it consumes RAM even when running in the background.
- Mac operating system and applications LatestNew versions often include performance improvements and bug fixes.
Delete applications you no longer use Free up RAM and storage space.
Mac computer keys (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
Tip 4 — Disconnect external devices
Sometimes, some peripherals can cause your Mac to freeze. If this happens, shut down your Mac and disconnect all peripherals. External Devices — Keyboard, mouse, external monitor, etc. Power Switch Restart your Mac and check if it’s still frozen.
Tip 5 — Uninstall unresponsive apps
If a particular app keeps causing your Mac to freeze, consider uninstalling it.
- Here’s how to uninstall an unresponsive app:
- go to application Open the folder and find the app
Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
- pull Move the application to the trash icon
- or, Left click Select in app Move to Trash
Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
Tip 6 — Update your software
Sometimes, software bugs in older versions of macOS can cause your Mac to freeze. Apple regularly improves its software to keep your Mac running smoothly, so it’s important to keep your macOS up to date.
Here’s how to make sure you’re running the latest version of macOS:
- Click on the Apple menu in the top left System setting
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Steps to update software Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
- click general
- click Software updatesIf there is an update available, you should install it now.
- Next, you need to update the app. This can be done by App Store Check the Updates tab.
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Tip 7 — Reboot into Safe Mode
If a corrupted extension is freezing your Mac, you can identify the cause by starting up in Safe Mode. This special startup loads only files essential to macOS and performs troubleshooting. If your Mac doesn’t have the same problem after starting up in Safe Mode, the problem is probably with an app or extension.
Starting up in Safe Mode depends on the generation of your Mac. Intel-based Macs (pre-2020), follow these steps:
- Shut down your Mac and wait 10 seconds
- Restart your Mac Ownership shift key
- Release the Shift key when the login window appears
If you have a newer Mac running on Apple Silicon (2021 or newer), follow these steps to restart in Safe Mode:
- Shut down your Mac and wait 10 seconds.
- Press and hold Power Switch Until the launch options window appears
- choose Boot disk.
- Press shift key click Continue In safe mode.
- release shift key.
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Tip 8 — Repair your disk with Disk Utility
Problems with your startup disk can cause your Mac to freeze from time to time. Luckily, Apple has a built-in tool to repair problems with your Mac’s startup disk. Here’s how to repair the disk using the Disk Utility tool:
Steps to update software Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
- click utility
- Open Disk Utility
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Steps to repair a disk with Disk Utility (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutson)
- Select your startup disk in the sidebar
- click first aid Disk Utility Toolbar
Important points about the cart
If your Mac freezes, don’t panic. Follow these 8 tips and your Mac will be back up and running in no time. Don’t forget to keep your Mac up to date and remove old applications and extensions that you no longer use. This is an easy thing to overlook (I sometimes do), but it can free up space on your Mac and keep everything running smoothly.
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