activity monitor seems to hang & does finder always run?

[Sossity]

I went into the applications>utlities>activity monitor, & opened it, but it seemed to hang, the mouse pointer goes to the rainbow circle & could not produce any results of the laptop activity. The only thing I had open was the finder, (of which I cannot seem to ever quit.) I forced quit the activity monitor about 2-3 times after I opened it. Does it take awhile to read the activity?

I can x out of the red circle in the top left corner of the finder window, but I see a small blue spot underneath the finder icon at the bottom in the dock.

Does the finder just stay open? it seems to be running whenever I start the computer up.

other wise everything else (other apps) seems to open up & close ok.

 

[spinnerlys]

Finder runs all the time, like Explorer does on Windows.

What Mac OS X version do you have and what kind of account do you run?

Has a restart fixed the Activity Monitor problem? Have you tried repairing permissions via Disk Utility?

Have you installed any other software in the last weeks?

Since when does the Activity Monitor problem occur, and do other applications behave similarly?


Btw, to be able to quit Finder, open Terminal and enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 1

It will add a Quit Finder menu under Finder.

To remove it, open Terminal and enter this:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 0

 

[Sossity]

Finder runs all the time, like Explorer does on Windows.

What Mac OS X version do you have and what kind of account do you run?

Has a restart fixed the Activity Monitor problem? Have you tried repairing permissions via Disk Utility?

Have you installed any other software in the last weeks?

Since when does the Activity Monitor problem occur, and do other applications behave similarly?


Btw, to be able to quit Finder, open Terminal and enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 1

It will add a Quit Finder menu under Finder.

To remove it, open Terminal and enter this:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 0

I am running os snowleopard 10.6.3, I just got this laptop this Monday, & I have installed some other programs without too much trouble. The other programs seem ok, it was just the activity monitor.

I looked this up, & in apple thread, someone had the same problem, & found that by moving the app back to the utilites folder, the problem was solved. So I tried this, & it worked, it seems some apps cannot be moved from the applications folder.

where do I open the terminal? I am new to macs, so I dont want to get too deep into the system files & screw something up.

Is finder supposed to stay open all the time?

 

[alust2013]

Finder is supposed to stay open all the time. It is just the system's application that runs in the background doing whatever, it really doesn't take up any appreciable computing resources.

 

[spinnerlys]

I looked this up, & in apple thread, someone had the same problem, & found that by moving the app back to the utilites folder, the problem was solved. So I tried this, & it worked, it seems some apps cannot be moved from the applications folder.

You shouldn't move applications around, some can be stored anywhere you want, but some need to be where they already are.

where do I open the terminal? I am new to macs, so I dont want to get too deep into the system files & screw something up.

That's like a contradictio in adjectio, as you want to open Terminal, but don't want to get too deep to screw things up.
Terminal is located at Macintosh HD / Applications / Utilities / Terminal, or use SPOTLIGHT to find any application or file you want (except system files).

Is finder supposed to stay open all the time?

As already said in my first reply, yes, as it is like Explorer in Windows.




Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.

Mac OS X Basics

Switch 101 - guide with articles made by Apple on how to accustom yourself, after you switched to Mac OS X from Windows​

Mac 101 - How to get started with Mac OS X​

Find out how - tutorial videos made by Apple on how to do certain thing in Mac OS X​

Pro tips - tips made available by Apple for easier ways of doing certain tasks​

Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts - Learn about common Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.​

Mac OS X Beginner's Guide by MacRumors - learn about software, media players, shortcuts and some useful tips, tricks and hints​

Mac Guides - tutorials, product guides and more​

Mac Guides - Finding Mac Software​

MRoogle - a very effective tool to search these fora using Google and made available by edesignuk, introductory threads: 1, 2 and 3​

"How to maximise your MacRumors troubleshooting experience" created by mad jew in 2006​