Apps keep crashing on me

[jojoba]

Over the past month or so, apps have frequently been crashing on me. Several different apps are doing this (e.g. Safari, Bookends, Word, Nvalt, Mail) and I can't see any patterns to when it's happening. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? I have a Macbook Ari 2013 8GB 256GB and I'm running Sierra 10.12.6.

 

[Audit13]

By crashing, you mean the apps stop responding, just quit, quit and restart?

 

[jojoba]

By crashing, you mean the apps stop responding, just quit, quit and restart?

They just quit, and then I get that standard message stating that "App X quit unexpectedly" and asking me if I would like to report it to Apple. No freezing or other signs of trouble, everything looks good until the app just closes and then that report-message shows up.

 

[Audit13]

Does this happen when running one app at a time? Does this happen with Sierra's included apps liked safari, iTunes, or mail?

I recommend looking for a pattern if possible.

Worse case, clean installation of Sierra, load and use one app at a time.

 

[jojoba]

Does this happen when running one app at a time? Does this happen with Sierra's included apps liked safari, iTunes, or mail?

I recommend looking for a pattern if possible.

Worse case, clean installation of Sierra, load and use one app at a time.

Thanks for this. The problem is that I can't, so far, see any patterns. It happens both to Sierra included apps like Safari and Mail, and external apps like Bookends and Nvalt. There is also no (as far as I can see) pattern to what I do immediately before the apps quit. I always have at least 7 apps running at the same time (usually more), so I don't know if running one app at the time would make a difference.

Perhaps I'll consider a clean install.

 

[Audit13]

Is the drive close to full? Does activity monitor give any clues? Fans running at full speed? Temperature of the components?

 

[ZapNZs]

Also, have you tried booting into safe mode and seeing if the issue persists?
Have you created a new User account to see if it happens on all accounts?
Have you performed the standard actions of the PRAM/SMC reset and running Disk Utility First Aid & the Apple Diagnostic test?
Have you reviewed the actual crash logs at ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ ? (these often can help immensely in identifying the issue)

 

[kohlson]

This could be many different things. But as suggested, how much disk space is free? Has Disk First Aid completed with exit code "0" (which is good)?

 

[jojoba]

Thanks so much, everyone, and sorry for the slow response, I was caught up in work this week.

Is the drive close to full? Does activity monitor give any clues? Fans running at full speed? Temperature of the components?

I have 65 GB free space left, and I can't remember the last time my fan started running.

Also, have you tried booting into safe mode and seeing if the issue persists?
Have you created a new User account to see if it happens on all accounts?
Have you performed the standard actions of the PRAM/SMC reset and running Disk Utility First Aid & the Apple Diagnostic test?
Have you reviewed the actual crash logs at ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ ? (these often can help immensely in identifying the issue)

Thanks a lot for all these suggestions - I haven't done any of this except Disk Utility but will go through your list systematically. I've started saving crash logs.

This could be many different things. But as suggested, how much disk space is free? Has Disk First Aid completed with exit code "0" (which is good)?

65GB free, and the Disk First Aid completed with exit code 0.

 

[Fishrrman]

Suggestion:
Download EtreCheck (it's free), run it, post the results here.

 

[jojoba]

Suggestion:
Download EtreCheck (it's free), run it, post the results here.

Thanks for this - here are the results:

Hardware Information:

MacBook Air

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2

1 1,3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

8 GB RAM


Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 5000 - VRAM: (null)


Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 5.0.5

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3

AirPlay: Version: 2.0

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 503.2

AppleTimeSyncAudioClock: Version: 1.0


System Software:

macOS 10.12.6 (16G29) - Uptime: 12 days 9:36:24


Disk Information:

APPLE SSD SD0256F disk0 : (251 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209,7 MB

disk0s2 (disk0s2) <not mounted>: 250,14 GB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB


USB Information:

TOSHIBA External USB 3.0


Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller


FireWire Information:


Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


Kernel Extensions:


Problem System Launch Daemons:

[failed] com.apple.captiveagent.plist

[failed] com.apple.DataDetectorsSourceAccess.plist

[failed] com.apple.InstallerDiagnostics.installerdiagd.plist

[failed] com.apple.mobile.keybagd.plist

[failed] com.apple.periodic-monthly.plist

[failed] com.apple.periodic-weekly.plist

[failed] com.apple.systemstats.analysis.plist

[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist

[failed] com.apple.xpc.smd.plist


Problem System Launch Agents:

[failed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist

[failed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist

[failed] com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist

[failed] com.apple.DiskArbitrationAgent.plist

[failed] com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist

[failed] com.apple.rcd.plist

[failed] com.apple.xpc.loginitemregisterd.plist

[loaded] com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist


Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist

[loaded] de.verbi.SMJobBlessHelper12.plist


Launch Agents:


User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist

[loaded] com.akamai.single-user-client.plist

[loaded] com.avast.home.userinit.plist

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.home.userinit.plist

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist

[loaded] com.setapp.DesktopClient.SetappAgent.plist

[failed] com.setapp.DesktopClient.SetappUpdater.plist

[loaded] com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist


User Login Items:

Box Sync

Alfred

BetterTouchTool

Dropbox

Google Drive

TotalFinder

Default Folder X

SpiderOakONE

NoteBookHelper.service

CrossOver CD Helper

HazelHelper

Box Local Com Server

DEVONthink Sorter


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Air Display Preferences

Akamai NetSession Preferences

Citrix ShareFile Sync

Flash Player

GPGPreferences

Hazel

Logitech Preference Manager

MacFUSE (Tuxera)

TeXDistPrefPane

Tuxera NTFS


Internet Plug-ins:

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin


User Internet Plug-ins:


Bad Fonts:

None


Time Machine:

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Destinations:

Time machine [Local]

Total size: 750 GB

Total number of backups: 22

Oldest backup: 2017-07-18 21:00:20 +0000

Last backup: 2017-08-30 06:13:20 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 750 GB > (Disk size Zero KB X 3)

Other storage [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 249,73 GB

Total number of backups: 5

Oldest backup: 2017-09-01 22:22:50 +0000

Last backup: 2017-09-02 03:54:21 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 249,73 GB > (Disk size Zero KB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU:

12% WindowServer

4% EtreCheck

3% Box Sync Monitor

2% coreaudiod

1% Box Sync

1% hidd

0% Safari

0% Google Drive

0% apsd

0% Amphetamine


Top Processes by Memory:

778 MB fsck_hfs

336 MB PDF Expert

205 MB Safari

172 MB Google Drive

172 MB Mail

123 MB Skype

98 MB Microsoft PowerPoint

90 MB Finder

90 MB MailMate

90 MB mds_stores


Virtual Memory Statistics:

73 MB Free RAM

2.39 GB Active RAM

2.33 GB Inactive RAM

1.92 GB Wired RAM

205.30 GB Page-ins

1.00 GB Page-outs

 

[Fishrrman]

From the EtreCheck list:
"User Login Items:
Box Sync
Alfred
BetterTouchTool
Dropbox
Google Drive
TotalFinder
Default Folder X
SpiderOakONE
NoteBookHelper.service
CrossOver CD Helper
HazelHelper
Box Local Com Server
DEVONthink Sorter"

I'd disable most or all of this stuff
I'd also disable Avast and Dropbox
I'd disconnect any attached USB devices (at least temporarily).

Then... run that way for a while.
If things suddenly get better, I'd re-enable login items ONE AT A TIME, and keep WRITTEN NOTES as to what I did.
If problems then re-appear, you can look back at the notes, and see at what point a new item was introduced, after which the problems began...

 

[Erdbeertorte]

Seems most of your apps/plugins (Flash Player 10.6? Current version is 26) are outdated.

Also Avast (Avira etc.) is more malware for a Mac than any kind of help. Have a look on their website how to remove it completely.

A reboot after over 12 days couldn't also hurt.


Edit: Total Finder now has a version with real El Capitan and Sierra compatibility. Do you still use the old one? That could cause many crashes.

 

[kohlson]

As cited above, it looks like you have a lot of background apps (Alfred, BTT, et al) running. If you're like me, you added these things on a computer long, long ago that is now far, far, away. So if you can, uninstall the ones you no longer use. Best to google "uninstall Name" to get the instructions, if any, on how best to clean up. Also, go into login items in SysPrefs Users, and delete the items you're no longer using. From the list you (EtreCheck) supplied, I think there may be some work items on there, so hard to do without them. For those, make sure you're running the latest versions, unless there are known issues with the version of MacOSX you're running. Unfortunately, these things are hard to diagnose for root cause. But the results from Disk Utility indicate that the disk and volume are good.

 

[jojoba]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

From the EtreCheck list:
"User Login Items:
Box Sync
Alfred
BetterTouchTool
Dropbox
Google Drive
TotalFinder
Default Folder X
SpiderOakONE
NoteBookHelper.service
CrossOver CD Helper
HazelHelper
Box Local Com Server
DEVONthink Sorter"

I'd disable most or all of this stuff
I'd also disable Avast and Dropbox
I'd disconnect any attached USB devices (at least temporarily).

Then... run that way for a while.
If things suddenly get better, I'd re-enable login items ONE AT A TIME, and keep WRITTEN NOTES as to what I did.
If problems then re-appear, you can look back at the notes, and see at what point a new item was introduced, after which the problems began...

OK, I've disabled a lot of this but left a couple of them (Dropbox and Box) because I use them for work.

Seems most of your apps/plugins (Flash Player 10.6? Current version is 26) are outdated.

Also Avast (Avira etc.) is more malware for a Mac than any kind of help. Have a look on their website how to remove it completely.

A reboot after over 12 days couldn't also hurt.


Edit: Total Finder now has a version with real El Capitan and Sierra compatibility. Do you still use the old one? That could cause many crashes.

Ouch
I've updated Flash Player (however, the 10.6-plug in still shows up in Etre Check. Can't figure out how to remove it completely) and deleted Total Finder (I was using the old one) and Avast, plus rebooted.

As cited above, it looks like you have a lot of background apps (Alfred, BTT, et al) running. If you're like me, you added these things on a computer long, long ago that is now far, far, away. So if you can, uninstall the ones you no longer use. Best to google "uninstall Name" to get the instructions, if any, on how best to clean up. Also, go into login items in SysPrefs Users, and delete the items you're no longer using. From the list you (EtreCheck) supplied, I think there may be some work items on there, so hard to do without them. For those, make sure you're running the latest versions, unless there are known issues with the version of MacOSX you're running. Unfortunately, these things are hard to diagnose for root cause. But the results from Disk Utility indicate that the disk and volume are good.

I've done some housekeeping now and deleted apps, login items and extensions I don't use, and made sure everything I use is up to date.

I also haven't had anything crash on me since 1 September. And still have plenty of strategies to try out from all the posts above. Thanks everybody