Help - finder constantly freezing...

[SWAN808]

Hi all...Im running mavericks 10.9.5 on a 2012 i7 mac mini. Everything was working great until the last week where the finder window stops working. Sometimes the desktop is frozen in the finder window, if I navigate, then the window is just blank white. If I relaunch finder, then I get about a minute usage then it freezes again...

Any advice?

 

[Fishrrman]

Here's something to try.
It won't "disturb" anything if it doesn't work.

Do this:
- open the "users & groups" preference pane
- click the lock icon and enter your password
- now, click the "+" sign (above the lock icon) to create a NEW account
- create a new, "temporary" account with an easy-to-remember name and password. Give it administrative privileges.
- now, LOG OUT of your "regular" account, and log into the new account.

Do the problems persist?
Or... do they disappear?

If the Mac suddenly starts running better in the new account, then something in your regular account is mucking things up.

If the problems persist, then you know it's not related to your account, but to something else.

Give this a try, takes only a couple of minutes.
When you're done with the temporary account, just delete it.

 

[SWAN808]

Here's something to try.
It won't "disturb" anything if it doesn't work.

Do this:
- open the "users & groups" preference pane
- click the lock icon and enter your password
- now, click the "+" sign (above the lock icon) to create a NEW account
- create a new, "temporary" account with an easy-to-remember name and password. Give it administrative privileges.
- now, LOG OUT of your "regular" account, and log into the new account.

Do the problems persist?
Or... do they disappear?

If the Mac suddenly starts running better in the new account, then something in your regular account is mucking things up.

If the problems persist, then you know it's not related to your account, but to something else.

Give this a try, takes only a couple of minutes.
When you're done with the temporary account, just delete it.

Hi thanks very much for the help - this actually seems to work - in that the problem does not persist with a new user....is there something I can look at in my main account to help solve it?

 

[Gregg2]

Hi thanks very much for the help - this actually seems to work - in that the problem does not persist with a new user....is there something I can look at in my main account to help solve it?

Sure. You can delete com.apple.finder.plist from your ~/Library/Preferences folder. (Note: ~ equals your Home folder - no other Library folder will do)

 

[SWAN808]

Sure. You can delete com.apple.finder.plist from your ~/Library/Preferences folder. (Note: ~ equals your Home folder - no other Library folder will do)

hi - thanks - I tried that but unfortunately it did not seem to fix the problem...I want to command shift H - user home - then in library preferences, deleted the finder.plist...then restarted...

 

[SWAN808]

anyone have any other ideas to help with this? I really dont want to do a re-install-because this is an audio production machine and everything otherwise is working well...I do have a time machine back-up...could this help?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If the "temporary" account works, when your "regular" account does not, you don't have to do a "complete re-install".

What I'd suggest:

Create a new, THIRD account.
This time, give it a meaningful name, similar to your "regular" account.
Don't put anything in it, yet.

Once it's created, log into it.
Does it work as well as the "temp" account -- that is to say, free from problems?

If so, I suggest that you start "migrating" things slowly and methodically from your "old, regular" account into the new one.

You don't have to "move applications" -- however, you may need to relocate some application support files.

Doing a "manual migration" requires thought and work, but it can be done.

VERY IMPORTANT:
You -CANNOT- copy the sub folders in your home folder "as folders".
That is to say, you cannot simply select those folders named "Mail", "Movies", "Music", "Pictures", and then copy them into the home folder of the new account.

HOWEVER:
You -CAN- open each folder, then select items inside, and copy them into their respective locations in the new home folder.

Mail is a special case.
You may have to create a new Mail account in the new account, then "import" from your old account.

SOMETHING inside your old home folder is messing things up.
Could be something specialized related to your audio production.
This is why you should "build" the new account carefully, testing and re-testing with each new "addition".

Eventually you should reach a point where the new account is "complete enough" so that you can just delete your initial account and continue on with the new one...

 

[SWAN808]

thanks for the help...I may resort to a new user if I need to down the line. However - something strange happened. When I happened to eject my storage/time machine disk - suddenly Finder started working as usual. No more lock-ups...

Very strange but at least it works...

Thanks Fisherman for the input...!

 

[SWAN808]

the problem started again...argh...maybe the external disk made it worse but its still there...
[doublepost=1462568736][/doublepost]does anyone know a tutorial to manually migrate a user account?

 

[BLUEDOG314]

I would suggest looking in activity monitor and make sure you select show all processes. There could be something running only in your user but in the background causing the issue. Potentially remove login items. Also try booting in safe mode in your user, could be a third party kernel extension.