Issues with reformatting / MPB freezing

[Spencetacular]

Hi, I have a mid-2010 Macbook Pro.
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A few months ago, I noticed that my Mac was having some weird issues. If I let a program run too long, I'd get stuck in the program. It usually happens with Safari. So I can switch windows but it always says I'm in Safari so I can't actually do anything in any other program, even if I quit Safari (the window would just close but I would still be "stuck"). I tried zapping the PRAM and the MBP is faster now but the freezing issue persists.
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So I decided to reformat my laptop and now am worried since I've been using my laptop for a few months with this problem. If I restore using Time Machine, I'm going to lose the files ive downloaded or created recently if I go too far back, correct?
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Anyone else have any other suggestions to fix the freezing problem? I thought about reformatting then only pulling select files from Time Machine over so I don't accidentally copy over whatever is causing the freezing issue again.

thanks!
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[8CoreWhore]

bump

 

[jenzjen]

I thought about reformatting then only pulling select files from Time Machine over so I don't accidentally copy over whatever is causing the freezing issue again.

This makes sense, clean install followed by a SMC and PRAM reset and then just use the laptop for a few days. If the problem is gone, start to copy back select files vs a TM restore.

 

[Spencetacular]

Thanks I will put some time aside to do that soon

for my own sanity can anyone tell me if what I said about going too far back is accurate? "If I restore using Time Machine, I'm going to lose the files ive downloaded or created recently if I go too far back, correct?"

I should have also mentioned that simply reinstalling snow leopard didn't work.

anyone else ever encounter this freezing problem?

 

[broadsword]

Be careful with Time Machine. If you erase the disk and start with a clean install because of a problem, you should avoid restoring with Time Machine. Since Time Machine backs up system files (unless you tell it otherwise) if you restore from Time Machine you could get the problem-files back onto your disk and the problem you're having will be persist.

Instead, back up your important files manually on a separate disk and start over as clean as possible. I made this mistake myself...