Getting started

What to do when you’re struggling to do anything at all.

> System folder

Don’t start to panic: chances are it’s a minor and easily fixed issue that you can sort out yourself. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to ensure your Mac is turned off and then restart it while holding down Cmd-Opt-p-r. This resets the non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) that your Mac uses to store basic settings. Keep the keys pressed until you’ve heard the startup chime twice. No luck? Restart again but this time hold down Cmd-r. This will launch the Recovery console from which you can run Disk Utility’s First Aid feature.

> My Mac crashes on startup. Why?

It’s likely to be a software problem. If your Mac contains Apple’s M1 chip, turn on your Mac and keep pressing the power button until Startup Options appears; select your startup disk, press and hold Shift and click "Continue In Safe Mode". On an Intel Mac, just restart or start your Mac with the Shift key held down until you see the login window. If the problem persists in Safe Mode, reinstall macOS entirely; if it doesn’t, unplug external hardware and remove login items from System Preferences > Users & Groups.

> My Mac keeps freezing. What can I do?

Is it your whole Mac or just Finder? If it’s the latter you can restart Finder (which includes the menu bar and your desktop) by clicking the Apple menu > Force Quit > Finder > Relaunch. If it’s your whole Mac, restart without any external hardware and see if it solves the problem: if it does, re-connect things until the problem comes back. Whatever you added most recently is likely to be the culprit, so check the manufacturer’s website for updated driver software.

> My Mac takes forever to log me in. Why?

If it takes ages to log you in, have a look under your user name in System Preferences > Users & Groups. This enables you to see your login items, which are the apps and app helpers that load when you log into your Mac – things such as cloud storage services or the little apps that live in your menu bar. The more things your Mac has to load, the longer login will take. To remove a login item, select it and then click on the "-" sign. This doesn’t uninstall it; it just stops it loading at login.