6 Basic Troubleshooting Tips Every Mac Owner Should Know
If you’ve been a PC user for years, it’s kind of overwhelming to transition to Mac. Yet, it’s easy to get used to. Mac has so many good features to boast of that PC users can only dream of. Plus, it’s safer. That’s why many switch to Mac despite the hefty price tag that it comes with.
But like other operating systems and devices, Mac, too, encounters a few issues and sometimes acts up. Fortunately, fixing those common issues is a piece of cake. If you’ve just switched to Mac and encountered troubleshooting problems, don’t worry, there’s no need to panic and call service providers. Most of the troubleshooting issues can be fixed on your own. How? Here are some tips.
1. Reboot
There are various reasons why your Mac is acting up. But, regardless, sometimes, a reboot gets the issue fixed. It’s one of the easiest and first solutions that you can try, in case your app or your whole Mac starts to misbehave. The safest way to do this, in case you’re a new user, is through the Apple menu. Just click the Apple logo, which is located in the top left corner of your screen. Then, press restart. If you have apps or windows open, and you want to re-open them, after your computer reboots, don’t forget to mark them in the “Reopen windows When Logging Back In” check box before you click the restart button.
2. Reset the System Management Controller
Also known as SMC, the System Management Controller can also help you in case your Mac has troubleshooting issues. However, several different steps are needed to reset the SMC, unlike rebooting. Also, note that the steps vary depending on the platform you’re using. If you’re using a Mac desktop, you will need to power it down first. Then, unplug the power cord. But don’t turn it on yet as you’ll have to wait for 15 seconds. After that, plug it back in, but wait for five seconds before you press your desktop’s power button. Resetting the SMC on a MacBook is quite different too, and it’s not as simple as resetting it on a desktop. If you’re using a MacBook, first, turn it off. After that, plug the USB-C power adapter or the MagSafe. Then, on the left side of your keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option plus the power button at the same time and hold for 10 seconds. After releasing all the keys, reconnect the power adapter. Lastly, press the power button again to turn it back on.
3. Boot into Safe Mode
For this solution, you’ll need to restart your device and press Shift the key immediately. You’ll need to hold it until a progress bar appears at the bottom of your device’s screen. This indicates that your device is booting into safe mode. Doing this will delete several additional caches, which are probably causing your Mac to act up. Once you’re in Safe Mode, reboot as you normally would.
4. Repair Disk Permissions
This solution is more doable if you’re using OSX Yosemite or older. If your Mac still uses one of them, open the Disk Utility (depending on the version of your Mac’s operating system, you’ll either find it in Launchpad or launch it via Spotlight). Then select the primary hard drive you’re using and click on Repair Disk Permissions.
5. Delete Cache
Your Mac isn’t the only thing that uses heavy cache; your apps too. And from time to time, those cache folders can become corrupted. This causes issues on your Mac or applications. Sometimes, they lag, crash, or perform slow. To fix this, sometimes, all you have to do is to clear your caches. To do that, just open Finder and press Command > Shift > g. Then, type in ~/Library/Caches. Inside the Library, you’ll see a folder of Caches. Open it and drag all of its content into the trash. You can also just press Command + Shift + Delete. Repeat these steps with /Library/Caches and System/Library/Caches folders too.
6. Update
One of the reasons why your Mac is acting up is because of its outdated operating system. Regardless of your device or operating system, updates were made to fix bugs and other issues that are causing your device to lag, slow down, or hand. So, if your Mac is misbehaving, it could be because of the older version of your OS. Thus, you’ll need to consider updating it via Apps Store.
It’s so easy to panic and worries if your Mac is not working properly. But it could be because of troubleshooting issues. Luckily, most of them are easy to fix.
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