with the new operating system. More likely than not, there is probably a program that loads at start up that is causing your issue.
I haven't owned a Mac since the turn of the century, but back then the programs that loaded at startup were call "inits". Whenever I had a conflict I would drag half of the inits out of the system folder and restart. If the issue went away, I would drag half of the inits that I took out back into the system folder and then restarted again. I would continue to move the init startup files back an forth using this method until I was able to determine which startup file, or combination of startup files, were causing the problem.
I also recall that whenever I installed a new version of the Mac system I invariably had problems. Ever since going over to the PC side I have made it a point to never install a version of windows that did not come with the machine.
The 'Force Quit' option, for one, usually eliminates the need to restart the whole box. You just need to re-open the program that quit. If it's the same program over and over, then it's likely as Hammer suggests and you've got your culprit. (Whatever version of the OS it is you're talking about. I'm inferring by new you mean 'new' to you.)
is your mac an old mac with the 'new' operating system
when that starts happening four years out - there may be too many cells that have gone bad in your hard drive or Ram chip -- bring it in for a check up
Most likely culprit is a corrupted app or document.
First back up your files. Do that IMMEDIATELY if you haven't already. There's a chance your disk could fail.
Second, open Disk Utility, run "Verify Disk." Chances are, you have issues with your disk that need repair. They may have been caused by your system freezes, and not be the underlying cause, but they'll make matters worse.
Once you've done that, if you continue to have problems, go to System Preferences>Users & Groups, check your account settings and see what apps are set to load at startup. Make sure everything's compatible with whatever version of the OS you're running. If in doubt, turn all those auto-loads off and see if your problems clear up.
Then note what's running when you have trouble. Chances are there's a single bad app or document. Even if an app is compatible with OS X, it might be corrupted and need to be reinstalled.
If problems continue, the most likely issue is something got corrupted while installing OS X update and you need to reinstall the operating system. That's might take a couple of hours (or not) but is but not super hard.
Last step, unless you really enjoy puttering with your computer: Go to Genius Bar.
What version of OS X is it ? What are the hardware specs of your machine ? Amount of RAM ? processor ? number of cores ? Than ask what apps are you running when it freezes ?
Before jumping to conclusions about bad chips and the like, these questions need to be answered. It could be a simple matter of trying to do too much with an underpowered machine or running an unstable app.
Oh - bad advice - I have owned Macs ever since they came into existence - and have a great deal of experience with them - and Headhunter has described problems I have had with a Mac after more than three years of ownership
take the bone out of your ass and stick another one in
Safari or your app store? I downloaded Mavericks and it was nice at first, but slowly I began to have issues the aforementioned being the biggest two. My IT guy at work told me to stop downloading so much porn. I couldn't update Mavericks because the app store crashed instantly or wouldn't open. After much searching I couldn't find a solution other than restarting and then holding down control + R. As a new Mac user that seemed like a nefarious idea at first, but I was assured it was easy. I hit "reinstall OS X" when it popped up and two hours later I was back in business.
Shut the computer off and plug it in to the wall.
Hold down the left shift, option and control and the power button for 10 seconds. Turn it back on and it should be much improved. Apple.com thread about it - ( New Window )
You said in a previous post that you were running mostly Safari and Chrome. This is with a 4 yr old Desktop Mac ? Then you probably have 2 to 4 gb of RAM. Thats slow by today's standards but it should be enough to surf.
Are you having problems on the same websites ? Are the sites running Flash ? If so , make sure you're on the latest version of Flash , 14.0 when you run Safari. For Chrome, that won't help because their own version of Flash is built in.
Are the troublesome sites not running Flash ? Then the problem may be malicious or poorly written Javascript on these sites. Hopefully BBI is not one of them ;)
Heres some troubleshooting you can try in Safari, In the menu go to Preferences - > Security and uncheck "enable Javascript". Unfortunately this will disable features of some sites, but if your problems go away, at least you'll know what caused them.
It probably wouldn't hurt to go to Disk Utility and do a Repair disk.
I had some similar problems to Headhunter's with an even older IMac. I followed a few of your pointers particularly disabling Javascript and it seems better. I could not find out what version of Flash I have (if any). I am constantly getting messages regarding Allow Adobe Flash and I usually say no unless the site won't work with a no and then I click allow. I never understood what that means anyway. Still, in a limited time since I read your post, it seems better. Thanks for the help.
I haven't owned a Mac since the turn of the century, but back then the programs that loaded at startup were call "inits". Whenever I had a conflict I would drag half of the inits out of the system folder and restart. If the issue went away, I would drag half of the inits that I took out back into the system folder and then restarted again. I would continue to move the init startup files back an forth using this method until I was able to determine which startup file, or combination of startup files, were causing the problem.
I also recall that whenever I installed a new version of the Mac system I invariably had problems. Ever since going over to the PC side I have made it a point to never install a version of windows that did not come with the machine.
First back up your files. Do that IMMEDIATELY if you haven't already. There's a chance your disk could fail.
Second, open Disk Utility, run "Verify Disk." Chances are, you have issues with your disk that need repair. They may have been caused by your system freezes, and not be the underlying cause, but they'll make matters worse.
Once you've done that, if you continue to have problems, go to System Preferences>Users & Groups, check your account settings and see what apps are set to load at startup. Make sure everything's compatible with whatever version of the OS you're running. If in doubt, turn all those auto-loads off and see if your problems clear up.
Then note what's running when you have trouble. Chances are there's a single bad app or document. Even if an app is compatible with OS X, it might be corrupted and need to be reinstalled.
If problems continue, the most likely issue is something got corrupted while installing OS X update and you need to reinstall the operating system. That's might take a couple of hours (or not) but is but not super hard.
Last step, unless you really enjoy puttering with your computer: Go to Genius Bar.
Before jumping to conclusions about bad chips and the like, these questions need to be answered. It could be a simple matter of trying to do too much with an underpowered machine or running an unstable app.
take the bone out of your ass and stick another one in
Shut the computer off and plug it in to the wall.
Hold down the left shift, option and control and the power button for 10 seconds. Turn it back on and it should be much improved.
Apple.com thread about it - ( New Window )
Four years old?? Anyone at the Genius Bar would likely tell you that you have to upgrade that thing if you expect it to continue just working.
Are you having problems on the same websites ? Are the sites running Flash ? If so , make sure you're on the latest version of Flash , 14.0 when you run Safari. For Chrome, that won't help because their own version of Flash is built in.
Are the troublesome sites not running Flash ? Then the problem may be malicious or poorly written Javascript on these sites. Hopefully BBI is not one of them ;)
Heres some troubleshooting you can try in Safari, In the menu go to Preferences - > Security and uncheck "enable Javascript". Unfortunately this will disable features of some sites, but if your problems go away, at least you'll know what caused them.
It probably wouldn't hurt to go to Disk Utility and do a Repair disk.