Why Apple should stop chasing rainbows

My MacBook and I are at a difficult stage in our relationship.

We've traveled the world together. We've written heinous insults together. And we have refused to countenance entreaties from sites of ill-repute together.

But something is now coming between us.

It's that little Swirly Rainbow Circle Thingy. You know, the one that tells you, well, what is it supposed to tell you exactly?

The first time I saw it, I had no idea what was going on. It whirled away on my desktop just like a dog that is trying to communicate with you and, in its frustration, begins to chase its tail in circles as if this will somehow make things more obvious.

(Credit: CC Cessna206)

This little Swirly Rainbow Circle Thingy might have been a bug. Or the introduction to some errant and very nasty computer game.

I even wondered if it was about to burst open and turn into a dancing leopard or wriggling worm.

The most I have ever comprehended about this anomic apparition is that it is somehow meant to signify: "Hold on there, mate. I'm not entirely sure what's going on. The ole' system's playing up a bit here and I'm trying to get it sorted out."

In other words, it's like a plumber perched beneath your sink, his upper bottom portions waving to the sky and his voice telling you: "Hmm. Aha. Uh-huh. Aha. Hmm."

Well, except for the dialogue part.

The Swirly Rainbow Circle Thingy never, ever tells me what's going on. Or how long it will be chasing its tail around my desktop.

It arrives and disappears as suddenly as a drunken gatecrasher. At times I confess I lose my patience, take out the battery and start my MacBook up again. Without fail, the Swirly Rainbow Circle Thingy will be gone.

I would therefore ask the core of superlative minds at Apple to please find me another plumber.

I would like something that talks to me, that gives me at least a clue about what is going on.

You know the kind of thing: "Your trash is fuller than Meg Ryan's lips and the Big Lebowski's belly. Empty it, you moron."

Or perhaps: "I can tell you've got no idea about tech, so just do what I say. Go to the cache and click on the third choice down."

Or even: "This MacBook is wasted on a bonehead like you. Get yourself a PC and like it."

[open-mind]

Mine doesn't do that. Sounds like your machine is screwed up. Deliberately yanking it's power is a good way to help it get that way. Probably time to run Disk Utility. Or you could try booting from a clean OS installed on another disk or thumb drive. If works OK then, maybe your OS is messed up and needs to be re-installed.

[Penguinisto]

1) It's called a beachball

2) unless the machine locks up completely, you can always get up a Terminal session and type "top" into it to tell you what's eating all of your resources.

3) I'm guessing it's either a recent new app or a recent patch. The nearest Apple store (or the nearest phone) can tell you which/what is going on.

/P

[totorototoro]

Ok, so I have a 1st gen Intel Core Duo 1.83 MacBook (launch day), and I have JUST started noticing that damn colored pinwheel a lot more lately. I mean, a LOT more. Not sure if it means its time to reinstall OS X again from scratch, or whether this old Core Duo can't keep up with Safari 3 and Leopard, or what...but your article is timely.

Or maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to buy a new Mac.

[mrbean_jazz]

Uhm, PCs do the exact same thing, too. Only it's the hour glass of death which lets you know you need to reset. Your mac will tell you what's going on (to some extent): it's called "activity monitor." If you feel a macbook is wasted on a bonehead for this reason then you're not going to like a PC any better. Nice attempt at an article though. Better luck next time.

[dude7895]

PCs do that when loading a program, not just randomly like his mac is doing.

[thebendds]

I'm usually not a fan of snarky/sarcastic comments, but that's exactly what I had in my mind as I read this article. Swish.

[Znook]

It's all down to how Unix, which is what OSX is based on, controls processes. Do a quick search on the net for the 'nice' command to see how different processes can be given more or less priority. A good demonstration of this is to fire up Safari and do a bit of browsing, you'll find it a breeze. Then fire up a processor intensive app., say the audio one called Max, and get it decoding a CD. Leave it doing this for a while, then go back to Safari. Chances are you'll see the beachball appear because OSX has put more processor priority toward the Max app. Keep clicking away at Safari and eventually it will become more responsive as OSX transfers processor cycles back to it. It can be a right PITA when it happens, especially if you're in a rush to get something completed. Also, as someone has pointed out above, it's possible an app. has decided to grab lots of processor cycles when it shouldn't be doing. Some of the main culprits for this is Adobe's Flash player, and the DivX player.

[DocWu2]

What, a Mac has problems like a lowly Windows machine? Tell me it ain't so! Do you mean to tell me all the hype about how great Macs are and those commercials ragging on poor PC aren't true after all? If Macs are so easy to use, go ahead, fix it...

[MaLvaDo39]

It's all about "extents". To what extent are there problems? To what extent is the difficulty of fixing a problem? To what extent are there viruses? etc.

Windows is woefully behind on all of this.

[Pete Bardo]

So, the picture has nothing to do with your article? I guess I'm just not Mac enough.

[WittsendinTX]

How long have you been using that Mac? I can't believe that your first and only solution was to yank the battery. You could just Google and get at least 3 or 4 easier and safer solutions, including the geekier ones already mentioned here. For the less geeky, try going to the Apple menu and choosing Force Quit. You will see all running Apps and any that are locked up will say "not responding". Just highlight the offending app and click on the Force Quit button.
Or you could just open the Activity Monitor app and stop that Process. Get a clue. It ain't a PC.

[rapier1]

Unles the window manager or some other lower level process is causing the beachball of doom. In that case he won't be able to start activity monitor or really do much of any thing else. I've had that happen when I had a bad drive controller introducing random disc I/O errors. TYhe whole system would freeze until the I/O timed out.

[magicrw1]

Monthly when starting up the computer hold down the shift key upon the start up (holding down for like 10 mins, you'll be prompted when you can let go.

[yayfrogs]

From the blogger's bio: "Chris Matyszczyk is a multi award-winning creative director who now advises major global corporations on content creation and marketing. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET."

I can't say for certain, but given his credentials, I'd assume Matyszczyk has used a Mac for most of his professional career. So, enough of the ad hominems.

What Matyszczyk is saying is that, for a company that prides itself on being superior to Microsoft's products, the spinning lollipop offers little more than Windows' timer. There are times in every Mac-user's life when the spinning beach ball of death locks his machine for no valid reason.

In the end, I can see two points to this entry. The first is to say that, no matter the make or model, computers are computers, and they will always break or hang at some point. The second is that we all need to lighten up a little bit.

[toast2042]

Instead of yanking the power, go up the Apple Menu in the upper left of your screen and choose "Force Quit". Then force quit the app that is "not responding". OSX is pretty good about not crashing the whole system when something goes wrong. Also, check out the Macrumors.com forums. Lots of helpful, friendly people there, with only a few quick-tempered and juvenile holy-rollers.

[casademike]

This ridiculous diatribe is actually published on CNET?

Actually - it doesn't surprise me that much.

Ahh CNET - you could have been the leader - now you are just a joke trying to stay relevant and your "writers" sure aren't helping out much.

Man has issue with his computer - so he gets massively public forum to write an entire page about it.

[hlywd217]

This post is clearly labeled as a Blog posting which is different than a news article. Not to mention it even says that he's not an employee of CNet.

Also, this article is hilariously written. Some people just need to lighten up.

[sextondmd]

A thought . . . don't pop out your battery, hold down the power button. It's a bit easier. :)

[man_w_balls]

Dude.
Assuming you are talking about the well-known Apple equivalent to the old hourglass thing, the "spinning beach ball" as it is properly known, it appears that you have no business operating any journalistic function at CNET.
Because this is very basic knowledge, and a "computer journalist" should either know better or do research until he/she knows better, THEN post an article.

Caustic words aside, if you are seeing a lot of the beach ball, then you should go /Applications/Utilities/ and open up the Activity Monitor - it will show you more than any old Task Manager ever did. Then you should see what's bogging down your Mac. Better yet, drag the Activity Monitor to your Dock so you can get to it with one click any time.

[Galaxy5]

Install some more memory. Problem solved.

I agree that Apple should make the pizza wheel more contextually aware, but it is only presented when the process you are using is blocked; usually by memory constraints.

[mrgoodall]

awww guys dont you know by now, it's the old, "write an article with word Apple, Mac, or OS X in it and have your article read and commnted til kingdom come", its how these guys get paid.

[lazarbel]

Thank you. But they don't understand that they are the constant without which the formula would not resolve. Alas, we're stuck with trite articles and useless prattle, such as mine.

[ikramerica--2008]

you can also open the console and watch the log. see what's hanging. usually it's looking for a file that's missing, or a file is not compatible.

i found the hp all-in-one installation caused a lot of these issues, so I deleted some of their background applications, and "I feel much better now." :)

[PrettyStuzz]

Like the 'check engine' light in your car, you could just cover it with black electrical tape.

[Jeff Putz]

I find it a little odd that, on a technology news site, we have an author yanking a battery out as a solution.

[Dana Kincaid]

Sometimes I wonder why politicians and lawyers can make so much money and be so stupid. I have to add to that list, "Internet Tech Writers". Chris, I'm sorry, but why are you bothering us with something that should be obvious to a guy who writes for cnet?

I'm sorry, but if you have a problem, either call Apple or go to a forum like the rest of us do. If you can't even figure out "Force Quit" or determine for yourself what app is hanging the comp then you really don't need to be writing columns here.

Good grief.