When it comes to file management and navigation on your Mac, Finder is where we all go. But what if Finder becomes unresponsive or freezes randomly?
Finder is the default file manager present in all Mac systems and will surely find its way into future iterations. Finder is not only a simple file management program, but it is also responsible for launching other programs and managing files and disks.
But despite its powerful features and great importance, there are still several cases when Finder becomes completely unresponsive. It hangs on the screen or the window says 'not responding'. This is a common problem and affects many Mac computers.
There are a number of reasons why Finder stops working.
Configuration issues. This is the most common reason for the problem discussed. Because the Finder handles all of Apple handles apps, the Finder's internal configuration can become corrupted, causing it to malfunction.
Indexing of files. Although indexing allows the system to retrieve and locate files more easily, there are several instances where it can slow down the Finder module.
Not enough disk space. MacBooks come with very little storage space compared to other computers. Running out of storage space will slow down the Finder.
Corrupt institutions. Settings are the core of every application. If Finder's settings are corrupt or incomplete, it may not work properly and you may experience problems that may cause Finder to malfunction or stop working altogether.
User profile issues. If the user profile you are logged in with is in an error state, you will experience several issues, including the Finder not working as expected. Logging back into your account helps or a create new user account helps.
Third party plugins. Apple strongly advises against installing unpublished plugins on your Mac. However, several users seem to ignore this warning and this usually causes problems later on such as the Finder not responding properly.
Finder is unresponsive or has stopped working
Restart Finder
The first thing you should do is restart Finder. You do this as follows. Press Command + Option + ESC on your keyboard.
Click Finder and then click “Restart”.
Remove finder configuration
If you are still having problems, you can delete the configuration file that Finder uses on your Mac. Deleting this file forces Finder to create a new configuration file with default settings.
Press command + space bar on your keyboard. In the Spotlight window type: terminal. Open the Terminal app.
In Terminal type or copy and paste:
sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Then enter your Mac administrator password and confirm with ENTER. You will not receive any further confirmation. Restart your Mac.
Check for plugins that are not working
Another thing to check is to check the third-party plugins. These plugins or apps may be useful to you, but there are cases when they clash with the macOS operating system. Removing unwanted plug-ins can help.
Go to the installed apps, check carefully for recently installed apps by filtering the edit date to recently installed, the most recent date. Click on the app or plugin and delete.
Another simple way to apps on your Mac or can be managed by CleanMyMac to use. This app removes unnecessary apps without checking everything one by one and frees up disk space on your Mac. This prevents the error message “Startup disk is full” on your Mac.
Read more about how to get your Makes Mac faster by delete other storage and other junk files. The result is that your MacBook battery also lasts longer.
Other solutions
If the above solutions did not help then you can reset your Reinstall Mac. There is then little point in looking for solutions, you will spend more time looking for solutions than reinstalling your Mac.
I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!