Troubleshooting for software issues in MAC OS

Troubleshooting for software issues in MAC OS

Like in Microsoft Windows, applications also sometimes stop unexpectedly for no reason. It is the nature of the program to stop when an error is encountered. Sometimes the application throws a message on the screen showing information about the error and then quits after clicking OK. There are times they will just exit without throwing any error message.

If one or more of your applications constantly stop responding or freezes while using it, you should check your system for errors. When an application repeatedly shows errors, it is more likely that there is a problem with your hard drive either physically or with the file system. When there is a problem or errors in your file system, your programs will not run without errors.

One way of checking OS X for errors and the faster way is to do it in command line which is the UNIX single-user mode screen. To check your computer for errors using the command line, restart your computer and then press and hold the Cmd and S buttons simultaneously. This will bring you to a screen full of text.

When booting is finished, type without quotes “fsck -yf” then hit Enter. This initiates the file system check command. If there’s no problem with your file system, you should see “The volume Macintosh HD appears to be okay” after a minute or two. You will see a different message if a problem was identified in your system.

If the message says “File system was modified”, enter the command again until you see a message that says your boot HD appears to be okay. Once you are finished type without quotes “reboot” to restart your computer normally. In case the disk cannot be repaired, you need to make a clean install of OS X or restore from backup.