How to stop the 'spinning wheel' on your Mac computer in 2 ways
It has many names, from the "Spinning Wheel of Death," to the "Spinning Pizza of Death," to the "Spinning Wait Cursor." But no matter what you call it, there's one thing we can all agree on: no one wants to see a spinning wheel while they're working on a Mac .
When the spinning wheel appears, it means there's an issue with your Mac or one of its applications. The spinning wheel will usually only last for a few seconds before your system works out the issue, but if it keeps appearing and won't go away, there's a deeper problem.
Here's how to stop the spinning wheel in its tracks, and help your Mac run smoothly again.
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How to stop the spinning wheel on your Mac
If the wheel appeared and quickly left, it means your Mac was just briefly overloaded. In these cases, you can usually keep working like normal. But if you're worried, close all the tabs, windows, and apps that you're running but not using.
If the wheel has been spinning for a while now and doesn't show any signs of stopping, first determine if the problem is with a specific program, or with your Mac as a whole. Try to use other apps and, if they're work fine, Force Quit out of the app that's freezing.
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To Force Quit on a Mac , you can:
- Press Option + Command + Escape simultaneously to open the Force Quit menu. From there, you can select a program and click "Force Quit" to end it.
- Click the Apple logo in the top-left on your screen and select "Force Quit" from the dropdown menu. This will also open the Force Quit menu.
- If the app that's frozen is in your Dock, you can also right-click it and select "Force Quit."
If your entire Mac is frozen up, you can force it to shut down.
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You can force a shut down by holding down the power button for about 10 seconds, or by simultaneously pressing Control + Option + Command + Power, or Control + Option + Command + Eject.
Note that if you Force Quit or shut down your Mac, you'll lose any work you haven't saved.
If your Mac keeps freezing up and showing you the spinning wheel, even after a restart, there might be something deeper going on that you won't be able to fix yourself. Consider contacting Apple customer support.
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