iMac Shutdown

I am new to apple (switched from windows) and when I try to shutdown I get the message that Mail is open and stopping shutdown however it is not open!! I get round this by constantly retrying etc until the computer shuts down however this is frustrating as the machine is less than 2 weeks old and I was promised 'a brave new world of computing'. Any help gratefully received but not to much jargon as I am in my late 60's and just a wee bit afraid of the machine right now

kered said:

I am new to apple (switched from windows) and when I try to shutdown I get the message that Mail is open and stopping shutdown however it is not open!! I get round this by constantly retrying etc until the computer shuts down however this is frustrating as the machine is less than 2 weeks old and I was promised 'a brave new world of computing'. Any help gratefully received but not to much jargon as I am in my late 60's and just a wee bit afraid of the machine right now

Click to expand...

It's very possible that "Mail" may still be open...even if you think that you closed/quit it.

If (for example) you are "closing" Mail by clicking on the red "close window" dot in the upper left of the Mail window...this only closes the mail window...it does not quit the program.

To double check if a program is still open before you decide to shut down the computer...go to the "dock"...and if a program is still open...there will be a little glowing spot/dot below the program's icon in the dock.

To close any programs...either go to the drop-down menu's and select "Quit"...or use the shortcut...command + q keys (command key is the one that looks like a 4-leaf clover).

HTH,

- Nick

As a new mac user you may find one of the tutors for Mountain Lion, available from the App Store to be very helpful.

That's odd, Mail is always running and when I shut down the computer there is never a problem.

I have Mail set in Preferences to always run (open at log in).

dotdotdot: the OP may have the mail set to check so frequently that it is in effect always busy. That would certainly cause that issue.

Even if it's not set to check frequently, Mail can cause this problem.

I've had it as a recurring problem across multiple Macs over the years.
If Mail is in the process of checking for/downloading new mail when you attempt to shut down, it will cancel the shutdown.

Head into Mail - Preferences - General - and change the time frame of how often it checks for new mail - changed mine a long time ago to 1 hour - that pretty well takes care of it.

I still try to remember to quit Mail prior to shut down.

For me, the problem has also varied from release to release.

chas_m said:

dotdotdot: the OP may have the mail set to check so frequently that it is in effect always busy. That would certainly cause that issue.

Click to expand...

Interesting. I just looked, mine is set check every minute.

Maybe when he tries to shut down it, Mail is in the process of downloading a (large?) message. In my case, I hardly get any emails, and they're rarely large, so it's conceivable
that every single time I shut it own there are no pending emails. Still, you'd think that his Mac would be smart enough to just automatically delay the shut down without annoying the user with a message.