Freeze/Spinning Beachballs

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After browsing through Mac Switchers Hangout, I was convinced that my frequent freezes were being caused by a shortage of memory, so I doubled it, but my spinning beachballs continue to plague me. It often (but not always) happens when I hit the scroll arrow. A restart always solves the problem---for about a half-hour, then starts again. I'd appreciate any suggestions that might set my MacBook free. (OS X 10.6.8) Thanks.
 

bobtomay

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What size is your hard drive and how much free space is there?
 
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Thanks for your interest; 250 GB, with 218 GB free.
 
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I generally close an application when I'm finished using it, so there are never more than 3 or 4 open at any one time. The freeze occurred just a few minutes ago when all I had running was Safari and my email account. Any ideas? And thanks for responding, MacInWin.
 

pigoo3

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After browsing through Mac Switchers Hangout, I was convinced that my frequent freezes were being caused by a shortage of memory, so I doubled it, but my spinning beachballs continue to plague me.

How much ram do you currently have? If you started with a small amount and "doubled it"...2x a small amount can still be a small amount.;)

- Nick
 
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MacInWin

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It may also be a slowdown in your internet connection. Scrolling can ask for additional data, which may be slow in coming, leading to a beachball.
 
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Pigoo3: I had 2 GBs, doubled it to 4. Right now I have a full 2 GBs free, so I wouldn't think it would be a lack of free RAM causing the problem, or am I wrong?
MacInWin: My Verizon "hi-speed" connection downloads at about 2.75. Is this slow enough to cause what you're talking about?
 

pigoo3

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Pigoo3: I had 2 GBs, doubled it to 4. Right now I have a full 2 GBs free, so I wouldn't think it would be a lack of free RAM causing the problem, or am I wrong?

4gig of ram is a decent amount...but even 4gig of ram will not eliminate the spinning "beach balls" if you are a heavy user of your computer. I had 4gig of ram in my MacBook Pro (before upgrading to 8gig)...and even after a few days of heavy use...I would start getting "beach balls".

Read some of the links in my signature. Inadequate ram can contribute to the occurrence of beach balls...but other things contribute to the beach balls as well.

- Nick
 
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I wouldn't consider myself a "heavy" user, butI'll check out your links. Thanks for your help, Nick.
 
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MacInWin

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Not all Internet slowness is because of your link. It can be the website you are viewing, or an intermediate link. I don't know what units the 2.75 is measuring, so I cannot comment on that, but if you can isolate the beachballs to some action, or website, or something specific that triggers them, that makes troubleshooting easier. Everybody gets beach balls, and I suspect on a busy internet day like today with all the shoppers, we're all seeing them more than normally.
 
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I hope you get this, MacInWin, because something's wrong with my "Quick Reply" thing.

The balls seem to appear in varied situations, but I'll take notes from now on in an effort to isolate--or at least narrow--the situations where they occur most.. Thanks for the direction.

(The download speed I mentioned is in Bits Per Second, which I get from speedtest.net.)
 

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