Mail, Safari, Firefox all start but don't show up in finder

[Rhon]

This just started to happen. When I choose any of the three listed they'll open like normal but you can't do anything with them and they have no program bar at the top of the screen. Only finder is there. For mail, it'll open and download new mail but you can't highlight anything to open. Nothing will work. It's the same with any of the web browsers. They'll open and load but you can't take any action on any of the articles and I can't force quit them because they aren in the box. I have to restart the computer and then every things ok. I can use any of the programs, go away for an hour or two come back and they won't work. I've tried to look the problem up on line but I'm not sure I'm even describing it good enough for anyone here to figure out what's going on. And I'm having key chain issues as well but that's for another time...
Any ideas?

 

[harryb2448]

Failing hard drive.

What operating system and what Mac are vital information so can't suggest remedies as yet.

 

[MacInWin]

You might try Onyx. (www.titanium.free.fr). Get the version for your version of OS X or macOS. The first thing it does is check the drive for error, then you can run a permissions test and then use the cleaning/maintenance functions to tune up the OS. Leave all the settings at default in Onyx, the developer has them set to do the maximum good at the minimum risk.

Depending on what version of the OS you have, you may get some warnings about application not coming from Apple, but just press on. Onyx is save and well recommended here.

 

[Rhon]

It's an early 09 20" imac running El Capitan 10.11.6. I just had the original hard drive replaced maybe 2 years ago. If the hard drive is failing and I just found out I can't upgrade the OS any longer...maybe I should just replace it with a new system and start fresh? First I'll take your advice MacInWin and give onyx a try.

 

[Rhon]

OK, loaded onyx and ran through everything it had. Thanks for the suggestions and hopefully this will help. Now I need to identify which key chain can't be found and why safari keeps loading at startup...

 

[harryb2448]

Look at Login Items and see if there is anything there. Have had brand new drives D.O.A. in the carton.

 

[Rhon]

Well so much for that plan...everything came out fine. no problems except for safari in pic 2. I'm not sure what it means...