In these cases, waiting is the best option. It might even pop up when you’re connecting to a server in an online game. For example, it might appear when you’re trying to render a video in an editing program or perform batch edits in a photo-editing app. Many times, the spinning wheel of death appears when an app is trying to do something.

Resist quitting the app just yet and move on to the next step. You might also see “(Not responding)” appended after the app name in the list. See if any are using more than their fair share of CPU resources. This puts the thirstiest apps at the top of the list. Under the CPU tab click the “% CPU” column to organize the list by current system usage. You can launch it by heading to Applications > Utilities or searching for it in Spotlight. If you can’t tell which app is causing the issue, Activity Monitor might be able to help. To do so, press Command+Tab or just click around on the screen (your mouse should still work even though the cursor has changed). If it’s not already obvious, you can find the app causing the issue by cycling through those that are active.

2017 imac keeps freezing