No matter if you are a Mac lover or want to stick to your Windows PCs, there may come a time when your computer needs to have a problem fixed.

As great as Macs are, they do come up against problems. From slow loading to crashing unexpectedly and that’s not what you need when you’re working on your latest masterpiece. 

In this article, we take a look at three of the most common Mac problems and what you can do to fix them.

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Blank Start Screen

You’ve fired up your computer as normal and…nothing. Just a grey screen staring blankly back at you.

The issue can stem from malfunctioning software or drivers so if you find after a couple of goes that it keeps happening, then you’ll need to try booting up in safe mode.

It’s easy to do this, simply hold the shift key down as power your Mac on and you’ll get the Apple logo. After it disappears, you should be taken to the login page though this may take a little while longer than usual.  

Safe mode just means that your Mac uses the bare minimum to boot up and allows you access to your settings in order to run diagnostics as to what might be causing the problem. If you think some of your software might be causing the blank screen, try these simple steps for dealing with potential issues.

That Beach Ball

It’s been sat there spinning for the last ten minutes and doesn’t show any sign of disappearing any time soon. Take a look at your activity monitor, which you’ll find in your utilities folder, to see what might be going on. The answer is it’s probably something to do with your Apps and the demands they’re placing on memory. 

Try closing down some of the more demanding apps to see if that has any effect on the performance and speed.

Hanging App

The same if not more annoying the beach ball is the hanging app that just seems to have frozen in time. Here you’ll want to use a force quit option to get out of the no man’s land. Go into the Apple menu and find the force quit option. You’ll then need to highlight the app that’s causing you the problems and click on it.

If the problem keeps happening with the same app, run a basic diagnostic on your machine or talk to your IT support provider to see if you can get to the root of the problem.

Macs are great, that MacBook is stylish and iconic but like everything with an electronic heartbeat, it’s going to hit roadblocks from time to time. Very often the most obvious answers are the ones that solve the issues so start with the basics before you commit yourself to call in the experts.

Find help online from the plethora of Mac forums and get back up and running in no time at all.