Occasional and partial lockup of Mac

canecaster wrote:

No, I don't have any of that class of application installed, other than Intego VirusBarrier Scanner

I can run in safe mode, but I'll have to stay in it for several days because this issue is so intermittent. Assuming I can go a week or so in safe mode without any lockups, what would that suggest I do next?

Intego is that class of application that you don't want to have. Installing anti-virus utilities under Ventura makes no sense because a virus cannot be installed nor replicate under Ventura. The OS is under a locked down, sealed, and read-only volume. No one, not even you, can install a virus there even if you wanted to.

Anti-virus software installs intrusive hooks and kexts that can interfere with normal operating of the Mac. You should complete uninstall Intego using the vendor's uninstaller. The problem sometimes seen in Apple Discussions is that the tool does not fully uninstall and the left over pieces continue to cause interference with running the Mac smoothly. That sometimes happens when it was installed under an earlier MacOS and carried into Ventura. The increasingly strict system protections of the newer MacOS sometimes prevent the deletion of certain files that used to be easy to delete under older systems. Hopefully this won't happen to you.

Also uninstall iStat (use their uninstaller if there is one) just to remove that as a suspect as well. Disabling it or stopping it from starting up at login is not the same as completely uninstalling it, that goes for Intego as well.

What else have you installed? Something else might be causing the issue. Download and run Etrecheck (free) and post its anonymous output here using the Additional Text button below. This will provide more insight into diagnosing the root cause of the issue. Something is clearly very wrong in your system because those "lockups" should not be happening and should not be tolerated.

One other thing to try: create a new user and see if the problem reproduces with that user. If it is very intermittent, that might be hard to do however.

Safe Mode is useful because it empties some caches and performs some maintenance on the file system. Even if you just boot into Safe Mode and then immediately reboot normally.

Note added: I just now see that Old Toad responded already ... follow his instructions!

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

Download and run Etrecheck. Be sure to give it Full Disk access before running.

Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

It looks like you have both Dropbox and One Drive active, do you also have Google cloud storage working as well? With multiple cloud synchronizations, conflicts can occur. You aren't storing the same files in multiple cloud services, are you. When those cloud interactions conflict, they can cause a short term "hang." This might be something to explore, but I'm not sure the best way to do it. Maybe there is a way to turn off all such cloud synchronization for a short time to test?

The other person traced their issue to a WiFi issue -- when the internet connection "hangs," that can paralyze your computer for a short time. When you are using Ethernet is your WiFi turned off? It shouldn't have to be but you might turn it off just to test. An internet connection that periodically drops can also cause this when you have big cloud activity going on. Is your internet connection rock solid?

My MacBook Pro 2019 (Intel) with Ventura (13.2.1) is having the same behavior. It affect even the Finder, since when is locked up it is not showing any new file moved there (but visible in Terminal). The partial solution I have found is turning WiFi off, turning on again, change the connection to the iPhone hotspot, then turning WiFi off/on again and connect to the WiFi router. The problem get fixed in that moment. Weird.

Intego VirusBarrier Scanner is superfluous as there are no self propagating viruses for Macs. There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This documents describe what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.  

There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   

Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.

There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is designed solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  

My recommendation is to uninstall Intego VirusBarrier according to the developer's instructions. Then if you're still getting the occasional freeze download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.