Weird Mac Application Behaviour

I have been suffering from some weird issues on my MacBook Pro after periods of usage.

These are a few of the problems which occur once the problem starts.

  • Software starts behaving weird/stops working correctly
  • The Mac will sometimes say it can't start the software
  • Messages semi logs out, it receives messages but doesn't let you send them.

All issues resolve with a restart.

I previously faced an issue with the Mac crashing, except the cursor. After reading the log files, I found Xcode was causing some issue in the background, I therefore removed it. Following this, I have no longer faced the issue.

There is no real pattern other than the issue usually occurring after a period of usage. The issue started in Sierra but has carried through to High Sierra.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


This is the kind of task I'd give to Onyx (freeware). Get the version appropriate to your system.

Run the entirety of the Maintenance tab - Structure [which it will ask to do on launch) then Permissions & Scripts. Be a little more circumspect with Rebuilding, but all options are 'safe' to run.
Reboot afterwards.

If it is still misbehaving, next check would be for rogue 3rd party kexts. How can I identify 3rd party kernel extensions in macOS? will help with that.