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- #WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER HOW TO#
- #WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER PASSWORD#
- #WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER WINDOWS#
My personal favorite is #2 for a benign restart, but I probably haven't discovered all the unique ways. If you run into a problem, one of these techniques should work for you. OS X will relaunch the Finder automatically.
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Enter the command: killall -KILL FinderĬ. The SSH daemon will probably be running even if the Finder is locked up.)ī. (If you can't do that from the Finder, try an SSH from another computer. The Terminal app on the Mac (or remotely)Ī. If that's not possible, log out then log in. To relaunch, click the Finder icon on the left side of the Dock. In this technique, the Finder really is stopped for good and is not relaunched. The reason for that is that Force Quit is a brutal way to stop an app, and we always want to stop an app with the least force required in order to avoid potential damage to the system.į. If that doesn't work, try again with Force Quit. Click the "x" icon on the top left under the colored buttons.Į. Optional: Click the Process name header to alphabetize the process names. If you can, launch the Activity Monitor app from /Applications/Utilities.ī. Right-click the Finder icon in the Dock while holding down the OPTION key.Ī. Note, you can always open this window directly with CMD+OPTION+ESC.Ī. It says "Relaunch" instead of "Force Quit" - which is probably what you want. (Apps that aren't responding will be shown in red.) Note that the button in Force Quit is different for the Finder app. Hold down the SHIFT key and open the Apple menu.Īlternatively, you can simply select Force Quit and relaunch the Finder from the list of running apps. Make sure the Finder is the frontmost app.ī.
#WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER HOW TO#
For example, " Frozen: How to Force the Restart of a Mac."Ī. Worst case, of course, is a restart of your Mac. If the Finder is really hosed, you may not be able to launch apps as in technique #3 below and you may have to resort to Unix trickery as in technique #4. These techniques generally assume you are doing a configuration change that requires a benign relaunch (kill and restart) of the OS X Finder. Here are four different ways to handle the Finder with a view to a kill. Or perhaps you've made a configuration change that requires a Finder restart. (It is, after all, just an app.) Perhaps it's locked up. Those are the options with High Sierra, your mileage may very depending upon what OS you have installed.There are times when it's necessary to restart the Mac's Finder. You can set the default location to 'Search This Mac', 'Search the Current Folder' or 'Use the Previous Search Scope'. Click on the Advanced section and it's at the bottom of the panel. There are also applications (Onyx, TinkerTool and others) that have SpotLight utilities to help fix search issues.Īnother adjustment you can do is change the default location where the Find feature starts looking within the Finder Preferences (Command Comma). There are many Spotlight metadata commands available for repairing and updating the index. The index will be rebuilt just like it was using the GUI method.
#WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER PASSWORD#
Upon proper entry of your admin password the computer will delete the current index and start building a new one. Among its applications are the Ethernet, 802.11 wireless networks and Bluetooth. Sometimes it is known as the burned-in address (BIA) or the Ethernet hardware address (EHA). It is used as a network address for most IEEE 802 network technologies. If you mistype your password it will let you know and offer another 2 chances to get it right. It is a unique identifier for network interfaces. As you are typing it will not present any characters. Press the Return key when you've typed in your password. You will be asked for your login password.
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Within the Terminal window, type the following bold text: sudo mdutil -E / Open the Terminal application, it is within the Utilities folder (Command Shift U). Terminal Spotlight Rebuild method (Admin credentials required): It will take some time for the index to be completed so be patient. Your computer's Spotlight index will now be rebuilt.
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This should remove the primary hard drive icon. The icon should stay within the box.Ĭlick once on the primary hard drive icon.īelow the box on the left side there should be a '-' sign, click it. Open the Spotlight System Preference panel within System Preferences.ĭrag your primary hard drive icon to the large box and release it. If you are new to Macs the GUI method may be the easiest to perform. You can use the GUI method or Terminal method to reset the index. If you are looking right at a file and the search function still can't find it then you may need to reset your Spotlight index.
#WHAT IS MAC COMPUTER FINDER WINDOWS#
It uses windows and icons to show you the contents of your Mac, iCloud Drive and other storage devices. It includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and the desktop below that. It opens automatically and stays open while you're using other apps. If you are unable to perform a simple search then I'd suspect the SpotLight index is corrupted. The Finder is the first thing that you see when your Mac finishes starting up. On a Mac, SpotLight is the Find function.
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