Take Control of
Troubleshooting Your Mac

Note: This book is appallingly outdated. It requires not merely a total overhaul but a rethinking from scratch. Among many other things, it has to support newer Macs with M-series processors, Macs using the APFS file system, and the latest hardware and software. In its current state, we can’t stand behind its advice anymore. Our plan is to create a single new book from scratch that covers maintaining, troubleshooting, and speeding up Macs (thus replacing three separate titles with one). It will draw on the old books to some extent but offer greatly updated and simplified advice. We hope, but do not promise, to release it in the third quarter of 2023. (Read more about updates).)

Macs are generally quite reliable as computers go, but they can still experience significant problems. In this essential guide from best-selling author Joe Kissell, you’ll learn key troubleshooting skills that will help you address the most common and frustrating Mac irritations. You’ll also learn what to do when you encounter a problem for which you can’t find a ready-made solution. (Step one: Don’t panic!)

Whether your Mac won’t turn on, experiences crashes or kernel panics repeatedly, can’t connect to the internet, or exhibits any of numerous other misbehaviors, this book has the calm, friendly advice you need to find a solution.

This book covers 10.9 Mavericks through 10.14 Mojave. It does not cover 10.15 Catalina or later.

You’ll learn these 17 basic troubleshooting procedures (along with the reasons they can help):

• Force-quit an app
• Restart your Mac
• Log in to another user account
• Start up from another volume
• Run disk repair utilities
• Erase and restore from a backup
• Repair permissions (in Yosemite and earlier)
• Start up in safe mode
• Check preference files
• Reset NVRAM or SMC
• Use Activity Monitor
• Check free disk space
• Check log files
• Clear caches
• Check your RAM
• Test for reproducibility
• Get system information

Joe also explains how to solve 21 common problems, including:

• Your Mac won’t turn on
• Your Mac stalls during startup
• Your Mac keeps turning itself off
• Your fan runs excessively
• Your Mac is abnormally slow (read Take Control of Speeding Up Your Mac for full details)
• You can’t empty the Trash
• An app grinds to a halt
• An app crashes
• You experience repeated kernel panics
• The keyboard or mouse doesn’t work
• You lose your internet connection
• Printing doesn’t work
• Spotlight searches fail
• Keychain (seemingly) forgets passwords
• Apple Mail fails to connect
• Time Machine misbehaves
• A volume won’t unmount
• The Open With menu contains errors
• iCloud Data doesn’t sync properly
• Continuity features fail
• Your laptop’s battery misbehaves

What happened to Troubleshooting Your Mac: A Joe On Tech Guide?
Long story short, this is an updated version of the same book, with a different title. The Joe On Tech book started out as Take Control of Troubleshooting Your Mac, and now it’s back home in the Take Control catalog.

About Joe Kissell

Take Control publisher Joe Kissell has written more than 60 books about technology, including many popular Take Control books. He formerly wrote for publications such as Macworld, Wirecutter, and TidBITS. He lives in Saskatoon with his wife and their two sons.