Mac OS stops loading after the Spotlight icon is displayed - what can I do?

Question

Hello guys,
This problem is intermittent but extremely annoying. The issue I have is that when I login on my Macbook, occasionally it will load up Spotlight and no further progress will be made - I'll get the cartwheel and even after 30 minutes nothing has changed. I have to forcibly restart my Macbook once, or even twice, in order to fix this problem, when the problem does crop up. This happened to me quite a while ago on almost a daily basis; I went on here for some help, of which I got none, and decided to reinstall my OS. The reinstall went smoothly and I never had to problem again, until last night.
Last night I installed the latest Safari update (it's a rather good update, everything in Safari is slightly faster) and the latest Mac OS Security update (I don't know what it was specifically and I have no idea how I would find out). I was using my Macbook on battery, as I was in my living room at the time, and installed the update. (Yes, I know, I deserve a slap on the wrist for installing an update whilst on battery, but I had so much juice left it didn't seem an issue) As soon as the update had been installed, the computer had been restarted and I logged in - this ugly problem reared it's head again! I forcibly restarted my Macbook twice in a row, to no avail. I left it overnight and now it's working fine again.
So, my question is: How can I prevent this 'bug' from happening and are there any ways of stopping it when it occurs?
I'd really like some help on this issue because I do not want to cause my Macbook any further damage by forcibly restarting my Macbook whenever I have this problem.
Jeremy Reid

Answer 1

You describe a thing you should solve immediately, as your system is very unstable. I would run the following apps:
1. disk Utility for repairing permissions;
2. Onyx for cleaning caches and other optimizations 9read carefully what you can do without any danger) – Onyx is a powerful app, which digs deep into the system.
As always, such operations should be preceded by backup; I have been using Martin Jahn’s iBackup (grapefruit.ch), but you may use any other app suitable.
If this does not solve your problem, make a clean install (after backup, of course), i.e. erase and install. If, after this radical solution, your problem persists, I think your disk is damaged and should be replaced. The spinning wheel of death you describe may be the token you have a hardware issue (I cannot be sure, you are the only who can identify that step by step). If your mac is still within the warranty period, go to the closes service and check it. If not, try to identify the issue, you must do that anyway, as the behavior is not normal.