Why do some applications hang up system

After using some applications for awhile, they start hanging up system. It's most noticable in Adobe Photoshop Elements (10), It also happens in iPhoto. I get the little spinning circle. Many times I can't do a a force quit on the application or anything except manually shut down my computer. When I reboot, everything is running smoothly again - for awhile.
I usually keep my computer on all the time and reboot once a week. Could the drag be because there is too much stuff hogging the system? I seem to have plently of free space. I know in Microsoft I use to do a defragment on a regular basis. I realize Apple doesn't have that, but is there something else I ned to do? Thank you.

Try http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
In actual fact OS X does defragment on the fly so that it is not necessary for you to do it.
Allan

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Try this and see if it works for you.
dee
kmosx: Apps unexpectedly quit
Posted: Dec 19, 2004 8:11 AM
Here are some possible reasons for this problem.
1. Recent Update: Download and reapply the most recent Combo Update: Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9 or Mac OS X Update 10.4.2 Combo
2. Font duplicates: Please read the articles by Kurt Lang and J.Otava here: Kurt Lang: Font Management in OS X Panther and J.Otava: Fonts & Apple Type Services
3. Corrupted preferences:
Go to Users/Your_Name/Library/Preferences and trash the files:
- com.apple.ATS.plist
- com.apple.BezelServices.plist
Restart. If this did not help, go to Users/Your_Name/Library and drag the folder Preferences to the desktop. Restart and see if this solved the problem
4. Permissions:
Symptoms:
a. Only Apple applications affected
b. Also happens when you switch to a new user.
c. First appeared after update to 10.3.4, 10.3.5 or 10.3.6
This usually happens if you do not repair permissions before you update to 10.3.4 or later. There are (unconfirmed) hints that corrupted cache files might also contribute to this problem. You can clean caches with programs like Cocktail or Panther Cache Cleaner. The only solution I am aware of is to do an Archive&Install.
You also might want to read this article: Applications don't work after reinstalling Mac OS X
Remember: Repair permissions before and after an update!
If none of the above solves the problem you might have to do an Archive&Install:
1. Insert the Install CD 1 and reboot while holding down the c-key
2. Once you are booted go to the menu and select disk utility
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13. Repair permissions
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a brody: Installation options and their meaning

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Recently my system (10.8) got totally borked, so I booted into recovery mode and rewrote the entire disk from a two day old Time Machine backup.
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Hi!
Thanks for your answer too!
1) Run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions on your hard drive.
Did that, some permissions were corrected (as always...)
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1) You mentioned that this problem has been going on
for some time now. Can you think of any software
that you installed or software that you updated at
the time that you first noticed this behavior?
Unfotunately, I can't. This started about 3-4 weeks ago but I absolutely can't remember installing or doing something special that falls into the same region of time.
2) Do you run any kind of system hacks/optimizing software?
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3) What programs do you typically have open all of the time?
Mail and Safari are running all the times; other applications I'm using frequently are TextWrangler, X11, XCode, Terminal and World of Warcraft, among others.
(Almost) Sure Fire Solution to this problem: [...]
I knew that this was coming up
Of course, a complete reinstall is a solution I don't really like. I got my iBook last October, so this installation is running for 9 months now. But as everything else is fine, I really don't want to format my HD and do it the hard way.
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Marco

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