[ctt1wbw]

I might have to reformat my MacBook Pro. I have something or someTHINGS which are seriously crippling it. I get beachball EVERYTIME I do something. Right now I'm in the process of downloading and reinstalling hoping that will work.

If not, I'm going to have to reformat and reinstall. What's the best way to do that? My setup right now is my MacBook Pro and a Windows box connected to one monitor via a switch and I'm using a Windows keyboard. I tried a few times trying to reboot into the recovery mode but for some reason when I press the Windows-R keys, it won't boot into recovery mode. Is there a different combo with a Windows keyboard?

[anon(4698833)]

Do you have access to another computer where you can make a USB drive to load the OS from? That would be the easiest way to do it...

Just FYI...Macs usually don't get crippled (even by nasty trojans or malware). I'm guessing you probably have a drive failure of some sort...can you give some of the specific symptoms?

[ctt1wbw]

Just the spinning beach ball all the time. And lots of times, it takes forever for an app to load. I'm talking 15-20 bounces from the dock. I'm thinking a reformat/reinstall is in the future.

[anon(4698833)]

A reformat MIGHT help...you could also reset your PRAM and SMC on your machine (many times this gets anything wonky back in order).

When you think about the way the OS works, it almost relies completely on the hard drive you are running the OS off of performing optimally...if that drive starts to have issues, you will experience these exact same instances (amongst others)...and most people, who have been used to Windows machines being overwhelmed by viruses and such, will automatically refer to that when a Mac develops similar behavior.

I can almost guarantee you that your drive is ready to fail...or that the logic board has some kind of issue (though this is a much less likely instance since you'd notice other things as well...failure to boot, weird graphical issues, etc). Sounds like your hard drive is on the out...personally, I would invest in an SSD to run your OS off of (you'll see a drastic performance enhancement afterwards), and then get a cheaper normal HDD for storage (or even an external). Just my thoughts on it though.

[ctt1wbw]

**** better not be ready to fail. It's about a year old! And how do you reset the PRAM?

[anon(4698833)]

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

[ctt1wbw]

Well after a day or so of use after reinstalling the OS, it seems to have been fixed, whatever was wrong with it. I think the problem lies where I did just the update to 10.9.2 instead of downloading and doing a complete reinstall. Seems to be running smooth now.

[anon(4698833)]

Cool man! Glad to hear it wasn't something more catastrophic...keep an eye on that drive though, and keep a good backup.

[ctt1wbw]

Stop jinxing me dammit! LOL I hope this new Macbook Pro lasts longer than my G3 Wallstreet Powerbook did. That beast lasted 7 years before I sold it.