A wait cursor in Mac is a pointer that shows there is an activity running on the screen or in the operating system. If the activity is running in the background, the cursor might have an arrow. Most Mac users know only one type of wait cursor. However, there are several different types of cursors for Mac. At one time or another, users may come across the colorful pinwheel, the spinning wheel of death, horizontal, and vertical spinning cursors for Mac. Knowing about these in detail will make you more efficient in your work on the MacBook.
The different cursors for Mac
Generally, the core function of the cursor is always the same. What makes them seem to differ depends on the situation. Every type of wait cursor has been designed carefully to provide a specific message. They indicate the type of activity going on the screen or in the background. Here are the most common types of Mac cursors.
The spinning beach ball
This type of cursor bears several other names. Some people may call it the spinning beach ball of death. Its macOS official name is the spinning wait cursor. It may also be called the spinning wheel of death. This is the most common type of cursor in MacBook. It looks like a multicolored ball.
The rainbow spinning wheel appears when a user opens too many activities in the background. When the processes begin to overwhelm the computer, this colorful spinning wheel Mac will be displayed. It tells the user to wait for the processes to be completed. The spinning pinwheel Mac might take too long to disappear. This prompts the user to want to know how to stop the spinning wheel on Mac. Users may opt to force the open applications and documents to close. They may choose to force-stop the computer and restart it. The cursor may appear due to limited space in the storage. Removing some data can help get rid of the cursor. Here are some of the activities that can trigger this type of cursor.
- Continuous background operations
- Too many system calculations
- A lot of data retrievals
- Too many open programs/documents
The vertical spinning cursor
The vertical spinning cursor is related to different computer network operations. The cursor shows a spinning vertical pointer to show what is happening within the network. If you see the cursor moving, it means that the system is interacting well with the network. Some interaction examples may include connecting to remotely located devices. It may include synchronization of data and tools. The pointer may move to show file downloads are in the process.
The blue beach ball wait cursor
The blue beach ball is related to operations in the programming software. In the program development world, it is often referred to as the JavaScript pinwheel. It may also appear when some web data is waiting. However, the cursor is common in coding and design tools such as CSS, Java, and Flash.
The horizontal spinning wait cursor
The horizontal spinning cursor is not the opposite of the vertical spinning cursor. Their functions are different and they appear for different reasons. This type of cursor is related to file and data operations. It appears when users want to transfer or manipulate data. It keeps rotating in a horizontal state. Users must understand what the cursor means and why it appears. The aim is to tell users one of the following processes is underway.
- The user is copying a lot of data
- They are moving files to a different storage
- The user is compressing files
Users can stop it by stopping the processes. For instance, cancel moving files or copying a large amount of data. You may copy it in small bits to avoid overworking the system.
The watch cursor
The watch cursor is one of the oldest types of macOS wait cursors. It mainly appears when using design applications such as Corel and Photoshop. Users may see them when they are using incompatible apps or vintage Apple applications. This type of cursor looks like a wristwatch. Sometimes it may look like a black wristband or a rectangular watch. The best way to stop it is to close the running app. Check whether it is compatible with macOS. If it is not, you might want to remove it to stop the cursor from appearing.
Conclusion
A cursor in a computer is a visual indicator that shows activities are going on. MacBook shows different types of cursors depending on the background activity. The most common type is the spinning beach ball. It appears when users open too many activities. The spinning vertical wheel appears when there are a lot of network-related activities going on. The best solution to spinning Mac wait cursors is to close the background activities. If they fail to close, force the computer to shut.
