When you see the spinning cursor, it is often because an application is "not responding" to something.
First, move the cursor over any other app you happen to have open, even Finder. You may see that the cursor even stops spinning, if so, great!
You can usually find out what the application is by using the "
Force Quit..." menu (under the Apple icon at the extreme left-hand end of the Menu bar. But you usually need to get the spinning cursor to stop first, that's the pointy of the previous paragraph. Once the spinning stops, you can use the "Force Quit..." menu to open a small window and it should eventually show the name of an app with some
red text beside it saying "
." [ but in French?
]
Click on the app's name and then click the "Force Quit" button. You will then be asked to confirm you choice.
If this works successfully, you'll now know what app
NOT to use until you can figure out why it is crashing (often because of a corrupted Preference file).
