Whole system freezing / stuttering at regular intervals in macOS Tahoe 26.1

Question

Whole system freezing / stuttering at regular intervals in macOS Tahoe 26.1

Dear all,

after the fascinating issue with the Clock app—which is still embarrassingly buggy even after removing the mobiletimerd.plist file—I have a new fresh issue with macOS Tahoe.

At apparently random intervals (30s, 1m, 2m) but with surprising regularity, the whole macOS stutters or freezes for 1-3 seconds while I am performing basically any operation. It could be writing this post, or it could be using any app, clicking on any object on the interface of any app. Sometimes it just stops to think, others the spinning beachball appears.

I initially thought it was the Clock app again, so I restarted, found it populated of hundreds of timers (the same bug currently reproducible on iPadOS), so quitting it seemed to improve things. Then, today, it was very bad again, without the Clock involved, with my main working app (Dorico) showing the beachball every 30s or so. It happened more in conjunction with Acrobat, so I quit that, but the issue remained.

I marked the time at the second when each freeze was occurring and gathered the logs of 2 seconds before and 3 seconds after, hoping to catch the issue. I am not an expert in this but it looks like 80-90% of the log is occupied by RunningBoard managing Pages (?!). Sometimes the memory pressure would go up to yellow regions without me doing anything really special (and this M3 Max MBP has 36 GB of memory!).

The battery is draining much faster than before, Activity Monitor shows corespotlightd as one of the absolute protagonists of the macOS stage, WindowServer is often in the 50%+ CPU usage and using 2.5-3 GB of memory.

At this link you can find the captured logs if you can gather anything useful out of them.

I've also run an EtreCheck control and you can see its output here.

EtreCheck Report.log

If there is anything else I can do to help you diagnose what is happening here, please let me know.

This is getting really stressful because, whenever I need it the most, this machine seems to fail me.

Thank you!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 19, 2025 2:40 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 20, 2025 7:57 AM in response to Joe Reale

I have done something this morning that seems to have helped (crossing my fingers because it's not finished until it is!). Please try the same and see if it helps you too.

Go to System Settings > General > AirDrop and Handoff > turn off Handoff for this Mac (also, if it's running, make sure that Pages is fully quit).

Restart your Mac.

Open your apps one by one and thoroughly test them as you would for your normal workday usage.

It should be very slow and even more buggy for a few minutes after logging in, as if it went into a WTH mode. Then, everything settled and, for the last 6 hours, I have had no slowdown whatsoever—I have not used Pages yet, though.

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Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

102,541 points

Nov 20, 2025 2:59 AM in response to NotationMaster

There are ways and then there are other ways to remove this software " Malwarebytes "

From the developer " way " >> https://help.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/31589300070683-Uninstall-Desktop-Security-on-Windows-and-macOS-devices#Uninstall_the_app_from_a_macOS_device

From an " Atomic " way

We recognize this is a highly important computer that is also highly customized via various third party softwares

An extended down-time and the time to rebuilt the machine all back is never a " fun " thing to do

Though, to argue with myself

It could be a Good Way to Test both the Hardware and a Virginal / Clean installation of Tahoe 26.1

Caveat - Clean Installation is exactly that Clean

If the user believes these current issues stem specifically from macOS 26.1 Tahoe.

For a thorough test to determine if Tahoe is the root cause of all computer issues.

Use the “Atomic” option and select “Erase All Content and Settings.” Apple Silicon computer

Always make a Time Machine backup before proceeding.

This will not affect the existing installation of Tahoe.

To draw a parallel

Doing the Reset ALL in an iOS device will remove everything Except the iOS Operating System

Run the computer without installing any additional software and without restoring from your Time Machine backups.

Run the computer in this state for approximately 6 to 8 hours and report back if the previous issue reoccurs.

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

102,541 points

Nov 20, 2025 2:31 AM in response to NotationMaster

Respectfully.

The addition of Malwarebytes which is reported as >>

System extension blocked - There are system extensions awaiting user approval.

Is not going to help matters

As will

[Loaded] com.stclairsoft.AppTamer.Helper.plist (St. Clair Software - installed 2024-11-04)

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.stclairsoft.AppTamer.Helper

System Extensions:

[Waiting for authorization] Malwarebytes Engine - version 5.18.2 (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2025-11-18)

Application: /Applications/Malwarebytes.app - version 5.18.2 (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2025-11-18)

Description: The Malwarebytes Engine extension manages your connection to the Malwarebytes VPN service.

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Answer 4

Joe Reale

Level 2

434 points

Nov 19, 2025 9:28 PM in response to NotationMaster

Same here. Seemed to have started a few days or a week ago. Checking the Activity Monitor showed the same thing, corespotlightd sucking up to sometimes well over 200% Cpu with maybe kernel task running 115%.

I'm using a M4 Max Mac Studio with 128Gb of memory and it gets repeatedly crippled by this. I'm trying to do art in Photoshop and the cursor pauses for the said times. Then I'm listening to Youtube in the back ground and often, when people are talking it'll sound like this, "I like to go for walks for walks for walks for walks for walks ...." with a spinning beachball until it stops.

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Answer 5

Nov 20, 2025 1:52 AM in response to Joe Reale

Thank you Joe! I'm glad I am not the only one.

Indeed: corespotlightd, kernel_task. The machine is perfectly fine until it just stops like a freeze frame!

The scariest is when it does so in the login screen. It reminds me of my worst day as a Windows user almost 20 years ago! Never had freezes like this in any macOS from Leopard!

As you said, few days or a week ago, when 26.1 was released. I'm punching myself for updating from Sequoia...

I've now filed a feedback to Apple (FB********). If you maybe do the same and mention my ticket, it may get some attention.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 6

Nov 20, 2025 2:39 AM in response to Owl-53

Owl-53, thank you!

I installed Malwarebytes to check for potential malware. It found none but I didn't like it being always there in the menu bar, so I deactivated its background activity. Should I just uninstall it? Is there a way to clean it completely from the system, including the awaiting system extension? For the records, I am not using their VPN, but I'm not sure if that's a separate app or if the Malwarebytes app includes everything.

The AppTamer app was turned off after your suggestion on my Clock app issue but I have not uninstalled it. What should I do about it? The app is not running at the moment on my system.

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Answer 7

Nov 20, 2025 3:10 AM in response to Owl-53

I've now uninstalled that with their regular way. For context, without reactivating the background activities, the app would launch with an error and the Uninstall option in the Help menu would be greyed out. So I reactivated that and then uninstalled the app.

I am aware that EACAS is a good way to solve all issues, but I just do not have the time to perform that at the moment. The encouraging thing is that my Feedback to Apple sees already more than 10 similar reports. I'm definitely not alone here.

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Answer 8

Joe Reale

Level 2

434 points

Nov 20, 2025 7:36 AM in response to NotationMaster

What's funny is that shortly after I wrote that, I looked at the ActMon again and I saw the corespotlightd was using 400% briefly..

It's not constant but it seems to popup at times. It could be quiet for a few days and then reappear. I think a restart calms it for a bit but it comes back. I kept thinking it was the WACOM driver doing it as it seems to frequently happen while using the pen in Photoshop but the "stuttering" happens even when I'm not using the pen.

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Answer 9

Owl-53

Level 10

102,541 points

Nov 20, 2025 3:28 AM in response to NotationMaster

Each computer is somewhat different from others

Each User has a unique Software configuration that is customized to their individual needs and yes What

The Needs and Wants are not one and the same thing

If one basis their following solely upon the number of " hits " and related to " Whole system freezing / stuttering"

We are fairly confident there are some with this issue

Though if one does a search for " Launchpad was Removed " in the Tahoe Forums

There are questions that span numerous pages with 1000's for " hits "

The options and suggestions have been laid out in the best interests of the computer which do not always align with the user expectations

What they do with this information is up to them

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