Welcome to Mac Mavericks

Restart the computer.
Many times simply restarting the computer will solve a problem. Today's desktop computers operate at speeds up to 300 MHz (300 million cycles per second), and if one cycle messes up it can crash the computer. Restarting will often correct this type of problem.

Rebuild the desktop.
This procedure recreates a database file that is normally hidden from view. The database contains a list of the file names and file locations on a disk or hard drive. Problems can creep into the database for various reasons, but they are easily corrected by the rebuild procedure.
Apple Macintosh Operating Systems 7.x and 8.x include a built-in utility to rebuild the desktop. To rebuild the desktop on a hard drive you should hold down the COMMAND and OPTION keys when you start the computer and keep holding them down until a dialogue box appears with a message asking you if you are sure you want to rebuild the desktop. Click on the YES button in the box and the computer will automatically rebuild the desktop. To rebuild the desktop on a floppy disk you should hold down the COMMAND and OPTION keys when the floppy disk is inserted. Continue to hold down both of those keys until the dialogue box appears.
The COMMAND key is somtimes referred to as the OPEN-APPLE key and is located between the OPTION key and the SPACE-BAR.
WARNING: Stopping the rebuild process before it is completed can result in serious loss of data.
Rebuilding the desktop should be done on a regular basis, particularly for hard drives. It wouldn't hurt to do it once-a-week. If you are experiencing system crashes it should be done quite frequently until the problems are resolved.
Micromat provides a free-ware utility called Tech-Tool that has a feature to rebuild the desktop (in addition to several other features.) Tech-Tool allows you to save the existing desktop file before rebuilding so it can be restored if problems are encountered. Tech-Tool is available on the Micromat web site.

Check for Directory Problems
This should be done on a regular basis. It wouldn't hurt to do this on a weekly basis, and it should be done more often if your computer is crashing.
Apple includes with its operating system a utility called Disk First Aid that checks for directory problems. Disk First Aid can be found on the Disk Tools floppy disk or on the system software CD-ROM. The advantage to Disk First Aid is that the price is right. The disadvantage to Disk First Aid is that it isn't always able to solve some of the more serious directory problems. If you rely on Disk First Aid as your sole utility for correcting directory problems you should use it on a very regular basis in order to correct lesser directory problems before the snowball into serious directory problems.
Disk First Aid will check for directory problems on an drive that has the active system software but it cannot correct those problems on that drive until you have booted from a system on another drive. You should have a disk or drive with a bootable system on it prepared for troubleshooting and maintenance work.
The best known commercial utility for correcting directory problems is Symantec's Norton Utilities for the Macintosh with the Norton Disk Doctor software. The advantage that Norton Disk Doctor has over Disk First Aid is that it will correct more serious directory problems. Purchasing Norton Utilities is usually money well-spent. As with Disk First Aid, Norton Disk Doctor cannot correct problems on a drive with the active system software. You should have a disk or drive with a bootable system on it prepared for troubleshooting and maintenance work.
Norton Utilities comes with a number of other utilities in addition to Norton Disk Doctor. Norton Speed Disk is a good optimizing tool. Other Norton Utilities operate as Control Panels or Extensions to your operating system. Any time you operate Control Panels and Extensions you should carefully consider whether their taxation on operating system performance out-weighs their benefits. It is very important to keep the version of Norton Utilities matched up to your operating system. If you uprade your operating system you should always check to see if there has been a corresponding upgrade in Norton Utilities.

Trash preferences.
Inside the SYSTEM FOLDER is a PREFERENCES folder that contains a number of preference files that store information about various settings a program uses to operate. If the preference file for a program becomes corrupted it can cause errors in the operation of the program. Most of the preference files in that folder will recreate themselves automatically if you trash them. If a preference file has become corrupted, trashing it to force the creation of a new prefernces file will solve problems that are caused by the corruption.
There are a couple of notable exceptions to files that don't automatically recreate themselves if trashed. Netscape Navigator creates its own folder inside the preferences folder. The Netscape folder contains the bookmarks file that, obviously enough, keeps track of the bookmarks you have made in the Netscape program. If you are using Netscape as a POP email client your mail will be stored there as well. Before trashing the Netscape folder you may want to either save a copy of the bookmarks file or export a copy of the bookmarks file from within the Netscape Navigator program. #These are not the only files that don't get automatically recreated if trashed, but there are few preference files that don't recreate themselves.
It should be noted though, that prefernce files that are recreated don't retain the preference settings that were in use when the previous file was trashed. Preferences that are not default settings of a program will need to be reset when recreated. If you use a number of specialized settings in a program you may want to make note of those settings before trashing a preferences file. If you trash a TCP preferences file you should write down your IP address, gateway address, subnet mask, and domain name router settings before trashing the preference file.
The preference file that gets trashed most frequently is probably the Finder preference file. If your computer starts acting strange while doing basic things, trashing the Finder preferences is a good thing to try. Because the Finder is always open while your Macintosh is operating you cannot drag the Finder preference file to the Trash and empty the Trash immediately. You will get a message that the file is in use and cannot be emptied from the Trash at that time. The trick is to leave the file in the Trash and restart the computer. At restart the computer only looks in the preferences folder for the Finder preference file, and if it doesn't find it there it will recreate the file. It doesn't recognize that the old preference file is still in the Trash. After the computer is restarted you will be able to empty the old preference file from the Trash.

Check for viruses.
Macintosh users have generally had it pretty easy where viruses are concerned, but they are still a problem and the results of an infection can be quite bizarre.
Dr. John Norstad at Northwestern University has written a freeware virus program for the Macintosh that will remove many viruses. It will also act to prevent the action of many viruses if you install the protection INIT. When you open Disinfectant one of the menus at the top of the window is titled PROTECT. Selecting the PROTECT menu gives a choice of INSTALL PROTECTION INIT. Choosing that option causes the Disinfectant INIT to be installed into the EXTENSIONS folder (located inside the SYSTEM FOLDER). Extensions are only loaded at restart, so you will need to restart your Macintosh for the protection to be started.
It should be noted that virus protection is only good if the computer is starting from the SYSTEM FOLDER in which the virus checker is installed. If you boot the computer from another System Folder (on a floppy disk, another hard drive, a ZIP disk, etc.) you will only be protected if Disinfectant, or some other virus checker, has been installed in that System as well. Disinfectant is accessible from many network download sites.
Please be aware of the following note from the Disinfectant README file:
Important Note
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Disinfectant only attempts to deal with Mac system viruses, not Trojan horses, practical jokes, DOS or Windows viruses, worms, application-specific scripting or macro viruses like the Hypercard and MS Word 6 viruses, or any other kind of computer "malware". Microsoft Word 6 cross-platform "macro viruses" like the widespread "Concept" virus are currently a major problem for MS Word 6 users. You don't have to worry about them if you don't use Word 6. If you need protection against the MS Word 6 macro viruses, I recommend a commercial anti-virus product such as SAM or Virex. Available from author by email to: John Norstad
j-norstad@nwu.edu
======
The key to maintaining virus protection is to keep the virus checker up-to-date. In the case of Disinfectant that means downloading a new copy of Disinfectant as it becomes available and reinstalling the Protection INIT. In the case of most commercial virus checkers it means getting new virus definition code and adding it to the virus program.
There is another benefit to Disinfectant that makes it an even more useful trouble-shooting tool. If you open the Disinfectant application and tell it to scan a drive it checks the basic structure of a file. It will, from time-time, report a file that has been damaged and needs to be replaced, even if the damage isn't necessarily the result of a virus. It can be a quick way to track down problem files.

Zap the PRAM.
That really is the technical term for it! PRAM stands for Programmable Random Access Memory. It is the part of memory that the battery keeps alive even when the computer is turned off. It stores settings such as date, time, mouse speed, last network connection, etc.
It is possible for the settings in the PRAM to become corrupted and some strange things can happen as a result. Zapping the PRAM causes at least some of the information stored in the PRAM to be removed, forcing the computer to get factory default settings from the ROM (Read-only memory) and load them into the PRAM. That process replaces any corrupt settings with good settings.
Often times Zapping the PRAM changes the settings you had been using previously. If you are on a network you and you Zap the PRAM you will usually need to go into the Appletalk or Network control panel (depending on which version of the operating system you are using) and change the setting back to ethernet. You will probably want to go into the MOUSE Control Panel and adjust the mouse-speed setting as well. Other Control Panels may need adjusting as well.
The Macintosh Operating System 7 has a built-in feature to Zap the PRAM . It is a little ackward but it works. When you start the computer hold down the COMMAND, OPTION, P, and R keys, all at the same time, and continue to hold them all down until you hear a chime and the screen goes blank and then lights up again. It is generally a good idea to hold those keys down until the chime and screen blanking have occurred three or four times in order to insure a good clearing of the PRAM.
The COMMAND key is somtimes referred to as the OPEN-APPLE key and is located between the OPTION key and the SPACE-BAR.
As mentioned earlier, Micromat provides a free-ware utility called Tech-Tool that has a feature to Zap the PRAM as well as rebuild the desktop. MicroMat's information indicates that Tech-Tool clears out more PRAM settings than the built-in PRAM Zap under the MacO/S. Tech-Tool is available on the Micromat web site.

Disable extensions and control panels.
Corruption of Control Panels and Extensions, or conflicts among and between them, can be another source of problems. The key to diagnosing the problem is to disable the appropriate Control Panel or Extension; when the right one is disabled the problem should disappear.
One thing that can often help in diagnosing conflicts among and between extensions and control panels is to know what the icons for the extensions and control panels look like. If your system is locking up during the startup process due to a conflict, watching the icons appear for the extensions and control panels during the startup process can provide clues to the problems if you note what has already loaded and what the last item to load was. working with the last item to load is a good place to start in trouble-shooting these kinds of problems.
All Control Panels and Extensions can be disabled when running System Software 7.x or 8.x by holding down the SHIFT key while the computer starts up. If that procedure causes the problem to go away then the problem is likely caused by a conflict or corruption of a Control Panel or Extension. The trick then is to figure out which Control Panel or Extension is the problem.
The really tedious way to find out is to take a Control Panel or Extension from the Control Panels or Extensions folder and place it outside the System Folder and then restarting the computer, repeating the procedure until the offending file is found.
More recent versions of the Macintosh Operating System have included a Control Panel named Extensions Manager that allows you to turn on and off individual Control Panels or Extensions, or sets of them. The computer must be restarted after each change in the Extensions Manager, but it does make the overall process much easier, especially since a whole set can be turned off at once to help narrow down the search.
Holding down the space bar when starting the computer will open the Extensions Manager control panel and allow you to turn on/off extensions and control panels. This is useful if your computer is locking up in the middle of the startup process.
The most important aspect of trouble-shooting corruption or conflicts with Control Panels and Extensions is patience. It can be a lengthy process.

Remove or Disable fonts.
Font corruption or conflicts can cause some nagging, bizarre problems. They can be tracked down in the same manner that Control Panel and Extension problems are diagnosed, except that there is currently no feature built-into the Macintosh Operating System to manage fonts like the Extensions Manager manages Control Panels and Extensions. Removing a font from the Fonts folder, placing it outside the System Folder, restarting the computer, and repeating the procedure until the offending file is found is the only way to track down a font problem without purchasing additional software.
As with Control Panels and Extensions, the most important aspect of trouble-shooting corruption or conflicts with fonts is patience.
There are several commercial utilities that manage fonts and font sets. If you have a large collection of fonts you may want to give serious consideration to purchasing and using such a utility. It should be noted that these utilities can be sensitive to changes in versions of the operating system; if you upgrade system software you should check to see if an upgrade in your font utilitiy is needed to maintain compatibility with the operating system.

Verify that you are using the appropriate version of all software.
This is especially true for Control Panels and Extensions, whether they are from Apple or a third-party. Apple often releases software updates or patches between major releases of the operating system. While out-of-date software seems to be more of a problem with Control Panels and Extensions the problem can also be seen in other pieces of software.
There are no great tips to pass along for keeping track of software versions and their compatibility with various versions of the operating system. Combinations of asking other users, checking web sites, or calling the company that supports the software will probably be needed.

If the problem is with just one piece of software, re-install that software.
Be sure to delete Control Panels, Extensions, and Preferences that may have been added by that piece of software. You may want to note preference settings for the software before deleting it. If you are deleting a web browser you may want to export your bookmarks file for import into the new install. If you are replacing software that you use to get email you should save copies of important messages before deleting the software.

Do a clean re-install of the system software.
If you try to install system software on top of existing system software the installer may not over-write an existing file. If that file is the one causing problems and the installer leaves it intact, the problems will remain. The trick is to make the installer think there isn't any system software there.
Before performing the following steps be certain you can start from the boot-disk and still have access to the System Software installer. For example, if you boot from a ZipDisk and the installer you want to use is on another ZipDisk you won't be able to get the installer disk into the drive to perform the install. Also be certain that there is enough room on the drive for an install of the System Software. Check the size of the current System Folder and be certain there is at least one-and-a-half times that space available on the drive.