Generally the single application is the problem, as it stuck in a loop and take up too much memory. When an application gets stuck you will get an alert informing that the application quit unexpectedly. If the Mac locks without any alert the problem lies in the OS. Mainly you have two options:-
  • Click reopen, the application will start up again, and send a report to Apple.
  • On clicking OK will dismiss the window alert.

STOP SENDING CRASH REPORT TO APPLE

Whenever an application crashes, OS X sends a report to Apple. Apple uses this data to manage development of OS X and provide a more stable operating system in the future. If you don’t want to send data to Apple, you can turn off the automatic report function in system preferences by following these steps:
  • Open system preferences.
  • Click security and privacy.
  • Click the lock icon in the lower-left of the window and enter your Admin password.
  • Choose privacy > Diagnostics and Usage.
  • Deselect the send diagnostic and usage data to Apple and share crash data with app developers.
  • Click lock icon again to close the system preferences.
Now when Apple crashes you will get a Reopen and Report button. Clicking report will send a report to Apple, clicking reopen will reopen the program.

WHEN AN APP FREEZES

Quitting and restarting the app is the best way for OS X to handle a crash. Rarer and most irritating problem is when an application simply fails to function. Generally you will find it when App’s menu and icon are unresponsive and you see rainbow wheel or you can say spinning wait cursor or SPOD or spinning pizza of death or spinning beach ball.
Follow these steps when App frizzes:-
  • Switch to another area of OS X. Click on another app window or desktop. Or you can press command + tab to switch to another app.
  • Control-click the app icon in the dock.
  • Hold option.
  • Select force quit.
App will close instantly. There are other ways too to force an app to quit. If dock is unresponsive, press command-option-esc to open force quit applications window. Choose and app from the list and click force quit.

IF OS X IS FROZEN OR APP REFUSES TO FORCE QUIT

If you cannot force quit an app, or if OS X is completely unresponsive then follow these steps:-
  • Choose Apple Menu > Restart and click Restart.
  • If you cannot interact with Apple menu, press Command-Control-Eject. This instructs OS to restart immediately.
  • If this also is not working then, press and hold the power button on your Mac until it switches off. Press and release the power button to turn it back on again.
When you restart the file you were working on is damaged or corrupted. You should try to recover what you can from it and transfer any contents to a new file then delete it.

FIND THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM

If you encounter frequent freezes then you should investigate the cause of crash. Check the following:-
  • Check that you have enough free hard drive space in OS X.
  • Make sure you have used updates in the App store to make sure OS X and apps you installed are up to date.
  • Update apps installed outside of the App store manually. Each app usually has a check for updates feature.
  • If you are encountering frequent crashes or freezes you should update your software and then disconnect all your peripherals. Re-attach them one at a time to see if one of them is causing problem.
  • Disable plug-ins. If you use apps with plug-ins, you should disable them to discover if they are causing problems.
  • Use a safe boot by holding down the shift key while starting up your Mac. This launches OS X without any additional processes and runs clean-up scripts.
  • Use Disk Utility’s Repair Disk function to clean up any problems with your hard drive.
  • Run Apple Hardware Test. This is special utility from the Apple Support Site that detects the problems on your Mac.

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