The latest version of the Mac operating system, macOS Big Sur, brings new changes and highlights. Some of the highlights include enhanced visuals, improved notification center, a new control center, and smarter Safari. MacOS Big Sur is the latest operating system for Mac, and it brings many new features to your computer. But as with any software update, macOS Big Sur doesn’t work perfectly on the Mac. After you upgrade your macOS Big Sur system, some problems may occur. Here are 10 frequently asked questions about macOS BigSur and how to solve them.
First, your battery drains quickly
Some MacBook owners are experiencing faster battery life depletion than ever before. Although, if you recently installed Big Sur, this problem is actually part of the process.
Because the MacBook does a lot of work in the background, expect the battery to wear down faster than normal.
The battery drain problem is most likely caused by running some demanding application, or the MacBook’s battery starts to age and become less efficient.
With regard to your applications, you can actually immediately see which applications are draining the MacBook’s power. All you need to do is click the battery icon in the upper right corner of the menu bar. Once you know which applications they are, you can turn them off.
Of course, you can also see a list of other applications that have an energy impact on the Mac. Here’s how to do it:
1. Access your Spotlight search. You can do this by pressing Command and space at the same time.
2. Type the activity monitor.
3. Click the Power TAB at the top of the Activity Monitor window.
4. You can view a list of apps that have a significant impact on your MacBook’s power and then close them.
You should also check the health of the battery. If you have an older MacBook, the battery might not perform as well as it used to. Sadly, this is a normal process that happens with every rechargeable battery. However, it is important to know the current state of the battery. That’s how you do it.
1. Click the Apple menu in the upper left corner of the menu bar.
2. Select system preferences.
3. Click the battery.
4. On the left menu, click Battery again.
5. Click Battery Status at the bottom of the window.
You’ll see the condition of the battery, as well as the option to manage battery life, which helps extend it by reducing the MacBook’s peak performance.
Second, your MacBook charging speed slows down
Another problem some users complain about is that their macBooks take longer to charge. While this is not new to Big Sur, it’s still something we’re not used to.
Despite some complaints, this is actually a feature that can help you improve battery wear and prolong your overall battery life.
We’re talking about optimizing battery charging. This is a fairly new feature that helps you quickly prevent battery aging. With this feature enabled, your MacBook will learn your charging habit routine and decide that it takes longer to complete charging when the battery is above 80% full.
While this is a cool and useful feature, you can actually disable it in case you need to charge your MacBook at normal speed. Just follow these steps:
1. On the menu bar, click the Apple menu.
2. Click System preferences.
3. Click the battery.
4. Click battery on the left menu again.
5. Disable or enable optimized battery charging.
It’s important to note that retaining the “optimized battery charging” feature will help the MacBook’s battery in the long run. Even if you don’t need or want it now, consider turning the MacBook on knowing it can be connected for long periods of time.
The menu bar keeps disappearing
After updating to Big Sur, some Settings may be changed to make the menu bar disappear when not in use.
If this happens and you don’t want the menu bar to remain hidden, follow these steps to fix it.
1. Go to “Apple Menu” on the menu bar.
2. Select system preferences.
3. Click the Dock&Menu Bar.
4. At the bottom of the window, ensure that the automatic Hide and show menu bar options are not selected.
4. Unneeded applications run in the background
Sometimes, after a major software update, certain Apps will start automatically when you start the Mac.
While some apps can be useful, others aren’t necessary, they just help slow down the Mac’s performance and end up draining the battery faster than usual.
Fortunately, there is a quick fix that prevents applications from running automatically in the background.
Go to the Apple menu on the menu bar.
2. Click System preferences.
3. Click User and group.
4. Ensure that the right user is selected. You can see all users on the menu on the left.
5. Click the Login TAB.
6. You will see a list of all the projects that were opened when you logged in. Delete unwanted applications.
Five, the performance is slow
With Big Sur, Macs can run slower than usual, and are actually quite common. As mentioned earlier, this is because your Mac is optimizing itself and should return to normal speed after a while.
However, if your Mac is still running slower than usual after a few days, you can try restarting it to see if it fixes the problem.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, there are other things you can do. First, you can disable certain applications to run in the background, as we showed earlier. Some applications are too demanding to run in the background, which can cause the Mac to slow down.
You can also check for software updates. If Big Sur has performance issues, Apple will likely fix them as soon as possible. Keeping your Mac up to date can help resolve performance issues and fix other errors and security issues that you may not know about.
To check for software updates, go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Software Updates. Your Mac will check for the latest update and ask you to update it.
Finally, you can always return to the activity monitor. It tells you which applications are running and shows you your CPU and memory usage so you can shut down the most demanding applications. You can access the activity monitor by:
1. Turn to Spotlight Search. You can do this by pressing Command and space at the same time.
2. Type the activity monitor.
3. Click the CPU or Memory TAB to view your CPU load and Memory Stress reports.
Finally, you can also try using disk Tools to provide some first aid to the Mac. This can solve your performance problems and other problems that the Mac doesn’t know about. This is how you do it.
1. Go to the Disk Tools application. You can access it by using Spotlight search on your Mac by pressing the Command key and space bar, and then typing Disk Utility.
2. Click View next to Disk Tools and ensure that Show All Devices (if any) is selected.
3. In the left column, you should see all volumes, containers, and disks.
4. Select your volumes, they should be the ones at the bottom, then click first Aid at the top of the window.
5. After the volume is completed, perform Emergency For the container and then emergency for the disk.
Apple recommends that you fix them in order to understand exactly what the problem is. It is recommended that you apply first aid from the bottom and work your way up.
The application crashes or runs slowly
If you experience any problems with an application that worked well before, it’s probably the application itself, not the Mac.
First, some applications may experience problems, such as running slower than usual or crashing. The application may continue to do this until the developer updates its application for Big Sur.
While your application may be ready to support Big Sur, you haven’t updated it yet. To do this, go to the App Store and click “Update” on the menu on the left to make sure all apps are up to date.
On the other hand, if you have a new MacBook or Mac Mini with a brand new M1 chip, the application in question may still work with older Intel-based Macs. This issue will be addressed in the future as more and more developers begin to work on optimizing applications for the M1 chip. Until then, Apple’s Rosseta 2 should help you use applications that weren’t optimized before the update.
Seven, the printer no longer works
It’s not new to any of us that the printer doesn’t work properly. They smell your fear and know when you’re worried and there’s nothing you can do about it. However, if your printer stops working after updating to Big Sur, you can quickly take steps to fix it.
First, try printing again and give it a try. It is possible to solve the problem. If it is still not available, you may need to uninstall and then restart the printer. Here’s how to do it:
1. Go to “Apple Menu” on the menu bar.
2. Click System preferences.
3. Switch to the printer and scanner.
4. On the left menu, select your printer, and then click the minus (-) button at the bottom to delete it.
5. Reinstall the printer and try it.
8. Unable to log in after update
After the update, you may not be able to log in to your Mac for no reason. Even if you log in with Touch ID, the Mac may not recognize you.
If you’ve tried and made sure your username, password, or finger is correct, you may need to briefly reset your Mac’s System Manager Controller or SMC.
If you are using a Mac Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, or even a Mac Mini, turn it off and unplug it for 20 to 30 seconds, then wait another 5 seconds before turning it on.
However, if you have a MacBook, this process takes longer. That’s what you need to do.
First, make sure the MacBook has the T2 chip. This is Apple’s security chip that makes your Mac hard to hack. Most regular Macs have it, but you still need to find out if you have it. Here’s how to do it:
1. Click the Apple logo to access the Apple menu.
2. Hold down the Option key on the keyboard. You should see the Apple menu change.
3. Click System Information while the Option key is still down.
4. On the sidebar, click Controller. If you have an Apple T2 security chip on your Mac, you should see it.
Now, with this information, here’s how to reset the SMC.
How to reset SMC if Mac has Apple T2 security chip:
1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Hold down the power button for 10 seconds.
3. Please wait and open the Mac again.
If your Mac doesn’t have an Apple T2 security chip, how to reset SMC:
1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Hold down Shift + Control + Option + Power button for 10 seconds.
3. If the Mac does not perform operations automatically, open it.
9. Wi-fi connection problems
One of the most annoying problems is that your Wi-Fi doesn’t work properly.
If a Mac cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network after downloading macOS Big Sur, perform the following operations.
First, you can reset the router and then try to connect to the Mac again. If that doesn’t work, you can do so and try to connect to another Wi-Fi network. The router or Wi-Fi may be the problem, so you need to do this to troubleshoot the problem.
If that doesn’t work, you can try resetting the System manager controller, as we showed you in the previous step. In general, this will solve most minor problems, so you can try it out and see if you can solve the problem.
You can also try using the Disk Utility App and use first aid to repair disks, containers, and volumes. Here’s a quick reminder of how to do it:
1. Go to the Disk Tools application. You can access it by using Spotlight search on your Mac by pressing the Command key and space bar, and then typing Disk Utility.
2. Click View next to Disk Tools and ensure that Show All Devices (if any) is selected.
3. In the left column, you should see all volumes, containers, and disks.
4. Select your volumes, they should be the ones at the bottom, then click first Aid at the top of the window.
5. After the volume is completed, perform Emergency For the container and then emergency for the disk.
Finally, you can delete the Wi-Fi connection and then try to reconnect. The deletion method is as follows:
1. Go to “Apple Menu” on the menu bar.
2. Click System preferences.
3. Click Network.
4. Select Advanced
5. You will see a list of all preferred networks. Click them, and then click the minus sign (-) to delete them.
6. Restart the Mac.
7. Connect to your Wi-Fi network again.
10. Bluetooth connection problem
You may also encounter problems when connecting to a Bluetooth device. Fortunately, there are several fixes for this problem.
First, you can try resetting the Bluetooth module. This will reset all the devices you have connected to your Mac, so you can try to connect it again as if for the first time.
1. Hold down the Option and Shift keys.
2. While holding down two keys, click the Bluetooth icon in the upper right corner of the menu bar. After clicking it, you can release two keys
3. Click to reset the Bluetooth module.
4. Click OK.
5. Connect your device
If that doesn’t work, you can always try to delete the list of connected Bluetooth devices. This is a little technical, but no less easy.
1. Open the finder.
2. On Macintosh HD. Right-click on the folder name until you see a drop-down list, and then click Macintosh HD to find it easily.
Open the library folder.
3. Scroll down and click the Preferences folder.
4. Search com. Apple. Bluetooth. Plist and delete. If you want to save it, you can also move it to another location.
5. Restart the Mac and try to reconnect the Bluetooth device.
And that’s the list of 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Mac Big SUR and how to Solve them! For more Mac knowledge, check out Mac.orsoon.com!