El Capitan has a ton of neat new features, but no OS ever arrives completely error-free. This year’s OS X update is no different — leading some impatient online types to go so far as to label it “El Crapitan.”
Some of these problems have been solved. Others haven’t. But we’ve compiled a list of some of the most widespread complaints. Check out the hall of shame below.
El Capitan is making everything run r-e-a-l-l-y, r-e-a-l-l-y s–l–o–w
Are you spending a whole lot more time with the Mac’s (redesigned) spinning pinwheel/beachball? Join the club. On Apple’s support forums, a number of users are taking issues with El Capitan’s apparent lack of haste.
“Is anyone else having the issue of your Mac running wicked slow after the new El Capitan update?” writes one user. “Word, Safari, Preview, and iTunes wouldn’t open — they froze and I had to force quit them. Even typing this there is a major lag and the pinwheel appears.”
Another adds that, since installing the last El Capitan beta in early October, their Mac, “runs as fast as a one legged donkey.”
This doesn’t seem to be a universal rule, though. Some other El Capitan users claim their Macs are running faster than ever. Whichever group you fall into (my personal experience has been a slight slow-down), you’re not alone.
Photo: Microsoft
Microsoft Office is anything but a productivity tool
El Capitan users have been having some major issues with Microsoft Office since the developer betas first dropped. One of the final betas suggested that testers should specifically focus on Office 2016– although that hasn’t stopped the official public release experiencing similar problems.
Microsoft has issued its own patch, as well as a fix for Microsoft Office 2011 installs — but there are still plenty of complaints concerning problems among the El Capitan early adopters.
To print, or not to print
It seems that a number of users running El Capitan are having issues printing landscape-oriented documents. The problem arises specifically when people try and print PDF landscape documents using Preview.
On suggested fix is to open System Preferences > Printers & Scanners, then select the Print tab. Once this is done, right or CTRL click the printer, then hit Reset Printing System, and finally restart your Mac and printer, before trying again.
iTunes is running into problems
Some users are having issues with iTunes not allowing them to click on anything, while also taking a long time to find music folders on start-up. You can follow an updated thread about the problem here, but so far at least there doesn’t seem to be an Apple fix.
Photo: Apple
WiFi issues abound
If you’re having some problems with poor WiFi connectivity, you’re not alone. Fortunately, this is one of the El Capitan issues that’s easy to sort out.
First of all, make sure you delete your current WiFi preferences, then create a new network location with DNS settings, and you should be up and running again. For a more detailed step-by-step guide to fixing the problem, check out the handy guide here.
Airdrop isn’t working properly
Some users are reporting that they are unable to make a connection using Airdrop between their iMac and MacBook, or their MacBook and iOS devices. While everything appears to be set up correctly — with WiFi and Bluetooth turned on, firewalls turned off, and both devices paired — the Airdrop feature still refuses to work.
Other problems?
Have you experienced any of these issues yourself? Are there any we haven’t mentioned? Better yet, if you’ve got fixes for some of the more widespread El Capitan issues leave them in the comments box below, and we’ll incorporate them into the list.
