Spotify for Mac has become unbearably slow. Dear Spotify team, Like any tech geek, I love new features. Now, two years later, it can take up to 2 minutes to start. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Like many of you I've noticed Spotify can take a very long time to start up as of late. On a hunch I took a look at where it was trying to pull local sources from. Sure enough my downloads folder was one of the options. Here's the thing. Windows 7 has a bug when refreshing the Downloads folder.
Switch on automatic updates. Open the Google Play Store. Use the search bar to find Spotify. Tap the three vertical dots in the top right. Check Enable Auto-update.; Tip: You can switch on automatic updates for all your apps. Solution: The easiest way to fix an error 101 is to remove Spotify from your firewall’s list of accepted programs and then re-start your computer. Once your computer has re-started, you will then want to manually re-add Spotify to the list of approved programs. This should clear up the error 101 and allow Spotify to start working once more.
A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later
You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.
Be sure to back up your files before proceeding if possible.
Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences.
Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally. Also, see Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support and Playing Safe- what does Safe mode do?.
Use the Apple Hardware Test to see if there is any hardware malfunction. How to invoke and interpret the Apple hardware tests - CNET.
Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and Rkeys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
Repair permissions on the Home folder: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
Download and install the OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update or 10.12.6 Combo Update or Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update or Download macOS Mojave 10.14.1 Update as needed.
Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the CommandandRkeys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:
Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.
Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
14. If none of the above helps then see How to Downgrade macOS High Sierra and macOS Reversion- How to Downgrade from High Sierra.
Spotify Slow To Open
15. If you get here without success then make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for service. If you need to find an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple.
Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time you start your Mac. These are applications that sneak into startup items without notice, never asking if you need or want them there. This way you may end up with a dozen apps launching as soon as you turn on your Mac, weighing heavily on its processor and memory capacities and slowing it down. Such items can increase your Mac’s startup time and decrease its performance.
Plus, sometimes when you remove an application or a service, it leaves a login item with a broken link. These broken login items are completely useless, cause unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because they look for non-existent applications). Whether you're running macOS Catalina or El Capitan, or earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.
So, let's go over how to take control of login items, and how to get rid of unwanted, broken or hidden startup items.
How to disable startup programs?
Do you want to stop programs from running at startup? There’s an easy way to remove programs from startup and get your Mac to load faster on launch. The fastest way to turn off startup items on Mac is an app like CleanMyMac X.
Download CleanMyMac for free.
Launch the app.
Open Optimization tab.
Click on Login items.
From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
Done!
How to change startup programs manually?
Disabling Mac startup programs is possible manually. Therefore, if you have some time and would like to do it yourself, follow the steps below.
Your login items are listed in settings. One of the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users & Groups.
Open System Preferences.
Go to Users & Groups.
Choose your nickname on the left.
Choose Login items tab.
Check startup programs you want to remove.
Press the “–” sign below.
You’re done.
If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
Then restart your Mac to see the changes.
How to fix broken startup items?
Spotify Slow Start Macbook
Broken Mac startup files are left there because some part of apps are left on your Mac long after you’ve moved the app to the Trash. To get rid of these parts and to fix your startup, you’re going to need CleanMyMac again. First, you need to check if they’re among startup items and disable them if so. You can do it following the instructions above. Then you need to remove app leftovers. CleanMyMac works fine on macOS High Sierra and earlier OS.
Launch CleanMyMac.
Choose Uninstaller tab.
Scroll through the list of apps.
If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.
You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:
Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.
Remove daemons and agents from startup process
If speaking of files, first go to the system folder /Library/StartUpItems. Here you’ll find all the startup files that are being launched with the system. You can delete the login item you think is necessary if you’re totally sure what you are doing.
Also, the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder contains a bunch of preference files that define how the application that is being launched along with the system should work. You might want to delete some of these files as well if you know you don’t need them and removing them is safe.
Spotify Slow Startup Mac
The /Library/LaunchAgents contains preference files responsible for the apps that launch during the login process (not the startup).
The above-mentioned folders contain app-related files. However, you can also check system folders to review whether you need some of the system applications to be running on startup:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
/System/Library/LaunchAgents - most probably, you won’t also find anything worth removing in this folder, however, keeping this location in mind might help you find files related to a problematic app that causes troubles on Mac startup. If you have a problematic application that messes about on login, you can try to trace it back from this folder.
But, if you’re looking for simple ways to remove login items, we suggest using a professional Mac utility. Download CleanMyMac X for free and make unwanted and broken login items a thing of the past.