System Maintenance

When Spotlight can't find files, icons look wrong, sound stops or websites won't load, you don't necessarily need to reinstall macOS. System Maintenance gathers the matching checks and repairs in one place and runs them with tools built into macOS, so you don't have to type Terminal commands.

#Check first

When you open the page, WashBear checks which tasks are available on your Mac without changing anything. Each task is marked Healthy, Suggested, Run When Needed or Unavailable. Run When Needed means the task can run; it does not mean a problem was found.

Filter by Suggested, System Repair, Search & Interface or Network.

#Available tasks

• Rebuild the Spotlight search index: when search is slow or misses files. macOS re-indexes in the background after the task starts, and search results may be incomplete in the meantime.
• Repair Open With and file associations: when the Open With menu shows duplicate or outdated apps.
• Refresh Quick Look file previews and Rebuild Finder icon cache: when pressing Space shows a blank preview or icons look wrong.
• Restart Finder: when Finder is slow, its windows stop responding or the desktop doesn't refresh.
• Restart the audio service: when sound stops or audio devices disappear. Sound is briefly interrupted.
• Repair home folder permissions: when Desktop, Documents or other home folders can't be opened or saved to.
• Restore settings changed by older optimizers: returns App Nap, disk image verification and related options to their macOS defaults. It is marked Suggested when such changes are found.
• Check the startup disk file system: checks for file system errors without changing disk contents.
• Refresh DNS cache: when websites won't load or network services can't connect.

#Run a task

Click Run next to a task. Rebuilding the Spotlight index, restarting Finder, restarting the audio service and repairing home folder permissions first ask Run this maintenance task?, because they can take a while or briefly restart system components.

While a task runs you see its phase, step and elapsed time, and WashBear checks the result when it ends. Only one task runs at a time. If you click Run on another task, it waits in line, and you can click Cancel queued. Tasks that don't need administrator approval can be stopped with Stop; some changes may already have taken effect, so click Check Again afterward.

#Administrator approval

Tasks marked Administrator approval required are rebuilding the Spotlight search index, restarting the audio service, repairing home folder permissions and refreshing the DNS cache. macOS asks for an administrator password when they run; if you cancel, the task does not run. Once approved and started, these tasks can't be stopped midway.

#Good practice

• Save your work first, especially before tasks that restart Finder or audio.
• Run a task only when you have the matching problem. There is no need to run every task as routine maintenance.
• System Maintenance addresses common software problems and does not replace hardware diagnostics or data recovery. If disk errors keep coming back, back up important files and seek professional help.

#Ask AI about a task

Not sure which task to run? Hover over it and click AI explanation to learn what problem it addresses and whether it needs extra permissions. See AI Explanations.