I read Kari's post about her issues with her MacBook and Photoshop, but I'm not quite having the same issues. My iMAC (which I've only had about 6 months), has been freezing a LOT, and as of the past 3 days, When I go to open PS3, all I get is the spinning beach ball,... not responding, etc. I've rebooted countless times, nothing helps. Also, the same thing happens when I try to open Parallels... just spins.. I have to force quit both and nothing happens there either. I've searched online for this kind of issue, and although I find threads about imacs freezing from time to time, I still don't understand why some of my software isn't opening at all.
Also, sometimes Entourage freezes as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Amy, have you tried repairing your disk permissions? use the steps i posted in Kari's thread to repair them and see if that helps. if not, i have a few other ideas that may be of use to you.

Also, is this a FRESH system or did you transfer programs and files from another mac when you purchased it?'

What OS are you running and what model iMac is it? New (Silver) or older (white?)

Try repairing permissions first.

Then if that fails to solve it (which i think it might) then look up how to do an "archive and install". You should be able to google directions. It will strip out your OS, and re-install it. But it puts all your user data and programs back (well normally it does) and it's like having a new computer. I have done it about a dozen times (that's my day job) and it almost always solves these kinds of problems. Normally takes about 1-2 hours. And i think you have to re-install your printer drivers afterwards. But most other software should still work. Only catch is i haven't done it on a system with Parallels yet, so not sure how that part would work out. But just make sure you backup first, and you should be fine.

Permission is always the first choice.

Also, have you install new fonts recently? a new program?
Corrupt fonts can cause havoc on a MAC.

Make sure you have installed the most recent updates for OS as well as PS3.