Cannot open apps because of a problem

I'm running OS X 10.7.5 (Lion) on a Mid 2011 iMac. I have recently found that Apps such as Preview, Quicktime, iPhoto and Adobe Photoshop will not open and I get the message 'Cannot open 'xyz' because of a problem'. If I then Restart the iMac everything is fine, everything opens as expected but then if I leave it overnight Apps start failing to load again so I have to repeat the cycle. Historically, I cannot restore the system from Time Machine because when the backup became full it failed to wrap around so I no longer have a backup. Does anyone have any ideas?

Posted on Oct 1, 2026 8:27 AM

1 reply

MrHoffman

Level 10 (169,253 points)

Oct 1, 2026 8:46 AM in response to j@byc

As this may well be a hardware problem or a software corruption, and a backup may well be needed to preserve your data — to restore after a data corruption, or to migrate back to a repaired Mac or to migrate onto a replacement Mac — you will first want to connect the necessary storage hardware, and then get a backup.

I’d get that backup soonest, as a failing storage device and a corruption can both be progressive failures, which means the longer the Mac runs before getting the backup, the less the data recovered, or the less even recoverable.

Once you have a backup of your data, then we can start looking into the Mac.