Whether you know it as the "spinning wait cursor" or the more ominous "spinning beach ball of death" when it appears on your screen, it stops you in your tracks, no matter what you're trying to do. If ...

It’s a wait cursor, colorful and spinning, that means your Mac is thinking. But few of us are patient nor amused by its animation, so we give it names like the spinning wheel or beachball “of death.” ...