The next problem on the list were several ist files. I left those alone for the time being, planning on copying the file information and deleting the offending files later. I then used the Check All Files & Folders diagnostic in DiskWarrior and it came up with a bunch of errors in files that had resource headers that were damaged and could not be repaired, these being several large Word files pertaining to my novel. I then repaired disk permissions, which can be done from the standard Disk Utility app in your Utilities folder. Standard rebuilding of the directory did not completely cure the problem, freezing kept happening several times a day and was getting worse. My solution, after sytematic diagnosing it, was to run DiskWarrior 4.4, though I'm sure other versions would work as well. Went through all the forums and tried just about everything posted and to no avail. It also became more frequent and to the point every single time waking up from sleep would cause it to freeze, forcing a reboot. Had same problem, thinking it was internet/safari related, tried different browsers which helped for a while, but then the problem of freezing kept happening. I have to post this because I found the answer to this similar, nearly duplicate problem. Many thanks for any help anyone can give me. One last step I am contemplating is wiping it and restoring it to the factory settings. I have a feeling it might just be getting too old. I have made numerous steps to counteract this such as Verifying and repairing disc permissions, downloading latest Flash (I can't download the absolute latest version as my mac OS doesn't support this). It doesn't like iTunes either and wiped that library due to a crash corrupting files. Recently it even spread to BBC iPlayer desktop where I could not watch that offline or online as it would freeze the whole mac. The freeze starts randomly but especially when doing something 'difficult' like watching a video, or opening numerous tabs. When it freezes i get the beach ball but can usually move the cursor. But it is still freezing, not as bad as usual, but its only a matter of time before it is completely unusable. But low and behold Firefox started freezing the mac again. I first started by uninstalling Chrome and using Safari instead. Over the past few months my mac has gone through stages of freezing when online but eventually spreads to using anything on the Mac will create a freeze (iPlayer desktop, finder, PS, iTunes).

Box for mac freeze up