Mac OS X 10.2.8 or Earlier: Delay When Opening Mail Attachment

The application Mail may temporarily stop responding when you open an attachment that causes the Classic environment to start up. This delay does not occur if Classic is already active.
Symptom

The application Mail may temporarily stop responding when you open an attachment that causes the Classic environment to start up. A spinning disc cursor may be visible during this period.


Solution

This delay and spinning disc cursor are normal while Classic starts up. To avoid the Classic startup delay while using Mail, you can set Classic to start up when you log in. Follow these steps:

A future release of Mac OS X may change this behavior.
Published Date: Feb 17, 2012