Randomly, I wasn't doing anything specific — my system starts getting sluggish. I check the activity viewer — wow, Finder is at 150% CPU!
This is what I have tried so far:
- Trashing
com.apple.finder.plist
,com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
andcom.apple.loginwindow.plist
- Trashing all
apple.*
namespaced.plist
files - Turning off Calculate All Sizes in Finder
- Turning off Show View Options in Finder
- Disabling all startup items
- Unplugging external hard drives
- Getting rid of all data on desktop
However, if I create a new account or use my wife's account, the Finder CPU usage is normal.
I analyzed the Finder's CPU pattern, it goes like this: If active, it's always between 70 and 150% CPU usage. If i kill it, and stay 100% idle — it goes from 0-ish% to 100+% slowly, and the "Real Memory" column in Activity Monitor goes from 0MB to ~2GB+ slowly, and when it gets around there, it dies and cycles all over again.
What are some methods I can use to trace what's happening in Finder?
Best Answer
Go to Terminal, type
iosnoop
, and see what Finder is doing. You can also go to AM and click "Sample" to figure out what threads Finder has open.