Slowness and excessive CPU usage under 10.9.1

Hi,
I installed Mavericks on my MacBook soon after it came out and I generally like it. However, it has made my mid-2010 model MacBook quite slow, but, oddly, only in certain situations, for example opening and quiting applications and switching between windows. The Finder has become especially slow. I'm constantly restarting and repairing disk permissions in a vain effort to make my laptop work like it used to, but it still seems almost like the computer is having to use too much virtual memory. However, activity monitor reports low 'memory pressure' (whatever that means) and generally 0 bytes or a low level of swap used. In addition, it seems to be taking longer to start up, especially after it has got past the grey apple screen and loaded up the desktop (I have to wait forever for the dock and desktop icons to appear). It has 8GB RAM and an SSD, so it shouldn't really be slow...
Activity Monitor does report very high levels of CPU utilization (often in excess of 100%). Is it just that the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor is a little weedy for 10.9 or is this irregular behaviour? Any ideas on what i could try to speed this thing up?
Thanks in advance for any help,
LSRW

Hi Dibenkorn,
Thanks for your help. The SMART status is verified and the disk verification finished with a green 'okay' message. I have run etrecheck and the results are below. I will now attempt to reset SMC.
Hardware Information:
          MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010)
          MacBook - model: MacBook7,1
          1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores
          8 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.2 (13C64) - Uptime: 3 days 21:41:48
Disk Information:
          V4-CT256V4SSD2 disk0 : (256.06 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 255.2 GB (48.07 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information:
          Verbatim Desktop USB Drive 500.11 GB
                    EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    External HD (disk2s2) <not mounted>: 499.76 GB
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Launch Daemons:
          [System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.quark.quarkupdate.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist 3rd-Party support link
Launch Agents:
          [System] com.parallels.desktop.launch.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.promethean.activhardwareservice.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.promethean.activmgr.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.promethean.flashextension.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.quark.quarkupdate.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Login Items:
          uHD-Agent
          iTunesHelper
          Luke
          Dropbox
          Google Drive
Internet Plug-ins:
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
Safari Extensions:
          Chat Undetected: Version: 1.64
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
          Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins:
          BlueStacks Install Detector: Version: Unknown
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Flash Player 3rd-Party support link
          Perian 3rd-Party support link
          Quark Update Preferences 3rd-Party support link
Old Applications:
          QuarkUpdate:          Version: 1.1.0.1 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Quark/AutoUpdate/QuarkUpdate.app
          DockPlistEdit:          Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Parallels/Uninstaller/Parallels Hypervisor/DockPlistEdit.app
          Audacity:          Version: 2.0.1.0 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Audacity/Audacity.app
          QXP Help:          Version: 10.0 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/QuarkXPress 10/Help/QXP Help.app
          iSkysoft Helper Compact:          Version: 2.2.6.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Helper/iSkysoft Helper Compact.app
          Microsoft AutoUpdate:          Version: 2.3.3 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app
          Neverwinter Nights 2:          Version: 1.23.1765 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Time Machine:
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               5%          WindowServer
               1%          EtreCheck
               0%          prl_disp_service
               0%          com.apple.WebKit.Networking
               0%          aosnotifyd
Top Processes by Memory:
          369 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
          287 MB          Finder
          164 MB          mds_stores
          139 MB          softwareupdated
          131 MB          com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
Virtual Memory Information:
          2.31 GB          Free RAM
          3.41 GB          Active RAM
          1.15 GB          Inactive RAM
          897 MB          Wired RAM
          1.72 GB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

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EtreCheck version: 2.1.6 (109)
Report generated 28 January 2015 4:38:22 pm AEDT
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Click the [Adware] links for help removing adware.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,3
    1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
    16 GB RAM Not upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
    Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 16
Video Information: ℹ️
    Intel Iris Pro
        Color LCD spdisplays_2880x1800Retina
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - VRAM: 2048 MB
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 1:1:19
Disk Information: ℹ️
    APPLE SSD SM0512F disk0 : (500.28 GB)
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 499.05 GB (413.24 GB free)
            Core Storage: disk0s2 499.42 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
    Asmedia ASM107x
        Asmedia ASM107x
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Asmedia ASM107x
        Asmedia ASM107x
            Logitech Logitech USB Optical Mouse
            Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
                Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Configuration files: ℹ️
    /etc/hosts - Count: 2
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /Applications/DiskWarrior.app
    [not loaded]    com.alsoft.Preview (5 - SDK 10.5) [Support]
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    [not loaded]    net.tunnelblick.tap (1.0) [Support]
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    [loaded]    at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch (4231 - SDK 10.8) [Support]
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    [loaded]    jp.plentycom.driver.SteerMouse (4.2.2 - SDK 10.6) [Support]
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.cloudd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.pluginkit.pkd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist
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Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.awdd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.ctkd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist
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    [killed]    com.apple.nehelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.softwareupdated.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.wdhelper.plist
    8 processes killed due to memory pressure
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [running]    at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist [Support]
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.sophos.uiserver.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [running]    at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist [Support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.synium.cleanappdaemon.plist [Support]
    [running]    com.syniumsoftware.CleanAppDaemon.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
    [running]    com.c-command.SpamSieve.LaunchAgent.plist [Support]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
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    [invalid?]    info.lokiware.attachmenttamer.setupagent.plist [Support]
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    iTunesHelper    Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
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Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
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    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.296 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
    Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.296 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
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    iGetterScriptablePlugin: Version: 2.9.3 [Support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
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    iGetter Extension [Installed]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Default Folder X [Support]
    FinderPop [Support]
    FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) [Support]
    SteerMouse [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
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Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
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        3%    WindowServer
        2%    sysmond
        2%    Activity Monitor
        0%    fontd
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
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    103 MB    Finder
    86 MB    SophosScanD
    86 MB    InterCheck
    86 MB    WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
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    2.92 GB    Active RAM
    2.87 GB    Inactive RAM
    2.76 GB    Wired RAM
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General Slowness and Wierd CPU Usage

Writing on behalf of my uncle. He has a dual quad-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 2GBs of RAM (I verified this). And yet his system is slow and very, very crash-prone. Daily tasks such as emailing, using iWork, and Firefox or the cats pressing keys on his keyboard freeze his system.
I called him up and had him look at Activity Monitor. Even with "All Processes" selected, the top users of his CPU come in at 2%. Meanwhile, at the bottom, the value of "% User" is fluctuating from 30 to 60. (It's not RAM usage; he had ~1.5 gigs free).
Any ideas why this is happening or what can be done to speed up his system? Thanks.

the value of "% User" is fluctuating from 30 to 60.
That is actually pretty high and would say that you are hitting 3-5 cores at 100% and that there should have been a process (or group of processes at the top, viewing by cpu usage) eating up A LOT of cycles.
I think somewhere along the line, either the original OS build itself was bad, which happens, or bad hard drive, or bad RAM even. Or installed something wacky.
The OPs title and symptoms sure sound like MA gone wild, and sadly, the old "reinstall to cure" in such a case - people think it isn't needed or that is "... so Windows-like" and this time, take notes, exactly what steps they took and what they did that triggered the problem, maybe next time have "Missing Manual" in front and take notes and be more careful.
But Migration Assistant wasn't involved, and there was no G4/G5 involved. But I would think someone writing a program would recognize safe vs harmful and avoid killing a system the way it can, and which I've walked people through, often grudgingly and dragging to have to "do it all over again" and a fresh install of everything (clone your system before you make changes folks!).
For each burn project you use to need 24-40GB of free unfragmented space for best results. I guess that could double, and then you are talking very low disk space. But that was not their problem (low space).
People thing leaving a system on overnight to run scripts. Okay, don't do it for three months and see what happens or not. Test the theory.
My personal worst example of system meltdown (I saw a meltdown in 10.5.1 era too caused by pre-mature syncservices gone wild and the system refusing to respond, and did a fresh install finally as I installed 10.5.2, but got by using Disk Warrior which found a number of errors - errors that got there I know not how or why.
Yesterday I was moving drives to a new case, resized some partitions, it looked okay, ran First Aid, started copying files... and the system just froze. This is a $200 FirmTek dual-drive case.
Reboot after hitting power. Zilch. Nada. Had to power off the drives I was working on. Nada. Popped one of my 'spare' boot drives into Mac Pro and booted off that. Checked existing drives. Rebooted with the external drives and those checked out, but reformatted anyway just to be safe.
Disk Utility changed in Leopard. Creating partitions I sometimes have to quit and relaunch Disk Utility. That the resizing/creation of partitions for me still looks like it isn't right. And that a reboot may have been needed.
Disk Utility even said it "lost communication with a drive" and to relaunch Disk Utility. I think I saw that once back in 10.5.0 or 10.5.1 and was why I felt it was looking more like Final Candidate than ready for prime time. But I thought 10.5.4 was prime time.
I've zeroed one drive. Have run Speedtools Integrity and Media test, and has the option to map out bad blocks automatically, but I don't think those will find anything, I just thing OS X has gremlins.
My worst fear was the sound, lack of, when drives go silent when they are always running (and is a RAID which don't spin-down) or mechanical.
Second fear: heat from the external drive case. Summer. Drive reported 49ºC.
Third: the entire system stopped responding. Could not force quit and even Activity Monitor was beachballing. I had just quit OmniWeb and it wouldn't. And in the Finder it was doing a copy of disk images to backup which I do a lot, and later redid 300GB copy without issue.
Fourth: a new ergonomic keyboard caused the system and Finder to freeze and lockup???
Anyway, I really try to figure out why things happen. This is harder than the old mainframe that didn't have this many variables to worry about!!

MacPro and Excessive CPU usage

Still trying to figure out what is happening to my 2.66 MP.
At least once a day, for no apparent reason, the first core will all of a sudden go to 100% usage and despite what I close, it stays there. I close every app and even log out and log back in and it doesn't change. If I restart, the problem is gone.
I did run Migration Assistant from my old QS G4.
I am running 10.4.8 with 3 Ghz of RAM. I ran AHT and the system and RAM checks out fine. Even ran the new Universal Applejack. Problem still remains. It is so intermittent it is going to be impossible to troubleshoot. When it started today, I was noticed it after I started iTunes in that the audio would break-up. Any clues?

Happening Now this is from terminal
PID COMMAND %CPU TIME #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT RSHRD RSIZE VSIZE
294 top 8.1% 0:07.28 1 18 20 1.50M 912K 1.98M 26.9M
293 tcsh 0.0% 0:00.01 1 15 19 412K 1.11M 932K 31.1M
292 login 0.0% 0:00.01 1 16 40 172K 1000K 652K 26.9M
290 Terminal 0.4% 0:01.37 5 96 163 2.12M 13.7M 10.4M 362M
282 Microsoft 0.0% 0:05.72 4 90 313 11.3M 80.2M 27.1M 477M
281 Microsoft 1.1% 0:47.22 15 223 965 50.1M 116M 98.4M 764M
266 mdimport 0.0% 0:01.09 4 66 131 2.25M 5.46M 5.74M 75.0M
258 translate 0.0% 0:00.61 4 76 98 6.03M 53.9M 19.4M 118M
256 mysqld 0.0% 0:00.39 6 55 82 3.16M 52.9M 6.58M 134M
255 Acrobat 0.8% 0:53.04 11 154 1029 65.2M 109M 97.4M 1.09G
252 Adobe LM S 0.0% 0:01.05 3 53 158 9.40M 52.6M 14.9M 160M
250 Adobe InDe 1.1% 2:11.75 10 168 2602 207M 193M 306M 2.37G
232 Safari 0.6% 3:35.58 12 262 1416 133M 57.6M 161M 600M
222 pmTool 1.9% 0:42.10 1 22 25 8.83M+ 1.65M 9.55M+ 44.5M
221 Activity M 1.5% 0:50.46 3 80 169 4.56M 12.3M 11.5M 361M
219 cupsd 0.0% 0:00.07 2 29 25 564K 1.42M 1.69M 27.9M
218 slpd 0.0% 0:00.02 6 30 31 244K 1.32M 1020K 30.2M
202 ntpd 0.0% 0:00.27 1 11 18 176K 1.06M 432K 27.1M
194 automount 0.0% 0:00.01 3 40 30 308K 1.38M 1.08M 28.7M
188 mds 0.0% 0:01.51 8 93 79 3.58M 3.33M 4.87M 43.7M
185 automount 0.0% 0:00.01 3 42 35 316K 1.39M 1.12M 29.0M
181 rpc.lockd 0.0% 0:00.00 1 10 18 100K 964K 216K 26.7M
174 AppleFileS 0.0% 0:00.15 2 39 39 3.03M 1.96M 3.34M 33.3M
167 nfsiod 0.0% 0:00.00 5 30 25 108K 864K 208K 28.6M
123 crashrepor 0.0% 0:00.00 1 39 19 128K 868K 252K 27.1M
113 lookupd 0.0% 0:02.63 2 34 40 900K 1.49M 1.66M 28.5M
108 Image Capt 0.0% 0:00.18 3 83 121 1.06M 5.05M 3.36M 344M
107 UniversalA 0.0% 0:07.97 2 70 128 1.29M 6.47M 3.92M 350M
106 TWAINBridg 0.0% 0:12.39 4 85 252 8.31M 55.7M 14.0M 459M
105 translated 0.0% 0:00.02 1 11 71 9.61M 23.8M 552K 152M
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102 LCCDaemon 0.0% 0:01.37 3 78 126 5.02M 5.16M 7.33M 348M
101 EPSON Scan 0.2% 0:06.73 3 84 228 7.05M 55.9M 11.6M 443M
100 iTunesHelp 0.0% 0:00.05 2 58 110 592K 5.31M 1.92M 339M
99 System Eve 0.0% 0:00.27 2 68 136 1.23M 5.12M 3.51M 344M
93 Finder 0.0% 0:05.36 4 123 274 7.62M 34.3M 21.8M 395M
91 SystemUISe 0.0% 0:01.11 5 209 230 3.12M 12.6M 7.94M 363M
90 aped 0.0% 0:00.16 1 49 27 380K 1.39M 1.20M 27.3M
89 Dock 0.0% 0:01.31 3 123 233 1.63M 21.8M 4.89M 369M
83 pbs 0.0% 0:00.17 2 55 45 760K 4.03M 2.08M 54.7M
74 loginwindo 0.0% 0:00.78 6 243 248 3.62M 13.7M 9.33M 366M
73 ATSServer 0.0% 0:05.10 2 96 337 8.55M 12.8M 13.1M 86.6M
70 coreservic 0.0% 0:00.83 3 121 166 4.68M 33.1M 16.6M 50.6M
68 WindowServ 1.8% 4:07.79 6 322 691 11.0M+ 58.4M- 61.0M 396M
50 DirectoryS 0.0% 0:00.15 4 69 45 756K 2.20M 2.66M 30.3M
49 update 0.1% 0:04.23 1 12 17 120K 864K 244K 26.6M
48 distnoted 0.0% 0:00.17 1 50 19 320K 1.19M 884K 27.0M
43 notifyd 0.0% 0:00.10 2 73 21 208K 932K 480K 27.2M
42 securityd 0.0% 0:00.16 1 122 27 544K 1.84M 1.89M 28.5M
41 memberd 0.0% 0:00.01 3 21 23 232K 928K 640K 27.7M
40 diskarbitr 0.0% 0:00.16 1 148 21 488K 1.29M 1.16M 27.1M
39 coreaudiod 0.0% 0:00.19 1 134 77 1.49M 2.30M 3.00M 33.0M
37 configd 0.0% 0:02.41 3 170 80 780K 2.45M 2.41M 29.4M
35 syslogd 0.0% 0:00.05 1 14 19 160K 916K 428K 26.6M
34 netinfod 0.0% 0:00.24 1 14 22 200K 984K 1.12M 26.9M
33 mDNSRespon 0.0% 0:00.10 3 33 25 332K 1.43M 1.10M 27.9M
32 KernelEven 0.0% 0:00.01 2 21 21 244K 900K 636K 27.2M
28 kextd 0.0% 0:00.95 2 29 23 752K 1.27M 1.15M 27.6M
24 dynamic_pa 0.0% 0:00.00 1 12 19 116K 888K 192K 26.6M
1 launchd 0.0% 0:00.17 3 347 22 268K 920K 544K 27.7M

High CPU & Memory issues - Excessive and unnecessary CPU usage in Firefox for Windows (see also questions1003966 & 998289)

I am using the latest version of Firefox, 32.0.1, on an HP Pavilion dv7-4141sa laptop computer, running Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit. There should be more than enough power here to run a browser without any problem, yet the computer is regularly being overloaded by the browser's resource usage.
I am currently measuring typical average CPU usage of 45% - with the browser minimised. That is to say, Firefox is not doing any browser jobs - it is not drawing on the screen - but it is using the most CPU of any process currently running. Why?
I am an ex-software engineer, and my understanding of current application development technology is limited, but I think I can say with some confidence that many techniques and software architectures exist that enable the suspension of program activity, or at least its reduction to a very low bare minimum, when the program is not actually carrying out its design function, which is in this case to draw pictures of website data on a screen.
There is a very serious problem here, one which means that I cannot run Firefox all the time, but have to kill it when I am not actively browsing, otherwise other applications cannot run to their full capacity. This is a great pity, because I have committed a lot of effort to making Firefox my primary web tool. It manages all my many bookmarks, contains my secure password manager (LastPass), manages my web security (via NoScript, AdBlock, and FlashBlock), just for a start.
Before any well-meaning moderators or other commenters start down the usual trail of "have you done this, tried that, disabled the other", I should point out that I have followed all the advice I can find, with no positive outcome. This computer is running a fresh installation of Windows, and a fresh installation of Firefox. At the moment I am running a new test Firefox profile.
The latest version of Adobe Flash, 14.0.0.179, is installed but disabled. When it is enabled and in use, Firefox's CPU usage seems high over longer periods, but overall there is little difference. It doesn't look as though the problem can be laid at Flash's door. A few other add-ins are installed, mainly those mentioned above, and Firefox is skinned with LavaFox v2-Green, but I have previously started from a clean installation, which has made little difference after an initial period during which things seemed to be better. Turning off or disabling various add-ons has made no discernible difference.
Just now I turned Flash on, and after a long period with Firefox minimised, Resource Monitor reported Firefox at 8% average CPU and FlashPlayerPlugin at 0.32%. While running a small video, RM reports FlashPlayerPlugin at about 45% and Firefox at 8%. After the video, Flash went back down to around 0.4%, and after a bit more browsing Firefox went to around 17% minimised. There seems little rhyme or reason here, except that Flash does not seem to be the culprit, although Firefox does seem to consume less when fewer tabs are actually active, as you might expect. I just refreshed more than a dozen tabs, and now Firefox is at 30%, but still not back up to the higher figures. Weird.
The CPU usage does vary a lot around the average, but 30% is still a lot for a program that shouldn't be doing anything above the minimum status maintenance, and still puts it at the top of my Top Process Monitor list. (Right now it's gone back up to 45%, without my using it in any way).
I have Telemetry turned on, so presumably Mozilla is recording some of the relevant data.
This is a very serious fault, which is more or less reproducible and which a lot of people seem to be experiencing. Probably more people have it than realise, because most users will not know anything other than that their computer slows down for some non-obvious reason; they may just think it's something to do with the computer itself, not knowing how to use the Resource Monitor and interpret the results.
Oddly, the problem does not seem to occur when running Firefox under Linux Mint 17, where the response is snappy and the CPU usage ostensibly low; I am going to look at this in more detail shortly.
I am not posting here for advice, but for information and as a form of bug report which hopefully other users will see. It will hopefully spare them a lot of effort and time in trying a lot of recommended "solutions" which will not work. The problem is inherent in the software, and can be solved only by Mozilla.
I am willing to supply any diagnostic data requested; as I said above, I have also turned on "Telemetry". However, I will not be trying out any more reinstallation/new-profile/add-on disable-enable-delete cycles unless I am asked to for very specific reasons. Please do not suggest courses of action which have already been mentioned elsewhere on this forum. I have tried them all.
The situation is very disappointing, but I have confidence that the Firefox developers will pin down the fault eventually and engineer a satisfactory solution that makes it viable to leave Firefox open all the time. Even with that restriction, it's still far better than the alternatives.

I share jmward's frustration. This is not a bug report so much as a request for a badly needed feature, ie the ability to have Firefox be able to tell us which tabs on which windows are eating time so we can target them. There are some very poorly written web pages out there which just plain loop while making no updates or inconsequential updates on the page.
This is not a OS problem; jmward runs Windows and I run Linux but we have the same issue. It is not a question of Firefox plugins or extensions, or even viruses; I have a new, clean Linux install but have the same problem on both my regular Firefox AND on a FRESH install of the latest Firefox (35.0.1) which has *NO* non-default plugins or extensions.
Here is an example of a web page which will eat 100% of one CPU's time:
http://patch.com/massachusetts/arlington/arlington-woman-allegedly-attacks-neighbor-snow-blower-0
I will attach 3 images to back up my claim. All of the images show my dark blue system monitor (gkrellm) superimposed on the web page. The top graph shows CPU time. I have 4 CPUs in my machine, so 25% means the web page is eating 100% of one CPU equivalent.
The first image shows the load of the offending page with elevated CPU usage along with the download net activity on eth0, but the CPU activity does not stop when the download activity is over.
The second images show the steady state 100% CPU equivalent of this page just sitting there apparently doing nothing. It IS, however, doing at least two different things. I know from my regular Firefox where I have "Remove It Permanently" installed that if I remove the the little weather indicator in the upper right of the offending page that CPU utilization drops to about 40% of one CPU equivalent. If I use RIP to remove everything else right down to a bare screen that 40% utilization stays until I delete the tab.
The third image shows the CPU utilization drop to zero when I delete the tab holding the offending page.
Now I will add a note here: If the offending page is NOT the top tab in a window then it stops eating time. The offender will also stop eating time if I minimize the window. However if I have another window up but leave the offender up on top in its window it continues to eat time even tho I am looking at another window. The offender will continue to eat time even if its window is completely covered by another window, and it will also eat time if I switch to another desktop.
I will often have half a dozen windows open, and there are many pages out there which will suck endless CPU time. Unless I want to open up a new tab on each window before I leave it there is likely to be some tab on top eating time uselessly. Get a couple of those going and Firefox becomes sluggish and can even stop responding for many seconds.
I guess I not only want to have Firefox tell us which tabs are eating time, but I would also like it if Firefox would stop giving CPU time to any tab which is not visible because it is covered by some other window and/or it is on a desktop which is currently not showing. If you can stop a tab's CPU usage by reason of tab-not-showing then you should also be able to stop its CPU usage when the window is covered or on the not-top desktop. Indeed is there any reason to not schedule absolute CPU utilization priority to the visible tab on the window with focus and give time to the other tabs only when the visible tab isn't using time?
My final thought on this is that I have had Firefox SO tied up sometimes that I swear their are web pages which are eating time even tho they are not the top tab. I regret that I do not have an example to show you. But Firefox grinds to a complete halt on a regular basis, and that is not acceptable. I am a programmer with long experience in multi-threaded programs so I *know* there is no reason you cannot do better. If there were another browser around which had the commitment to privacy which Firefox has I would probably switch out of shear annoyance. :-(

10.9.4 excessive CPU usage

And now a strange case...
Installed 10.9.4 but it became unusable because of excessive CPU usage. Reverted back to 10.9.3 but now the problem persists!
Basically, if connect the Ethernet cable the CPU increases and temp raises from 45C to 95C. As soon as I remove the Ethernet cable and stay on WiFi things go back to normal. I already have done the most obvious, i.e. reinstalling the OS from time machine, removing launch daemons and plug-ins, and fixing disk permissions. Check the details below. Any idea? It would be much appreciated. I'm getting nuts with this.
Top Processes by CPU: (Ethernet not connected)
      41% Mail
      12% revisiond
      6% opendirectoryd
      5% WindowServer
      4% mtmd
Top Processes by CPU: (Ethernet connected)
      47% ocspd
      47% apsd
      35% configd
      33% mDNSResponder
      20% networkd
Full detais:
EtreCheck version: 1.9.12 (48)
Report generated 18 July 2014 11:45:23 NZST
Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7 (Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
8 GB RAM
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB
LED Cinema Display 2560 x 1440
System Software:
OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 0:5:13
Disk Information:
APPLE SSD TS128B disk0 : (121.33 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 120.47 GB (13.11 GB free) (Low!)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information:
Jmicron Corp. Usb production 1 TB
EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
EXTRA (disk2s2) /Volumes/EXTRA: 999.86 GB (301.61 GB free)
Apple Inc. Display Audio
Apple Inc. Display iSight
Apple Inc. Apple LED Cinema Display
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Western Digital External HDD     500.11 GB
TM (disk1s1) /Volumes/TM: 500.11 GB (110.12 GB free)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Gatekeeper:
Anywhere
Kernel Extensions:
[not loaded] com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver (2.2.16) Support
[not loaded] com.libusb.USB_Shield (6.0) Support
Startup Items:
Jaksta: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Jaksta
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support
User Login Items:
smcFanControl
Mail
Internet Plug-ins:
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Flash Player: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Cannot contact Adobe
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6 Support
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.2 - SDK 10.6 Support
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
3rd Party Preference Panes:
None
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: ON
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 112.20 GB Disk used: 99.99 GB
Destinations:
TM [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 465.76 GB
Total number of backups: 84
Oldest backup: 2012-11-18 19:49:30 +0000
Last backup: 2014-07-17 02:17:01 +0000
Size of backup disk: Excellent
Backup size 465.76 GB > (Disk size 112.20 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate.
All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
Top Processes by CPU:
      47% ocspd
      47% apsd
      35% configd
      33% mDNSResponder
      20% networkd
Top Processes by Memory:
254 MB mds_stores
147 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent
115 MB Mail
90 MB Dock
74 MB Finder
Virtual Memory Information:
4.68 GB Free RAM
1.99 GB Active RAM
331 MB Inactive RAM
1.01 GB Wired RAM
187 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Mountain Lion Mail excessive CPU usage

Evers since upgrading to ML 10.8 and 10.8.1, Mail heats the CPU up to 100% after a couple of minutes and remains like this forever. Absolutely reproducible. Mail is unusable for me.
I have some 25.000 Mails in my Inbox. Sampling Mail always reveals the same pattern. Looks like Mail is constantly iterating over my 25.000 emails and tries to layout them. Looks crazy to me.
Here is an excerpt of the sample:
Sampling process 3458 for 3 seconds with 1 millisecond of run time between samples
Sampling completed, processing symbols...
Analysis of sampling Mail (pid 3458) every 1 millisecond
Process:         Mail [3458]
Path:            /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail
Load Address:    0x10e285000
Identifier:      com.apple.mail
Version:         6.0 (1486)
Build Info:      Mail-1486000000000000~2
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [158]
Date/Time:       2012-09-03 10:39:43.345 +0200
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8.1 (12B19)
Report Version: 7
+
!   :   |
+ 828 __CFRunLoopDoObservers (in CoreFoundation) + 369 [0x7fff848ec031]
+
!   :   |
+   828 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_AN_OBSERVER_CALLBACK_FUNCTION__ (in CoreFoundation) + 23 [0x7fff848ec0c7]
+
!   :   |
+
802 __83-[NSWindow _postWindowNeedsDisplayOrLayoutOrUpdateConstraintsUnlessPostingDisabled]_block_ invoke_01208 (in AppKit) + 46 [0x7fff83afdc81]
+
!   :   |
+
! 800 _handleWindowNeedsDisplayOrLayoutOrUpdateConstraints (in AppKit) + 738 [0x7fff83535c3c]
+
!   :   |
+
! : 800 ??? (in Mail) load address 0x10e285000 + 0x2e467 [0x10e2b3467]
+
!   :   |
+
! :   800 -[NSView displayIfNeeded] (in AppKit) + 1830 [0x7fff83536703]
+
!   :   |
+
789 -[NSView _displayRectIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectForView:] (in AppKit) + 4675 [0x7fff8356c79d]
+
!   :   |
+
| 789 -[NSThemeFrame _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 314 [0x7fff83570b73]
+
!   :   |
+
|   787 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + 786 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! 785 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : 782 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | 774 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | + 773 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | + ! 767 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 5763 [0x7fff83572474]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | + ! : 753 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectFor View:topView:] (in AppKit) + 817 [0x7fff83571122]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | + ! : | 751 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayAllDirtyWithLockFocus:visRect:] (in AppKit) + 2704 [0x7fff83573509]
+
!   :   |
+
|   + ! : | + ! : | + 751 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayAllDirtyWithLockFocus:visRect:] (in AppKit) + 1656 [0x7fff835730f1]

This problem was solved.
After a lot of frustration (restoring Lion backup and performing the update several times), I managed to have a stable installation without the problem of high CPU usage and high temperatures.
It seems that the installation procedure has an issue, when your user directories are located in an external disk. In this particular case, after the installation of the server software, the two links in /Network/Servers directory, pointing to the / directory, do not get created, so you need to do that manually.
That, in itself, was not causing my excessive CPU usage, but it didn't allow my users to log in the server. Thinking that this was the issue described in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2938, I was running the command described in the previous link to fix the issue. That command (sso_util configure -r REALM_NAME -a diradmin afp) was what was killing my CPU.
All is well, when it ends well, I guess.

High Fan Noise and 100% CPU usage by Dock

My MacBook Pro 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.6.8 just started making a constant fan noise. When I checked the Activity Monitor, it shows my Doc CPU usage as 100%, and my Percent User Usage is about 52% System 2.5% and % Idle is 47%. These numbers are when there is nothing running except Activity Monitor. When I log out and log in as another user, the high fan noise stops, and the CPU usage of the Doc is <1%. I have tried restarting my computer, Rebuilt my Permissions, Emptied the Trash, and Reset the SMC (I think I did it correctly for the MBPro, but the Power Light did not change, and nothing seemed to be any different on my computer.) I think I recently did a recent Apple Update, but I don't know how long ago that was. But it was sometime in the past few days. Does anyone have any idea about what could be going on?
Thanks,
Frank

Frank Moore wrote:
How do I give you the credit. It looks like I only gave you a Helpful credit instead of Correct Answer? The only correct option was in one of my replies under you correct answer. You gave the correct answer.
Oh well, no worries.

How could i get the kernel and user cpu usage for each process

Hi all,
In order to monitor the system CPU usage, I would like write a script to gather the kernel and user CPU usage for each process, like the prstat or top does. As always missing the shortlived kernel usage, prstat or top cann't get the precise CPU usage. I checked with the dtrace syscall, proc and fbt provider, but don't get which one is useful.
Please provide your comments and suggestion.
Thanks in adv

mail2sleepy wrote:
As I've studied the "dtrace" for a while, and seems Sun gives a pretty high score on this new feature.....I do want to know whether there's some probe can work for it, like writing a "dtrace" version prstat.You can write a prstat without dtrace. Because that's just polling at specific intervals and reading some process structures from /proc. You could have dtrace fire a probe every 5 seconds and read the same thing, but it wouldn't really be using any features of dtrace. Trhying to write it "in dtrace" doesn't make much sense.
What you could do that would be harder via other methods is to fire a probe at process exit that displayed the process information including total CPU time. They could print exactly when processes exited. Doing that without dtrace would be very difficult.
Darren

Prstat displays PROCESS/NLWP with /0 , but high USR and SYS cpu usage

I'm running prstat on Sol 10u4 sparc and see from time to time one of more processes with high user and kernel cpu usage, The process name is just displayed as " /0". What is this ?
see sample snapshot below:
PID USERNAME USR SYS TRP TFL DFL LCK SLP LAT VCX ICX SCL SIG PROCESS/NLWP
18738 root 18 42 3.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 36 0.5 123 247 15K 0 sort/1
18728 root 10 30 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 59 0 361 16K 0 /0
18737 root 6.8 15 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 75 0.2 82 82 5K 0 awk/1
18731 root 5.2 12 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 80 1.5 68 0 5K 0 /0
18730 root 4.8 10 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 82 1.4 58 58 4K 0 /0
18736 root 4.4 10 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 84 0.1 63 0 4K 0 grep/1
18732 root 3.0 11 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 84 0 45 3K 0 head/1
18735 root 4.3 9.2 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 85 0.1 57 57 3K 0 grep/1
18729 root 4.3 8.7 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 84 1.3 103 51 3K 0 /0
18734 root 3.7 8.9 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 86 0.5 52 52 3K 0 grep/1

The slash number format is used to show the number of threads (light weight processes or LWP in Solaris parlance) in a given process (see the header says "PROCESS/NLWP"). I'd guess this is a race condition where prstat finds a process exists and has consumed some CPU, but when it goes to query the data on the process it's already exited so there's no process name and zero threads associated with it. For this to be true and to see this except more than every once in a blue-moon you'd have to have a system that was having processes forked at an amazing rate.
I'd also say this is a bug, but one that you might have a hard time getting an traction on.

YEARS-old issue with slow play, 100% cpu usage, and conspiracy theories

I've had the same issue for YEARS now, with flash videos (like on youtube) and games starting out okay, but after a little while, they just start to stutter and slow way down, while the CPU usage goes up to ridiculous levels. The browser doesn't matter, firefox or chrome, online content or run off the local hard drive. I have the latest flash player, and this has been a problem ever since at least version 9. I'm using XP. I think version 8 never had this issue, but unfortunately all recent games and youtube videos won't run with version 8. Adobe did something with recent versions of flash player that causes this issue now. Google search and you'll see countless threads from people with all kinds of computers with all kinds of specs having the exact same issue.
There has never been an entry in the Adobe knowledgebase about it, despite the persistence of this problem.
It's like it's a coverup or something. The more I think about it, the more it reminds me about when the Netscape browser was caught secretly uploading information to their servers and resulting in browser slowdowns. Is flash player doing the same thing? Adobe has already been caught out with spyware-like activities with Photoshop connecting to Omniture through the flash-enabled splash screens that were purposely disguised to look like they were innocently connecting to a user's local system, but in fact connecting to stat and online marketing sites. Is this why this years-old problem has never been addressed in any official way? Now I'm just rambling. I want a fix. It's been years now that I haven't been able to enjoy more than a few minutes worth of flash content.
At this point, even if Adobe shrugged their shoulders and said "yeah, we know about the problem but we have no idea how to fix it" would be better than nothing at all.

I've had the same issue for YEARS now, with flash videos (like on youtube) and games starting out okay, but after a little while, they just start to stutter and slow way down, while the CPU usage goes up to ridiculous levels. The browser doesn't matter, firefox or chrome, online content or run off the local hard drive. I have the latest flash player, and this has been a problem ever since at least version 9. I'm using XP. I think version 8 never had this issue, but unfortunately all recent games and youtube videos won't run with version 8. Adobe did something with recent versions of flash player that causes this issue now. Google search and you'll see countless threads from people with all kinds of computers with all kinds of specs having the exact same issue.
There has never been an entry in the Adobe knowledgebase about it, despite the persistence of this problem.
It's like it's a coverup or something. The more I think about it, the more it reminds me about when the Netscape browser was caught secretly uploading information to their servers and resulting in browser slowdowns. Is flash player doing the same thing? Adobe has already been caught out with spyware-like activities with Photoshop connecting to Omniture through the flash-enabled splash screens that were purposely disguised to look like they were innocently connecting to a user's local system, but in fact connecting to stat and online marketing sites. Is this why this years-old problem has never been addressed in any official way? Now I'm just rambling. I want a fix. It's been years now that I haven't been able to enjoy more than a few minutes worth of flash content.
At this point, even if Adobe shrugged their shoulders and said "yeah, we know about the problem but we have no idea how to fix it" would be better than nothing at all.

Newbie having problems with noisy fan and high CPU usage in Activity Monitor

I am new to the world of Apple and have got my hands on a hand-me-down PowerBook G4 version 10.4.11. It works fairly well for everything but the Internet.
One of the first symptoms i noticed was that watching stuff on youtube was slow and jumped a lot. I checked a few things out and looked the CPU usage in activity monitor and this was about 80% to 100% when on youtube or even moving from page to page. I'e tried loads of stuff including repairing disk permissions, emptying caches and relaunching finder when the preferences file is on the desktop (not really sure what that was supposed to do).
The next thing I discovered was that if i disconnected the laptop from the mains and played youtube and some other applications the whole thing would go into sleep mode very quickly. I have got temperature monitor downloaded now although I already know it is getting very hot.
PS when it heats up the fan turns on because I can hear a whirring sound...
Would really appreciate some insight into this as it seems to be a good runner otherwise.
PS2 I have loads of free space left in the disk usage tab in activity monitor.
Big thank you in advance

Welcome to the world of PowerBook!
One of the first symptoms i noticed was that watching stuff on youtube was slow and jumped a lot. I checked a few things out and looked the CPU usage in activity monitor and this was about 80% to 100% when on youtube
Virtually no G4s are dealing well with web video anymore. The video technology used by modern developers puts a huge strain on a G4 processor. As this a choice made by coders, there is not much you can do about it. Some people suggest adding RAM but the effect is marginal considering it's the processor that's taxed.
Notebooks get hot. The fans in my 1Ghz 17-inch PowerBook from 2003 kick in between 130 and 140°F. The danger point is not until in the vicinity of 100F so don't sweat it to much. Make sure you do not cover the case bottom by setting the computer on a thick cloth placemat, pillow or other bedding item, or on your lap without a lapboard. The bootom of the case is part of the heat dissipation system and needs air under it to work
A lot of PowerBooks have, by now, lost some or all of their "feet" that gve a little space under the case. Don't bother looking for official replacements--get the silicone door/drawer bumpers from the hardware store that stick on. I found some about 3/16" thick that let more air under my PB thatn the mostly missing originals.
The next thing I discovered was that if i disconnected the laptop from the mains and played youtube and some other applications the whole thing would go into sleep mode very quickly
Your battery is likely dead from old age. Batteries only last about 2-3 years. You are seeing a sign of the battery lacking sufficient remaining capacity to run the computer. Get this utility:
http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/
(you'll need the 2.6.6 version for Tiger) and post what is says about "Health" and "Cycles."

Video Streaming - glitchy playback and high CPU usage

Hi,
I'm running a mid 2007 macbook with OSX 10.5.8, and I am experiencing issues playing back video from a large number of websites. Specifically BBC iPlayer, and other OD sites, but others too. HTML5 playback seems to be okay.
I tried changing from Safari to Chrome, and this seemed to make no difference, and even though I tend to run a lots of programs and have lots of tabs open, I get this issue when I'm not running anything else.
When I look at my CPU usage, its constantly running at 80% when the video is running fine. Then it leaps to 100%, and the video fails and get stuck. Sometimes continuing the audio, but with the image frozen. I think the computer gets too hot, and slows the CPU speed down, resulting in the glitches.
I'm pretty certain my problem lies with Flash. As when looking at activity monitor, this is the process that leaps into action and drains my CPU when video is playing. I'm currently using the latest versions of everything. My computer should be fast enough to playback these (admittedly very compressed) formats without really struggling. So something must be wrong in software somewhere!
If anybody has come across this issue, and found a solution, it would be great to hear it!
Thanks in advance.
Jamie

The Adobe web site has recent versions of Flash player and Shockwave player;
among them, are ones for certain web browsers as well as specific OS X system
versions. As in PPC or Intel-based Mac systems of a certain build number range.
And the download package for each product includes an Uninstaller so the old
player may be removed first, before installing the newer one. Keep in mind, the
most recent players they have may not work with your older OS X system, so
be sure to read and look around. I've found several versions, including ones that
do OK for my G4 computers running 10.4.11 and 10.5.8.
The older computers have different possible issues, but yours is new enough to
not have graphic processor or other hardware limits increasingly PPC-Macs have.
And then with streaming content and changes in software/hardware, some factors
are beyond the reach of older computers, when left behind due to a new direction.
You computer may also be a candidate for some general & preventative maintenance;
depending on how it is used, how often it sees huge file transfers and other variables.
My computers can stay on (including sleep) for over 170 days and not act oddly. There
are things that can improve by simply restarting the computer; or start in SafeBoot to
then run Disk Utility's 'repair disk permissions' to alleviate some basic glitch or issue.
If specific graphic content related 'cures' don't make much difference, consider the
whole computer approach for general health to make it work the best it can; then any
other causes of slowness may be more pointedly addressed, by selective direct means.
The specifications of your computer indicate it should be able to handle OS X 10.6.6;
but a direct upgrade is not recommended unless the existing issue is investigated.
There may be underlying hard disk drive issues or other logical errors behind troubles.
Are there any Console logs relating to actions the system takes while processing video?
They'd be listed by time/date and could show other things going on, outside of Flash
players or compromised basic computer functions that appear now only under stress.
Good luck & happy computing!

High number of threads and high CPU usage on a single instance

Without any apparent reason, in some moments of day the website reports an increment of the HTTP Queue Length from an average of 10/20 queued requests to 100/200 and more.
In that period of time the Average Response Time increases but the number of the requests on the website don't. Even increasing the instances it doesn't help to resolve the problem (maybe it just reduced it).
It seems that the problem is not related to the traffic on the site. This issue happens either when the traffic is high or low.
The autoscaling works well, we don't have peak of traffic but always a slow increasing of requests and the CPU is always below the 50% (memory too). The issue is resolved by the swap of the site and sometimes it's resolve by itself after a while.
What I discovered when the issue happens, is that there's an instance (just an instance only), that has an high number of threads and CPU usage on the W3WP.exe process and these values are above the mean than the other instances. Eg, instances are around
50/60 threads and 10/20% of CPU, the instance with the problem has 200 threads and 50/60% of CPU. If I kill the W3WP process on that instance the issue is resolved.
I monitored the HTTP requests, I tried the website extension "Diagnostics as service" but I can't discover anything that can help me to understand the problem. Of course, there are many requests that go in timeout but it is a consequences of a
unresponsive instance.
On the web hosting plan there are only two sites: the production site and its staging which is used for update of the production only and it's always sleeping. Plus, no webjobs are running on this site.
What can I do to gather useful information that can help me to understand the reason of this problem?
Thank you!

"Does the instance with the high counts receive more traffic than the other instances? Is it possible that the load balancer not
working the way it should be?"
How can I get that information? I can't see metrics for a specific instance
"Does it always happen to the first instance?"
I will check it better, but in the order given by the Processes panel it's the second instance which has the issue. The scaling is at 2 instances for the most part of the time (it's the minimum).
Maybe one time it was the 3th instance but I'm not sure, I'll give it more attention.
" How long do these moment last?"
The time can be 10 to 30 minutes, but I fix it as soon as I see the problem. It's not the down-scaling to resolve it because in these situations the CPU as well is high so the scaling holds or increases the number of instances.
"- How often do these moments occurs?"
It occurs quite often, 2/4 times a week.

Slowness and excessive CPU usage under 10.9.1

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