Mac OS X's task manager utility application. It is used to perform different tasks on computer processes, as well as monitor system resource usage.
23
votes
2answers
9k views
What's the difference between Real, Virtual, Shared, and Private Memory?
The different columns in Activity Monitor are a little confusing
12
votes
5answers
13k views
How do I debug an out-of-control “kernel_task” process?
Just recently I noticed my battery life having a pretty significant drop and the "kernel_task" process using quite a bit of CPU (a constant 1-6% on my 2.8ghz dual-core i7, 2010 MBP). Obviously I think ...
9
votes
6answers
5k views
What's triggering my Finder's CPU binges?
A few times a week, the Finder on my Macbook shoots up to around 100% CPU use, and the fans start blasting.
I've done everything I can think of - repaired permissions, rebooted, trashed preferences, ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
What is installd, and why is it eating my CPU?
My Macbook is frying my lap, and the CPU monitor is going crazy: over 200% CPU being used by something called "installd".
What is it? Can I kill it?
(OS X 10.8.)
8
votes
1answer
162 views
What kind of “messages” does Activity Monitor track with the “Messages Sent” and “Messages Received” columns?
In Activity Monitor on OS X, it is possible to add additional columns to the process list view. Two columns available in that list are "Messages Sent" and "Messages Received", which show up as "Sent ...
8
votes
1answer
984 views
What does it mean when a %CPU exceeds (# of cores) x 100%?
Several responses to a question I asked earlier suggested I try Opera kiosk mode, so I decided to download it and give it a try. Once the download had completed and the disk image was being verified, ...
7
votes
2answers
414 views
How can virtual memory be greater than the total available space?
Why does my MBP sometimes report VM Size: 300+ GB in Activity Monitor under System Memory tab, when my hard disk size is only 250 GB (total) and RAM is 4GB? I know it can't magically get that extra ...
6
votes
6answers
10k views
Is there a keyboard shortcut for launching Activity Monitor?
I can't seem to find a shortcut for launching the activity monitor. Does it have one?
6
votes
2answers
2k views
How does 'stuck' (in results of 'top') relate to 'not responding' (in Activity Monitor), 'spin' or 'hang'?
In results of top commands, I sometimes see stuck.
Apple's top(1) OS X Manual Page does not explain this use of the word.
How, if it all, does stuck relate to the following?
not responding – ...
6
votes
1answer
898 views
What's the racoon doing in my apple?
I'm not normally one for paraniodly checking my activity monitor for rogue processes; but this one just has my internal nature-watcher all curious. Why is there a racoon running under my root user? ...
5
votes
6answers
4k views
Issue with deleting user account
I want to delete a user account before selling my machine, so I chose the secure delete account option in System Preferences > Users & Groups. I think I saw a progress bar at first as it was ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
Alternative activity monitors for OS X?
I’m a bit intrigued by the new detailed activity monitors and progress indicators in Windows 8 (copying files, the task monitor, network activity, etc.) It got me thinking: surely there must be some ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
MacBook Running Really Slow, Activity Monitor Reports HUGE VM
My MacBook is running really really slow at the moment, I have quit loads of processes (but activity monitor only reported about 10% cpu usage anyway).
I had just noticed I have a VM Size of 250GB!
...
4
votes
1answer
927 views
Why does Apple Activity Monitor report that my Mac with a dual-core Intel i5 Ivy Bridge CPU has 4 cores?
I just got a new Apple MacBook Pro 13", mid-2012, which has a dual-core Intel i5 Ivy Bridge CPU. When I run Activity Monitor and turn on the Floating CPU Window, it shows a 4-bar graph (indicating 4 ...
4
votes
2answers
971 views
How many cores does a Mid 2012 Macbook Air have?
I checked the specs, and the i5-3427U CPU has 2 cores.
But the Activity Monitor shows 4 little charts for the CPU, so it looks like 4 cores.
Which is correct? Why does the Activity Monitor have 4 ...
4
votes
2answers
419 views
What process is accessing the hard drive?
I can hear the hard drive chugging away when it should be idle. Some process is writing/reading from it in semi-random bursts, let's say once every second. Very annoying and wasteful.
I tried ...
4
votes
2answers
371 views
How do I tell what processes are driving I/O loads?
Something is driving a lot of Disk I/O on my system lately. I can see in ActivityMonitor that there are huge volumes of reads and writes every second. But none of the "normal" suspects are active when ...
4
votes
5answers
4k views
How can I see bandwidth usage on a Mac?
I am having internet problems and the ISP technicians suggested that something is using my bandwidth.
Is there a software to monitor which processes use how much bandwidth?
4
votes
2answers
159 views
Why can't this process terminate?
Just recently I ran into an issue where my network program couldn't bind to a port because it was already in use. I opened the activity monitor and realized it (named "server") was already running ...
4
votes
2answers
458 views
Help identify what uses the CPU when the Activity Monitor list of all processes does not help
Problem
After rebooting, and with only Activity Monitor open, my MacBook Pro (10.6, i7) shows a very high idle % (98% or higher) but then shortly after drops down to 40% - 50%.
In the Activity ...
4
votes
1answer
5k views
how to start/stop/restart processes
As a new comer from Windows OS, I wonder how to start/stop/restart a service on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ?(it's straight forward on Windows using its Task Manager).
I tried Activity Monitor, but ...
3
votes
2answers
257 views
Is there a htop-on-linux like alternative for top / Activity Monitor on OS X?
I'm looking for a better alternative for top. Both top and Activity Monitor are highly limited with regards to features. In particular, I'm interested in the following features:
Limit processes by ...
3
votes
1answer
24k views
Managing and removing startup processes on OSX Lion
My Startup Items for my username (i am admin) shows only dropbox - yet a look at my processes (in activity monitor) shows other helper processes from Adobe, Lexmark, etc, etc.
Where can I see and ...
3
votes
1answer
158 views
How can one filter MULTIPLE processes in Activity Monitor?
How can I look at several processes at once, instead of just one?
For example… typing in bash, shows bash processes.. how to I show both bash and say httpd?
First thoughts.. bash|httpd, no. Or bash ...
2
votes
6answers
4k views
How to monitor file access for an OS X application?
I am looking for the OS X corespondent of FileMon, that was later included in ProcessMon.
BTW, it is essential to be able to filter by process.
2
votes
1answer
3k views
VM size in Activity Monitor: hundreds of GB?
When I open the Activity Monitor, I get something looking like this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342.
But why the heck is "VM size" around 100-200 GB??
Here is the capture from the apple support:
...
2
votes
3answers
438 views
Getting a list of currently running processes
I'd like to get a list of all the applications currently running on my machine using the command line. It should be similar to what you get when you open up Activity Monitor and choose to save the ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
How do I read this Activity Monitor report?
I was trying to figure out why my Mountain Lion server was running slow, and I when I opened Activity Monitor this is what I saw:
Question 1: how am I getting >400% of CPU on the summed CPU column, ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
Make Activity Monitor show more than 4 cores worth of CPU usage in the Dock
Is it possible to force more than 4 cores in the Dock, this looks like a feature apple does not want after checking out Mac OS X: Activity Monitor shows one CPU Usage graph on systems with more than ...
2
votes
1answer
262 views
Mac app to show cumulative CPU usage?
Activity Monitor will show you how much CPU time the current instances of each process have taken. I want an app that will show the total CPU time all instances of each process have taken, so I can ...
2
votes
3answers
428 views
What are the alternatives to Activity Monitor that will summarize cpu time over time?
Activity monitor is not always good if you want to see what is keeping your computer busy for a period of time.
For example if you have gcc executed hundred of times it will take a lot of CPU power ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views
What is webfilterdnsd process?
What is webfilterdnsd process running on my machine? Its started by user "nobody". Not able to find any other information on it online. How can I get more information on processes running on my mac?
...
1
vote
2answers
87 views
How can I remove remnant processes from deleted preference panes?
I discovered in Activity Monitor that I have several leftover processes running in the background that shouldn't be there anymore. I deleted these preference panes long ago with an application that ...
1
vote
1answer
156 views
Activity process does not terminate?
I am using a Mac and I use Macvim for programming. If my program happens to go into an infinite loop and I have to quit Macvim and restart it due to this the program will restart but the program ...
1
vote
2answers
64 views
Is there a way to switch to the selected process in activity monitor?
I'm wondering if there's a way to bring focus to a process that's in "activity monitor".
Specifically, I've got a bunch of Google Chrome processes and I'm trying to figure out which process ...
1
vote
2answers
252 views
Activity Monitor showing ~3,000% percent CPU under normal use
Shows huge percentages for dropbox but total is normal, and everything seems to be running fine. I have a Macbook with Intel Core2Duo
1
vote
1answer
134 views
killing httpd spawns new processes
In short, I need to kill all httpd processes so I can run a particular program. When I go to Activity Monitor and Quit all of the httpd processes, a new one is immediately spawned. I'm not sure what ...
1
vote
3answers
626 views
Memory usage on Mac OS, how Activity monitor works?
I have these stats, but is the system really using almost 4GB?
This Inactive memory... Can't I use it? How should I interpret these stats?
1
vote
0answers
20 views
Is there an application to analyze this which application created a generic process in ram?
I noticed a generic "Java" process is using between 1-2GB of Ram after I upgraded to Mountain Lion. I know a lot of the apps I use require java. I have closed out all my apps and still it is using ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Is there a network usage utility that shows data usage by network connection
I use my Mountain Lion MacBook Air to connect to the internet using various methods. At home, I use my wired connection, which does not have a cap. Sometimes though, I connect via my iPad, which uses ...
0
votes
1answer
174 views
How many threads is normal in OSX Lion?
I just rebooted my system and right now Activity Monitor is showing over 500 threads running. Before I rebooted it was over 900. Is that normal?
0
votes
2answers
812 views
What's the difference between real memory and CPU, and what are there effects on the performance of my computer?
In Activity Monitor, there are a couple fields: "PID", "Process Name", "User", "%CPU", "Threads", "Real Mem", and "Kind". I'm not familiar with the inner workings of computers and the related ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
How to disable the docked Finder monitor pop-up on OS X?
Attached is the screen shot of annoying screen monitor round cornered box, not sure what thats called. I dont know how it appeared!!! I wanna disable it. The Command+option+escape window doesn't show ...
0
votes
1answer
135 views
There is a process called SH using 100% of my CPU
I checked the Activity Monitor and noticed 2 processes called sh that were eating my CPU.
What apps are related to these processes and how can I stop them from eating all CPU?
0
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I see which processes are draining my macbook battery by percentage?
Android devices have a screen that shows you approximately what applications and processes are using your battery, by percentage.
I'm wondering, in theory, can this be done on a MacBook? How do you ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Kill processes automatically that get over x % CPU
I have a (rather annoying) process on my iMac that tends to get out of control.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to get rid of it. Much as I want to.
This process is fine at first - using 1-2 % of ...
0
votes
1answer
171 views
Why do httpd and mysqld processes not show up in Activity Monitor?
I'm running Mountain Lions built in Apache2 server. I have started the server and I can see the web pages but I can't see any httpd process in the Activity Monitor. Same goes for MySQL. I can't see ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
Is there an utility which can profile and report on the activity of a single process?
Activity monitor can report on a single processes's disk and cpu usage at a single point in time.
The "Sample Process" feature is good for debugging, but doesn't provide easily digestible ...
0
votes
1answer
20 views
Spotlight constantly indexes MacBook Air (Lion). Takes up 50+% of cpu
So I noticed my Air was running very slow. Opened Activity monitor and noticed a process mdworker taking up most of the space. I googled it and it seems to be related to Spotlight.
I opened Spotlight ...
0
votes
1answer
66 views
What are only necessary processes (minimal set) for OS X work?
What are only necessary processes (minimal set) for OS X work?
What are the differences in the sets for different versions (Lion minimal set, Mountain Lion minimal set)?
What are the processes that ...
