Q: Kernel Task is using CPU and slowing down MacBook massivly

The first thing to do is in

SystemPreferences->Users&Groups->LoginItems  remove all entries, with the minus sign underneath, then restart.

Use apps when you need them and quit when you are done.

If you used uTorrent for other than music uninstall it and everything you downloaded. I would uninstall uTorrent and never use it again: the things you download have a good chance to be hacked, also uTorrent broadcasts a lot of your system.

Restart again: should be much better now.

thanks a lot man:-)) the boot is super fast and memory usage is 1gb less

Great.

Happy computing.

Lex

Hey Arthur,

I am having similar issues.

EtreCheck version: 1.9.15 (52)

Report generated September 26, 2014 at 5:01:03 PM PDT

Hardware Information: ?

  MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) (Verified)

  MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2

  1 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

  4 GB RAM

Video Information: ?

  Intel HD Graphics 5000 - VRAM: (null)

  Color LCD 1440 x 900

System Software: ?

  OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 4 days 9:52:55

Disk Information: ?

  APPLE SSD SD0256F disk0 : (251 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

  EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

  Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 250.14 GB (62.12 GB free)

  Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

USB Information: ?

  Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

  Apple Inc. iPhone

  Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

  Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ?

  Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ?

  Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ?

  [loaded] com.Perfect.Driver.SystemAudioRecorder (1.0.0 - SDK 10.9) Support

Problem System Launch Daemons: ?

  [failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist

Launch Daemons: ?

  [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

  [running] com.fitbit.galileod.plist Support

  [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support

  [not loaded] com.gopro.stereomodestatus.plist Support

Launch Agents: ?

  [running] com.ecamm.iglasses3agent.plist Support

  [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ?

  [failed] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

  [running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support

User Login Items: ?

  iTunesHelper

  EvernoteHelper

  Google+ Auto Backup

Internet Plug-ins: ?

  FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

  AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support

  AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

  googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

Safari Extensions: ?

  Searchme-2

  Ultimate

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 ?

  Picasa: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 Support

3rd Party Preference Panes: ?

  Flash Player  Support

  GoPro  Support

  Growl  Support

Time Machine: ?

  Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ?

      23% Audio Recorder

      12% WindowServer

      6% Google Chrome

      1% Skype

      1% Dock

Top Processes by Memory: ?

  63 MB Google Chrome

  29 MB Skype

  20 MB WindowServer

  15 MB Google Chrome Helper

  12 MB Audio Recorder

Virtual Memory Information: ?

  22 MB Free RAM

  842 MB Active RAM

  844 MB Inactive RAM

  904 MB Wired RAM

  69.02 GB Page-ins

  7.55 GB Page-outs

Arthur will help you, I hope. I am travelling. Just one thing:

you are infected, Arthur will explain:

In Finder click the GO menu, hold the Alt)option) key, click Library:

in Library open the ApplicationSupport folder, there remove the Spigot folder. empty the trash bin. Restart Safari.

I have to leave now. for at least a day.

Lex

Hello.  I'm having similar issues.  I posted a query a few days ago, and someone replied.  I ran Etrecheck & posted results here: slow macbook

Poking around, I found this thread & it looks like kernel task may be an issue for my MacBook as well.

Ran Etrecheck again, with results as follows.  Any help much appreciated.

EtreCheck version: 1.9.15 (52)

Report generated September 30, 2014 9:04:46 AM PDT

Hardware Information: ?

  MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010) (Verified)

  MacBook - model: MacBook7,1

  1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores

  4 GB RAM

Video Information: ?

  NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MB

  Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software: ?

  OS X 10.8.5 (12F45) - Uptime: 0 days 1:13:16

Disk Information: ?

  Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 disk0 : (500.11 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

  disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

  Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (180.02 GB free)

  Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

  MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898

USB Information: ?

  Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

  Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

  Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

  Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Gatekeeper: ?

  Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ?

  [not loaded] com.aliph.driver.jstub (1.1.2) Support

  [not loaded] com.palm.ClassicNotSeizeDriver (3.2) Support

Launch Daemons: ?

  [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

  [loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support

  [loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support

Launch Agents: ?

  [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

  [loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ?

  [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

User Login Items: ?

  None

Internet Plug-ins: ?

  Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.8.1 Support

  FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version

  QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1

  Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.1 Support

  RealPlayer Plugin: Version: (null) Support

  Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

  DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.8r638 Support

  iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8

Audio Plug-ins: ?

  AirPlay: Version: 1.7 - SDK 10.8

  iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.1 - SDK 10.8

iTunes Plug-ins: ?

  Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.8

User Internet Plug-ins ?

  WebEx64: Version: 1.0 Support

3rd Party Preference Panes: ?

  Flash Player  Support

  Flip4Mac WMV  Support

  Java  Support

Time Machine: ?

  Skip System Files: NO

  Mobile backups: ON

  Auto backup: YES

  Volumes being backed up:

  Macintosh HD: Disk size: 464.96 GB Disk used: 297.31 GB

  Destinations:

  Data [Network] (Last used)

  Total size: 2 TB

  Total number of backups: 66

  Oldest backup: 2014-01-01 13:36:20 +0000

  Last backup: 2014-09-30 16:03:28 +0000

  Size of backup disk: Excellent

  Backup size 2 TB > (Disk size 464.96 GB X 3)

  Time Machine details may not be accurate.

  All volumes being backed up may not be listed.

Top Processes by CPU: ?

      3% WindowServer

      3% diskimages-helper

      1% backupd

      1% activitymonitord

      0% mds

Top Processes by Memory: ?

  532 MB WebProcess

  250 MB CalendarAgent

  156 MB Mail

  106 MB Safari

  90 MB mds

Virtual Memory Information: ?

  1.15 GB Free RAM

  1.28 GB Active RAM

  777 MB Inactive RAM

  570 MB Wired RAM

  1.27 GB Page-ins

  1.13 GB Page-outs

My first guess is that you need to upgrade Ram, to 8GB or more.

Make a new thread, or follow the one you already made. Coming back here does not help you.

Lex

Thanks.  As stated, I've been following the one I already made but no reply since initial 2 days ago, although I've updated it a few times.  Sorry if I made a breach of etiquette by looking for help here.

Good, no excuse necessary.

I think nobody saw something in the etrechecklist that is worrysome, I don't either. The guys in the other thread are good.

I have some cleaning proposals, but that can not solve (I think) a massive speed breakdown.

So my first remark about the ram stands, but a sudden breakdown must have another cause:

Can you make a screen grab of the Applications folder and of the Utilities folder? So that we can see what you have installed.

Lex

I just realized this is Mavericks forum & my MacBook is running Mountain Lion.  Are you still able to help?

Unimportant, we have seen it. Does not matter, next time better.

Lex

Right.  Someone has responded to other thread, suggesting I try turning off Time Machine backup for a few days to see what happens.  Will do & advise. 

Thanks so much for your help.

Can you post the screen grabs as I asked.

Hi Lex,

Could i trouble you to look at my Entrecheck and see if you can suggest some actions to reduce the beach ball incidences and improve my processing speed.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated!

Cheers

Godwin

EtreCheck version: 2.0.1 (82)

Report generated 11 October 2014 19:26:34 GMT+2

Hardware Information: ℹ️

  MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) (Verified)

  MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

  1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

  4 GB RAM Upgradeable

  BANK 0/DIMM0

  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

  BANK 1/DIMM0

  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

  Bluetooth: Old - Handoff not supported

  Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

  Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

  Color LCD 1440 x 900

  AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 1024 MB

System Software: ℹ️

  OS X 10.10 (14A386b) - Uptime: one day 1:11:27

Disk Information: ℹ️

  APPLE HDD HTS547575A9E384 disk0 : (750.16 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

  EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

  Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

  Macintosh HD (disk1) /  [Startup]: 744.82 GB (256.89 GB free)

  Core Storage: disk0s2 749.30 GB Online

  MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-8A8 disk2 : (8.3 GB)

  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

USB Information: ℹ️

  Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

  Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

  Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

  Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

  Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

  Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

  Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

  /System/Library/Extensions

  [not loaded] com.ZG.driver.ZGUSBCDCACMData (1.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.ZG.driver.ZGUSBMassStorageFilter (1.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.3.35) Support

  [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.3.35) Support

  [not loaded] com.makemkv.kext.daspi (1) Support

  [not loaded] com.novamedia.driver.IceraUSB_MSD_Bypass (1.3.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.kext.wwan (3.0.15) Support

  [not loaded] com.option.driver.Option72 (2.15.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.option.driver.OptionHS (3.26.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.option.driver.OptionMSD (1.21.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.option.driver.OptionQC (1.11.0) Support

  [loaded] com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.67) Support

  [not loaded] com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverVSP (0.0.67) Support

  [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport (1.0.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDevSupport (1.0.7) Support

  [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraFSRSupport (3.0.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraHSRSupport (3.0.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect (1.1.3) Support

  [not loaded] com.vodafone.driver (3.0.9) Support

  [not loaded] com.zg.driver.cdc_ecm_qmi (1.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.zg.driver.cdc_usb_bus (1.0) Support

  [not loaded] com.zte.driver.cdc_ecm_qmi (1.0.26) Support

  [not loaded] com.zte.driver.cdc_usb_bus (1.0.26) Support

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMLGEDriver (3.2.10) Support

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMSamsung (0.0.2) Support

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMSmartplugSCSIDevice (1.0.1) Support

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.oem.vodafone.vtp.huawei.cdc (0.0.2) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/NMHuaweiPhonesVTPCDC.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMUSBCDCACMData.VTP (3.2.6) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/NMHuaweiPhonesVTPCDC_106.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMUSBCDCACMControl (3.2.12) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/NMSamsungDriver_106.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] de.novamedia.driver.NMUSBCDCACMData (3.2.12) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/NovatelWireless3G.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3GData (3.0.13) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/NovatelWirelessWWAN.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] com.NovatelWireless.driver.NovatelWirelessUSBCDCECMControl (3.0.15) Support

  [not loaded] com.NovatelWireless.driver.NovatelWirelessUSBCDCECMData (3.0.15) Support

  [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3G (3.0.15) Support

  [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.DisableAutoInstall (3.0.15) Support

  [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.NWVBE (3.0.15) Support

  /System/Library/Extensions/Vodafone.kext/Contents/PlugIns

  [not loaded] com.vodafone.driver.Data (3.0.9) Support

Startup Items: ℹ️

  HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

  HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect

  Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X

Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️

  [running] de.novamedia.nmnetmgrd.plist Support

Launch Agents: ℹ️

  [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

  [running] de.novamedia.VodafoneDeviceObserver.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

  [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

  [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support

  [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

  [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

  Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

  Vodafone Mobile Broadband Application (/Library/Application Support/Vodafone/VMCStatusMenu.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

  FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

  AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

  AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

  Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support

  o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.2.3 Support

  QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

  googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

  SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.4 - SDK 10.6 Support

  iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

  Flash Player  Support

  Perian  Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

  Skip System Files: NO

  Mobile backups: ON

  Auto backup: YES

  Destinations:

  GN Data 1 [Local]

  Total size: 800.00 GB

  Total number of backups: 3

  Oldest backup: 2014-08-19 11:49:43 +0000

  Last backup: 2014-09-04 06:43:52 +0000

  Size of backup disk: Excellent

  Backup size 800.00 GB > (Disk size 0 B X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

      7% WindowServer

      0% AppleSpell

      0% fontd

      0% notifyd

      0% coreservicesd

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

  163 MB Mail

  159 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

  155 MB mds_stores

  99 MB loginwindow

  94 MB Finder

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

  94 MB Free RAM

  1.58 GB Active RAM

  1.51 GB Inactive RAM

  1.07 GB Wired RAM

  2.73 GB Page-ins

  2 MB Page-outs

1. This thread is already too long, start a new one in the Yosemite discussion.

2. I do not have enough experience with Yosemite to see everything. I wonder how you got al these unsigned kexts in. It should not work at all. In the final version of Yosemite it will not run either.

3. Startup Items are gone in Yosemite final, so this also may cause issues if working at all.

4. Besides this: Perian may go, all these codecs are already in all other media apps.

The 2  Adobe plugins in Internet-plugins are better removed also.

The Googletalk plugin: also

5. User Login Items: should be empty now.

Google Automatic Updater should be uninstalled also in Mavericks. Read this and other threads how to do it.

The Huawei software is not issue free in Mavericks, let alone in Yosemite !!

Lex