Process name: "WindowServer" , What is it?

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Level 1

5 points

Process name: "WindowServer" , What is it?

I always notice a process by the name of WindowServer running, and unless I'm running something reasonably demanding like protools or whatever, it's the most demanding process running at 10-15% CPU usage.

I know its WindowServer not Window sServer , but does it have anything to do with windows?

If not then what's it all about? I'm curious.

Thanks in advance 🙂

MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2.33Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3Gb Memory

Posted on Jan 11, 2008 12:09 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jan 11, 2008 12:51 PM in response to Calum Margey

Yes, it's the OS' windows manager.

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Answer 2

Kort

Level 3

828 points

Feb 27, 2008 2:31 PM in response to Kappy

Is it normal for it to use so much CPU processing and memory?

On my G5 at work it is currently using between 1% & 7.5% of the CPU, depending on what I am doing, and it is using 44.31 MB. That seems a bit high, what exactly is it doing?

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Answer 3

ChuckLD

Level 1

0 points

Apr 6, 2008 8:50 AM in response to Kort

Kort.... did you ever get an answer to the question in your last posting? I'm seeing the exact same thing on my MacBook (WindowServer running about 15% ) and have no idea if this is normal or not. I have been seeing the spinning beach ball more frequently in the past few days.. it appears when I'm only running one or two apps like iTunes and Safari.

Thanks!
Chuck

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