Level 1

4 points

Overheating problem with my MacBook Air m2

Hi everyone,

I have a problem with my MacBook Air M2 overheating. It happens especially when I’m talking on Discord or working in VS Code or Cursor, sometimes using AI agents, but even without them, it can get really hot.

Right now, it even overheats just from watching YouTube on Edge or Safari. I constantly see high CPU usage on kernel_task or WindowServer, and I’m not sure why this is happening.

For example, at this moment, I’m just using Discord to talk, and this is how my Activity Monitor looks – Discord Helper, WindowServer, and kernel_task are all very high in CPU usage.

Logs from etrecheck app.

MacBook Air (Damian) 2025-09-08

MacBook Air 15″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 8, 2025 6:09 AM

Top-ranking reply

Owl-53

Level 10

103,699 points

Posted on Sep 8, 2025 6:33 AM

I very much agree with @Mac Jim ID

Though, I do have a different take on how to resolve these issues, as outline by my colleague

With those many softwares to remove and including the infamous CleanMyMac aka BrickMyMac

You may consider, the machine will never work as well once CMM has been installed and used

Start Over from Scratch

Heavy Handed ? - Yes

Effective ? - Yes

You can spend hours or days hunting down all the bits and pieces of these softwares and never really get it all off the computer

For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.

Always make a Time Machine Backup before proceeding

Emphasis on User Account Only

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20 replies

St4rBoyeK Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2025 7:33 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

Thanks a lot for your help. I’ve followed your instructions and removed everything you mentioned.

I’m attaching a new EtreCheck report here so you can confirm if everything looks good now.

St4rBoyeK Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 10, 2025 6:29 AM in response to St4rBoyeK

It still didn't help, my Mac is still overheating.

[Edited by Moderator]

St4rBoyeK Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2025 9:04 AM in response to Owl-53

Oh, I didn’t realize this app could be so dangerous. To be honest, I used it a long time ago and everything seemed fine, but over the past 3–4 months my laptop has started acting strangely.

St4rBoyeK Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 10, 2025 6:38 AM in response to St4rBoyeK

logs

Still nothing helped

St4rBoyeK Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 20, 2025 2:01 AM in response to steve626

I use Cloudflare as Warp, which is a VPN to connect to a virtual server. Yes, the overheating also occurs in Safe Boot.

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Overheating problem with my MacBook Air m2