User profile for user: topping
topping Author
User level: Level 1
3 points

Finder to 100% CPU

Hi all,

I saw someone with this issue, but his solution doesn't seem related to mine. Like most users, I open Finder windows and they stay open when I launch a foreground app. Problem is, sometimes Finder goes to 100% CPU after a while until the windows are closed.

It's very strange. My first instinct was it was Spotlight, but now it happens relatively frequently (once a day or so). MenuMeters shows high CPU usage, Activity Monitor confirms it is Finder at 100%, switch to Finder, hit "command option w", problem stops.

Is there a way to stop this altogether?

Cheers, Brian Topping

MBP 15" i7 hi-res 8GB/256GB SSD, iMac 27" Quad i7, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 20, 2010 5:16 PM

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User profile for user: AdaptiveDev
AdaptiveDev
User level: Level 1
4 points

Apr 27, 2017 12:11 AM in response to Phil.H

Thanks! This is what fixed me too! I didn't have that com.apple.finder.plist file (maybe I'd already deleted it).


Btw, I sometimes delete ~5-10+GB of space in cache on my 256GB SSD 2013 MBPR 15" when I'm low in HDD and in a bind. I've wondered if that'd cause a lot of extra CPU in rebuilding those. Turns out though, just unticking that calculate all sizes did the main trick.


./Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub

+ sometimes remove a few big ones here:

./Library/Application Support/Caches

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User profile for user: Briolet
Briolet
User level: Level 1
14 points

Aug 23, 2017 2:33 AM in response to Kappy

Old topic, but this stil works. During several day's the fan in my laptop started spinning at maximum speed and the laptop became hot with no programms running other than the Finder and Safari.


Restarting the Finder did only help for a short time. I deleted com.apple.finder.plist three days ago and the problem stayed away.


Tip: In current OSX you can restart finder bij a "Ctrl-Option" click on the finder icon in the dock. This adds the option to restart Finder.

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User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,919 points

Dec 20, 2010 6:39 PM in response to topping

Yes, find out what is causing the Finder to malfunction. Killing a window only covers the symptoms, but it does not fix the problem.

A first guess is: bad com.apple.finder.plist file in /Home/Library/Preferences/. Delete the file.
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User profile for user: ichaddy
ichaddy
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jan 19, 2011 2:04 AM in response to Kappy

Brilliant thanks so much. Works fine now even after a restart.

I deleted the file "com.apple.finder.plist"

in /Home/Library/Preferences/

Goto Terminal and input
killall Finder
(this restarts the finder)

Thats will bring the Finder back to 1%CPU usage !
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User profile for user: woondidu
woondidu
User level: Level 1
8 points

Jan 23, 2011 5:52 AM in response to ichaddy

hi all

I have the same problem. As soon as a finder window is open my cpu usage goes up to 100% - when I close all finder windows - problem gone.

deleting the com.apple.finder.plist file and restarting the finder didn't change anything however...

does anyone have another idea?
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User profile for user: rstoner
rstoner
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 27, 2011 11:50 AM in response to topping

I had the same problem this morning. Removing the plist file seems to have done the trick. Thanks.

woondidu - If you have a lot of files, especially jpegs on your desktop, clean your desktop up this has also been known to cause finder to chew up CPU.
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User profile for user: rstoner
rstoner
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 28, 2011 6:25 AM in response to topping

AH this problem showed up again this morning and based on my playing around, I think Finder was choking on my external USB drive. I ran disk repair and there were several errors reported and repaired. Been running nice and quite for several hours now.
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User profile for user: Phil.H
Phil.H
User level: Level 1
0 points

Mar 22, 2011 10:27 AM in response to snowyogi

As of 10.6.6 I have a version of this problem, completely reproducible,
tied to checking the "calculate all sizes" in the "Show View options"
Closing the Finder window thus checked, or unchecking the box restores
the conventional Finder usage (0-0.4%) on an Intel Core i7 2.2 GHz 4-core.

Previously reported around 10.6.2. in Sept. 2009
http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2135562&start=0&tstart=0

I have a SSD disk that quickly calculates the sizes, but the Finder remains
at 100% for one processor core, no matter how long the Finder window
so checked (calculate all sizes). The window calculations are clearly done.

In my case removing the preference file (com.apple.finder.plist) had no effect.

It is hard to imagine this bug lingering until 10.6.6, unless the "tickle"
is rather subtle.

Quite reproducible. No time today to progressively delete preference files.
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User profile for user: mjc
mjc
User level: Level 3
645 points

Aug 15, 2013 3:26 PM in response to topping

I solved this issue by setting my finder preferences for "New Finder window show:" to my home folder... My issue was that it was defaulting to "All My Files"--- that caused finder to scan everything, images, thumbnails, etc and get up over 100% of cpu usage.

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Finder to 100% CPU

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