You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

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

Reply
16 replies
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

Reply
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.

Reply
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.
Reply

Finder to 100% CPU

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up