How do I disable quicklookd

Question

How do I disable quicklookd

Dear all,

Could anyone please suggest a reason for the following behavior:

1. Open a text file on the Desktop up in bbedit

2. make a change

3. save

4. quicklookd begins consuming 3-4 GB of ram and 100% CPU.

Apparently, it is trying to create a preview for me of this text file, and whatever that entails requires 3 GB of ram. This is really bad for a variety of reasons.

How can I disable quicklookd completely? Should i remove all of the quick look plugins? or is there a less drastic way to do this?

Thanks!

Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63)

MacBook Pro 13", Late 2011

Posted on Mar 4, 2013 3:20 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 4, 2013 7:17 AM in response to Bill Triplett

Before doing anyting as drastic as that open Console and in the search box enter quicklookd.

See what if anything is being logged.

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Answer 2

Mar 4, 2013 4:09 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I see something like this in the Console:

3/4/13 6:25:29.480 AM quicklookd: [QL] Using too much memory (681 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.

3/4/13 6:39:05.887 AM quicklookd: [QL] Using too much memory (713 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.

3/4/13 7:11:34.293 AM quicklookd: [QL] Using too much memory (770 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.

3/4/13 8:49:05.191 AM quicklookd: [QL] Using too much memory (735 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.

Thanks

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Mar 4, 2013 4:27 PM in response to Bill Triplett

I suspect corrupt preferences files. Step one is to move the com.apple.quicklookconfig.plist and the com.apple.QuickLookDaemon one in the ByHost subfolder from the stupidly hidden user's Library's Preferences folder to the Desktop, restart, and see if the problem persists.

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Answer 4

Mar 4, 2013 5:43 PM in response to baltwo

Hi, thanks for the advice.

I tried deleting those preferences, and restarting the but problem still persists.

are there some other files that may have been corrupted somewhere else?

Thanks

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Answer 5

Mar 4, 2013 5:54 PM in response to Bill Triplett

I would think it is a problem with one or more of the files it is trying to work on.

As a test make a new user and log in as that user. How does quicklookd act? if it's ok copy one of the files you were working on into the new account and edit it as you were in your normal account. How does quicklookd act?

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Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Mar 5, 2013 12:29 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Ensure that the new user account is an admin account.

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