Why is WindowServer consuming 48% of my CPU?

Question

After reading a few other posts I&#x27;ve decided to start off by attaching an EtreCheck report.  Little to no other activity is occuring while the WindowServer is at such a high CPU consumption.  Certainly acts sluggish trying to launch apps and switching between users can produce a gray screen of death, just goes to a gray screen, never recovers.  Seems really strange to me.  Any help is greatly appreciated.Hardware Information:          MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010)          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro7,1          1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores          8 GB RAMVideo Information:          NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MBAudio Plug-ins:          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0          AirPlay: Version: 1.9          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3Startup Items:          NMTCPSettingsTuning - Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/NMTCPSettingsTuningSystem Software:          OS X 10.9 (13A603) - Uptime: 14 days 12:28:56Disk Information:          WDC WD5000BPKT-00PK4T0 disk0 : (500.11 GB)                    EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209.7 MB                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 499.25 GB (155.32 GB free)                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 650 MB          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898 USB Information:          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight          Western Digital My Book 1110 999.5 GB                    EFI (disk1s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209.7 MB                    MyTimeMachine (disk1s2) /Volumes/MyTimeMachine: 999.16 GB (657.63 GB free)          Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub                    Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard          Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Cinema HD Display          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader          Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / TrackpadFireWire Information:Thunderbolt Information:Kernel Extensions:          com.wavtap.driver.WavTap          (1.6.6)          com.bresink.driver.BRESINKx86Monitoring          (7.0)Problem System Launch Daemons:Problem System Launch Agents:Launch Daemons:          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist          [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist          [loaded] com.sierrawireless.SWoCTool.plistLaunch Agents:          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plistUser Launch Agents:          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist          [failed] com.google.GoogleContactSyncAgent.plistUser Login Items:          GrowlHelperApp          GrowlHelperApp          iTunesHelper          Spark Daemon          AdobeResourceSynchronizer          Alarm Clock          Evernote          EvernoteHelper          Dropbox          Google Chrome          TrapsMonitor3rd Party Preference Panes:          Flash Player          Flip4Mac WMV          Growl          PrintopiaInternet Plug-ins:          AdobePDFViewer.plugin          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin          Default Browser.plugin          DirectorShockwave.plugin          Flash Player.plugin          FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin          Google Earth Web Plug-in.plugin          googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin          iPhotoPhotocast.plugin          JavaAppletPlugin.plugin          npgtpo3dautoplugin.plugin          o1dbrowserplugin.plugin          QuickTime Plugin.plugin          RealPlayer Plugin.plugin          SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin          Silverlight.plugin          Unity Web Player.pluginUser Internet Plug-ins:Bad Fonts:          NoneTime Machine:          Skip System Files: NO          Mobile backups: ON          Auto backup: YES          Volumes being backed up:                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 343.93 GB          Destinations:                    MyTimeMachine [Local] (Last used)                    Total size: 999.16 GB                    Total number of backups: 34                    Oldest backup: 2013-10-26 02:26:00 +0000                    Last backup: 2013-11-22 01:58:55 +0000                    Size of backup disk: Too small                              Backup size 999.16 GB &lt; (Disk used 343.93 GB X 3)          Time Machine details may not be accurate.          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.Top Processes by CPU:              35%          WindowServer               4%          PluginProcess               1%          EtreCheck               1%          Microsoft Word               0%          ocspd               0%          notifyd               0%          securityd               0%          softwareupdatedTop Processes by Memory:          197 MB             Safari          197 MB             WindowServer          170 MB             Mail          156 MB             Evernote          98 MB              mds_stores          98 MB              Finder          90 MB              Preview          66 MB              Calendar          66 MB              com.apple.WebKit.WebContent          66 MB              Microsoft WordVirtual Memory Statistics:          885 MB             Free RAM          2.37 GB            Active RAM          1.72 GB            Inactive RAM          1017 MB            Wired RAM          20.52 GB           Page-ins          2.25 GB            Page-outs

itsjimbo · Accepted Answer

I had a similar issue on Sierra, and after some testing it seems setting the scaling back to "Default for display" improved it by 15%-25%.   I am running dual GTX 970s on 6 monitors ( 6x Samsung U28D590 4K with NVIDIA web drivers on Sierra 10.12.3), and I am not sure why any scaling would have anything to do with software processes, rendering should all be done on the hardware, but there is significant improvement after changing it.

w7ox · Answer

Here&#x27;s a somewhat related thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4274665?answerId&#x3D;21399004022#21399004022Phil

roberte99 · Answer

Interestingly enough, shutting down Safari and Mail dropped the CPU % of windowserver to under 1%.  Those are two of a couple of apps that stay up all the time.  And while restarting the apps causes the CPU % to spike to ~20%, it immediately settles down to 5-8% and then to around 1-2%.  I&#x27;m assuming something, somewhere has a leak.Thanks for the help.  I&#x27;ll give it a day or two of use and exposure to see if the results are repeatable.

abatko · Answer

I opened Activity Monitor, sorted by "% CPU", and watched WindowServer as I first closed Safari and then Firefox - there was no effect on WindowServer. But when I closed Skype, WindowServer immediately dropped to around 2%. Problem solved.

AbrarMAC · Answer

I faced same issue on my Macbook when I tried to run a complex task on a third party application that hung up on me. I closed the hung-up application, and Mac was back to its usual self.It seems that WindowServer process shows high CPU utilisation when some application hangs or stops responding. And this in turn, effects the performance of Mac-OS.When you Close (or "Force Quit") the application that caused the issue, Mac resumes normal functionality.

iamsatyam · Answer

DOCK: Disabled the &#x27;Animate opening application&#x27; &amp; Enabled &#x27;Automatically hide &amp; show the dock&#x27;, &#x27;Minimize windows into application icon&#x27; &amp; also changed the Minimize windows using to &#x27;Scale Effect&#x27;ENERGY SAVER: Put to Defaults.ACCESSIBLITY: Enabled Reduce TransparencyThis at least cut that WindowServer process to half.

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Why is WindowServer consuming 48% of my CPU?