Kernel Task is using CPU and slowing down MacBook

You have enough Ram, and enough free disk space.

1. But you have or had hacked (Adobe) software on the mac: you have downloaded from an untrusted site (torrent) or you have used a keygenerator (probably); I suggest that we remove the hacked software and after that 'repair' the hosts file. There are some good (almost) free alternatives.

2. you have Fuse on your mac twice, preferentially they should both go,

3. you have Paragon NTFS installed (which may cause issues in Mavericks),

4. you must uninstall Growl (Mac Notifications as good or better),

5. you must uninstall Chrome (resources leaker): if you do not want to use Safari, use Firefox or Opera: both fast and much safer than Chrome.

6. if you still use Virtualbox, check it to be the latest version (4.3.12), otherwise uninstall it with the uninstaller.

Questions:

Can you make a screen grab of the Applications and Utilities folders for me?

Tell me what you want to do about points 1-6.

Lex

Your copy of VirtualBox is very old as well and you may want to update it if you still use VMs at all.

Hi there,

I have just removed the apps as much as i can (included VMware...)& all library caches, but the RAM still running very low without using any adobe PS/ AI software.
Help! please..

EtreCheck version: 1.9.11 (43) - report generated 12 June 2014 1:35:14 am AEST

Hardware Information:

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir5,2

1 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

4 GB RAM

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: (null)

System Software:

OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 0:33:46

Disk Information:

APPLE SSD TS128E disk0 : (121.33 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 120.47 GB (52.02 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

USB Information:

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 17

Gatekeeper:

Anywhere

Kernel Extensions:

[not loaded] au.com.maxon.driver.MSM6280Panther (1.0) Support

[not loaded] au.com.maxon.driver.MSM6280Universal (1.0) Support

[not loaded] au.com.maxon.driver.MaxonFamily (1.0) Support

[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.3.1) Support

[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.3.1) Support

[kext loaded] com.logmein.driver.LogMeInSoundDriver (1.0.3 - SDK 10.5) Support

[not loaded] com.option.driver.Option72 (2.17.0) Support

[not loaded] com.option.driver.OptionMSD (1.21.0) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport (1.0.0) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDevSupport (1.0.7) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraFSRSupport (1.0.1) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraHSRSupport (2.1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect (1.1.1) Support

[not loaded] net.Thomson.iokit.USBLAN_usbpart (1.6.0) Support

Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS4.plist Support

[not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinblanker.plist Support

[failed] com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist Support

[loaded] com.logmein.raupdate.plist Support

[loaded] com.sierrawireless.SWoCTool.plist Support

Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[failed] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist Support

[failed] com.logmein.logmeingui.plist Support

[failed] com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist Support

[not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinguiagentatlogin.plist Support

User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[failed] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist Support

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

[running] com.nchsoftware.expressinvoice.agent.plist Support

[running] com.nchsoftware.inventoria.agent.plist Support

User Login Items:

SpeechSynthesisServer

Google Notifier

Memory Clean

Dropbox

handyPrintDaemon

Internet Plug-ins:

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.0 Support

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

AdobeExManDetect: Version: AdobeExManDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.8 Support

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support

LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.935 - SDK 10.7 Support

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

Flash Player: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

LogMeInSafari32: Version: 1.0.935 - SDK 10.7 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.8 Support

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version

Safari Extensions:

B4G_Safari: Version: 1.0

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:

Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Adobe Version Cue CS4 Support

Flash Player Support

Growl Support

handyPrint Support

Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

5% WindowServer

3% Dropbox

2% Disk Inventory X

1% fontd

0% SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Memory:

561 MB Disk Inventory X

139 MB mds_stores

131 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

86 MB Dropbox

66 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information:

718 MB Free RAM

2.51 GB Active RAM

126 MB Inactive RAM

674 MB Wired RAM

360 MB Page-ins

84 KB Page-outs