how to quit 'finder' to free up some resources...

[jero]

how can i quit finder? i believe there is a way to do it by typing in a command in terminal but im not sure. i know the finder dosent take too much of my resources but i would like to have this option available to me. i tried a search for this already but you can imagine how many posts and threads there are with the word "finder" in them(too many) so i found it impossible to find my answer. i think there is a program you can download somewhere that allows you to do this as well? i thought i found it on a mac hacker site. can anyone help me with this? your help is much appreciated, thanks.

[HexMonkey]

Typing killall Finder into Terminal quits Finder, but it just starts it up again. There may be a way to prevent the relaunch, but I really don't see the point. Why do you want to do this?

The only times I've managed to have Finder quit and not relaunch is when my computer has crashed. :eek:

[jero]

Originally posted by HexMonkey
Typing killall Finder into Terminal quits Finder, but it just starts it up again. There may be a way to prevent the relaunch, but I really don't see the point. Why do you want to do this?

The only times I've managed to have Finder quit and not relaunch is when my computer has crashed. :eek:

well, i just want to have it act like a normal app.

"but I really don't see the point. Why do you want to do this?"

cause i want to. why not? why wouldnt you wanna do this? i just prefer to have things not takin up resources if they dont have to.)if they have to then thats a different story, im cool with it. but if i have the option then why not? just another option.

:)

[janey]

i think theres an option in either Cocktail or Tinkertool that lets you use Finder like an ordinary app

[Maritan]

It's TinkerTool.

I tried quitting Finder using TT. As long as you have another application running, the Finder will quit. If you quit all your other apps though, Finder will be relaunched.

[revenuee]

but don't you "need" the finder running the way it does inorder to acctually run other apps, and "explore" your drives"?

[Maritan]

I tried launching a couple of apps with the Finder not running. Apps launched and ran just fine.

But, like you say, if you try to browse any directory etc., Finder will automatically be launched.

[Grimace]

Finder doesn't really tax your system that much. You could save yourself a lot of trouble by supercharging your system with more RAM.

[dukemeiser]

You need the Finder for more than you think, such as directory browsing as others here have said. Besides, it doesn't take up enough resources to make a difference. What kinda machine are you running and how much RAM do you have?

[jero]

Finder doesn't really tax your system that much. You could save yourself a lot of trouble by supercharging your system with more RAM.

yeah i would but darn g4 ibooks only let me have 640 haha. i think i will try downloading cocktail or that tinkertool or whatever. thanks for the replys.

but if anyone knows the way to do it in terminal, im all ears.

peace.

[tayshodd]

this should help i think...

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030825192401556

[Horrortaxi]

yeah i would but darn g4 ibooks only let me have 640 haha.
So do the G3 700's and I've never had a problem with Finder taking excessive resources. Even on the stock 128MB it wasn't an issue. Just let Finder have what it wants and find better things to worry about.

[Hemingray]

A real quick way is to just bring up the Force Quit dialogue box and quit the finder there... but I don't see much benefit to this. The Finder isn't that big of a resource hog. If you're running OS X on a computer where running the Finder affects your computer's performance, you need to think about upgrading. :p

[Maritan]

A real quick way is to just bring up the Force Quit dialogue box and quit the finder there... but I don't see much benefit to this.

I don't know about "older" OS X versions (I'm a recent switcher), but with Panther, when you bring up the Force Quit dialogue box and you click on Finder, you only get a Relaunch button, not a Quit button.

[adamjay]

Activity Monitor shows my Finder never taking more than 38mb of ram. and i have a powerbook with 640mb (the financially responsible RAM limit).

CPU wise, never more than 15% as i am navigating through the Finder.
If you are running such extensive CPU and RAM hogging applications, then you should probably want the Finder open and at your disposal... because if you are running out of usable ram, it would take forever to open the finder when you actually DO need it. The Finder is the icon on my dock that i click on the most... and if it were closed when i clicked it, i would feel like i was reverting to PeeCee speeds...

Perhaps a better solution would be to "Prioritize Your Processor Power" in Terminal.
this is covered in MacAddict Issue #90 Page 70. This would keep the mass of your processor dedicated to the task at hand, and when you do go to the finder, it would only require 1-2% of your CPU to access it (may be slower, but not as slow as if it were closed)

[MacBoyX]

You can't truly quit the finder. It runs everything from the application switcher to the desktop. It's a process that must run all the time like explorer.exe in windows.

[kylos]

You could try quitting loginwindow (finder's parent) but I wouldn't really suggest that. You could potentially cause yourself problems.

Problems like killing all apps in your login session. login window is their parent too.

[bousozoku]

You could just change the Finder property list so that it points to Terminal and starts that on login, instead of Finder. You'd never have to deal with Finder again. :D Then again, you could just boot up holding down Command-S and use that and save your resources from that nasty GUI stuff. If that's too much, you could just leave the machine powered off. :D

[LimeiBook86]

You could just change the Finder property list so that it points to Terminal and starts that on login, instead of Finder. You'd never have to deal with Finder again. :D Then again, you could just boot up holding down Command-S and use that and save your resources from that nasty GUI stuff. If that's too much, you could just leave the machine powered off. :D

Hahaha, yeah

if you don't like the Finder get rid of it. Or take it up another step and take out the GUI, lol :D

[jero]

this should help i think...

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030825192401556

werd, tayshodd. good lookin out.