WindowServer process

[DaLurker]

So recently my MBP seems to be running the WindowServer process at 20% CPU utilization quite frequently causing the fans to rev up. I was wondering what this process is and why its running?

Thanks

 

[ef651100]

WindowServer is used for the Dashboard/widgets. Mine ocassionally goes up to about 13% but quickly dies down. Do you have too many widgets? If so, try removing some and they might just be the root of the problem.

 

[DaLurker]

WindowServer is used for the Dashboard/widgets. Mine ocassionally goes up to about 13% but quickly dies down. Do you have too many widgets? If so, try removing some and they might just be the root of the problem.

Hey thanks for the quick reply. Looks like it might be iStat pro... go figure, that's what I've been using to track my processes

 

[SHADO]

I know this thread is from 2007, but I have a related question. Is there an alternative to iStat Pro to monitor my CPU, HD, network, etc. usage? I don't really like menumeters all that much; I would prefer something in the dashboard like iStat Pro, but that does not use so much CPU. Thanks.

 

[edesignuk]

I doubt you're going to find anything like iStat Pro but that isn't iStat Pro and uses less resources.

Maybe just tinker with iStat Pro to not monitor as much. Sure you don't care about fan speed and system temps etc.

 

[SHADO]

Well I only have it monitoring 6 sections, which I don't think is that much.

 

[robbieduncan]

WindowServer is used for the Dashboard/widgets. Mine ocassionally goes up to about 13% but quickly dies down. Do you have too many widgets? If so, try removing some and they might just be the root of the problem.

Erm, no it isn't. The WindowServer does exactly what the name suggests: it acts as a server process to composite/draw windows onto the screen. It deals with taking the bitmap of each window and drawing it to the correct location on screen (as an OpenGL texture these days), layering the windows correctly and compositing them where there are translucent areas (again all done in OpenGL these days). It also handles the double buffering of windows backing stores allowing the updates to the window content to be smooth and flicker free.

Dashboard widgets all run in their own processes, normally owned by the Dock process for some reason best known to Apple.