Macbook lagging?

[emirae1091]

Okay i've just noticed this recently, and i upgraded to snow leopard in early may ish.

when i use keyboard short cuts, or turn the volume/brightness/etc up or down, it lags for a few seconds before finally doing what i've asked. i havent installed any new programs or anything, so it seems kind of random to me.

any suggestions on how to fix this? its quite frustrating.

even when i'm typing here it lags quite a bit.

 

[Makosuke]

Go to the Utilities folder and open up Activity Monitor. In the Activity Monitor window (command-1) make sure "All Processes" is selected in the popup at the top of the window, then click the top of the CPU column to sort it decending (with the items with the largest % CPU at the top.

When you're experiencing the lag, is there anything with a relatively large number (close to or above 100%) at the top of the list? If so, that's probably what's causing the problem. If nothing is registering high at all (meaning nothing is over, say, 20%) and the total CPU use (you can bring up a graph with the tab at the bottom of that window, or use the floating real-time bar display), then something else is going on.

Possibility: If you aren't using ClickToFlash, and have several browser windows/tabs open, it's possible--likely, even--that an errant Flash ad on one of the open pages is sitting there sucking up an entire CPU core, and slowing the entire system substantially.

 

[emirae1091]

i did that and windowserver or something was taking up 60+%? so i restarted (yet again, as that hadn't fixed it before) and now its fine?

very odd. anyway, thanks for your help! i cant believe i didnt think to check that haha.