Process appears in iStat Pro, not in Activity Monitor

[bsheridan]

I have this process that appears in my iStat Pro widget, but due to not being able to resize the widget I can't make out the full name, 'WindowSer...' [see attachments]

So I go and look in Activity monitor but it never appears there.

It wouldn't bother me that much but sometimes it goes up to CPU 15% (quoting istat pro) and when I have no apps open, the fans go to ~85% and I think it might be due to this process.

Anyone know what process it is?
Where it's from what's it doing?
If I could quit the process, how could I do it? (seeing as it doesn't appear in activity monitor)

thanks, b.

 

[Eidorian]

WindowServer

Did you make sure that Activity Monitor shows ALL PROCESSES and not just yours?

 

[bsheridan]

I hang my head in shame
thanks for that!

Called windowserver being used by user: windowserver

what does it do?

Only user on the mac is me, so all my processes and root processes appear, but where does this come from?

 

[Eidorian]

I hang my head in shame
thanks for that!

Called windowserver being used by user: windowserver

what does it do?

Only user on the mac is me, so all my processes and root processes appear, but where does this come from?

The WindowServer is the GUI for OS X.

Switch to a hierarchical view and you'll see that it's a child of launchd (1) which is just after kernel_task (0). launchd handles the automatic start of many system daemons during boot up.

The GUI being one of them.

 

[slamdunc]

Help me find this process...

Hi -

Read the above post and hoped that you could help out. Having a similar problem with a Canon printer process on my MBP.

iStat says that I have a Canon MP process that's been at 100% or thereabouts recently, and even not having the printer plugged in and after restarting, the process is still there and my fans are going crazy.

I checked the Activity Monitor with "All Processes" selected, and nothing relating to the printer is listed.

I can't recall anything that I've done in the past few days that would have initiated this issue, but maybe someone has some ideas?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ltldrummerboy]

I know it's not a fix-all, but try resetting the PRAM. Command-Option-P-R on startup. Another overused but underrated one that I doubt will work for your problem: repair permissions. Do a few maintenance chores on your system and then restart your computer. You won't find out why that process is eating up your CPU, but there's a good chance you'll fix it.

 

[slamdunc]

Thanks for the quick reply. It has been a while since I've repaired permissions, and [shudder] I don't think I've ever reset the PRAM. Sounds like something good to do TWO years into owning my MBP.

I'll post results here. After two restarts, the printer "process" is still hovering between 98-100% and fans are still whirring...

 

[jdavtz]

I've had the Canon printer 100% issue for a long time too; I searched on Google a week or two ago as it was puzzling me and it seems that it's actually registering 100% when only about 50% is used and 50% is idle (check activity monitor) and the 'consensus' is that it's not something to worry about. I'm not sure if it's generally seen as a bug or expected behaviour.

Edit:
Sorry - re-read your post - if you have that 100% thing when you're NOT actually printing, you need to open the print queue and delete anything in it.

 

[slamdunc]

Edit:
Sorry - re-read your post - if you have that 100% thing when you're NOT actually printing, you need to open the print queue and delete anything in it.

Wow - can't believe I'd overlook something sooooo simple. I had an old print job in the queue that was several days old (about the same time the fans kicked up and the computer started running hotter).

Thanks again to both of you for your suggestions. I killed the old print job and the fans have slowed and the temp dropped substantially.

Have a great weekend (mine just got better)