System events chewing cpu

[NicP]

I noticed recenly that everything on my mini has been running slower than usual. I opened up the activity monitor to find that cpu usage is very high, junping between about 50 and 100%. The culprit seams to be a process called "System Events".

I wondered why this process was chewing so much cpu and slowing my system down, and what exacly it was doing. The only thing ive changed recently is added a few "actions" to folders using automator so that when i add files to the folders they are automatically added to itunes and put in a playlist. Could this be the problem?

 

[NicP]

Ive now found that disabling folder actions resolves the problem, this is a pretty poor resolution thought, i would really like to have the folder actions enabled without the large increase in cpu usage. Any other ideas or suggestions?

 

[tomchapin]

High CPU Usage by System Events

I had this problem until I realized that spotlight was trying to index a network drive that I had mounted on my desktop.

I solved the problem by adding the network mount point to my spotlight privacy pane.

Folder actions didn't seem to have anything to do with my particular case.

 

[NicP]

Thanks for your input, but those posts are well over 3 years old!