[Macworld]

Post your comments for Bugs & Fixes: Dealing with CPU overloads, part two here

[bousozoku]

It's interesting to see that, since the move to a "superior" processor, that Apple users are dealing with performance quirks.
It seems odd since having a dual G4 system, that the largest processor maker would have created such poor implementations (well, Intel couldn't divide correctly until the Pentium III) or that Apple wasn't able to handle the quirks of the processor.
I guess it's easier to deal with the performance characteristics of a low performance "supercomputer".

[bigh]

If you would be so kind, please explain what this article has to do with processors, and not operating systems or other software???

[DisabledTrucker]

I tracked mine down to two culprits, Skype and Safari, both use enormous amounts of memory as well as CPU...

[gajones]

i find this command useful for monitoring cpu actvity in the terminal:
/usr/bin/top -ocpu -R -F -s 2 -n30

[ted_landau]

I did get kind of sidetracked in the end. If you check the prior linked columns, you'll see they both deal with issues where the CPU % in Activity Monitor was headed skyward. That's the "CPU overload" in question.

However, in searching for a solution to the Spotlight matter in today's column, I wound up detouring into the whole Privacy list etc. mess. In the end, I probably would have given this column a different name, but I was already sort of committed to "Part 2" -- as last week's column was "Part 1."

Not the best justification, I admit. But there you have it. :)

- Ted

[buadhai]

Another "sure and hassle-free solution" to the unwanted Spotlight indexing of a cloned drive is to write a tiny shell script that turns indexing off. If you use CCC to clone the drive you can run the script as a "post flight" script. Or, you can get it to run periodically using launchd.

=====
#!/bin/sh

mdutil -i off /Volumes/YourClone/
=====

[msadesign]

Good one, Ted. I write a weekly column for the local paper here in Naples Florida and I can tell you that anyone who thinks cranking out 750 words every week is simple has never tried it!

I've done the same thing in a Part 2 piece- sort of wandered- although I certainly don't have your readership?

[bigcloits]

Also handy, Instead of using -ocpu ...
/usr/bin/top -orsize -R -F -s 2 -n30
... to show resident memory size of processes. I have two AppleScripts handy for this, one to “show cpu” usage and one to “show ram” usage in the Terminal. It’s faster than launching Activity Monitor, which can be really slow when your machine is bogged down. If things are bogged and I want to know what’s going on, this is the fastest way I know of to find out if there’s a process hogging cpu and/or ram.
For those who don’t know how to get a command running in a terminal window via AppleScript ...
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "/usr/bin/top -orsize -R -F -s 2 -n30"
end tell

[AdamS]

If you're using a backup drive for Time Machine backups, then you should NOT disable Spotlight for the drive. When Leopard first came out, I disabled Spotlight for my backup drive, since the indexing activity was bogging my Mac down awfully. But when I brought up Time Machine, I couldn't find a single file. In the end, I just had to be patient as my drive got indexed (I simply let it run overnight).