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Why is my Mac slow, and what is that process?

Plain-English guides to finding what's slowing your Mac and dealing with it. Each one solves the problem first; Foreman is mentioned where it helps.

Finding what's slowing your Mac

Why is my Mac so slow? How to find the app to blame7 minHow to see which app is using the most CPU on a Mac6 minWhat to do when your Mac fans get loud6 minThe spinning beach ball on a Mac: what it means and what to do6 minHow to tell if one browser tab is slowing down your Mac6 minWhy your MacBook gets hot, and how to find what's heating it6 minHigh CPU usage on a Mac: what counts as high, and what to do6 minWhy is my Mac slow after a macOS update?5 minWhy your Mac is slow right after you start it up6 minHow to find out what's running in the background on your Mac6 minHow to check how hard your Mac is working: CPU, memory and disk at a glance7 minMac slow during video calls? How to find the culprit6 minWhy your Mac stutters while you edit video or play games6 minHow to keep an eye on your Mac's CPU from the menu bar6 minWhat Not responding means on a Mac, and how long to wait6 minHow to speed up an old Mac without buying anything6 minToo many apps open? How many is too many on a Mac5 minHow to find which app is using your Mac's GPU5 minWhy a Mac slows down when it gets warm6 minHow to stop one app from slowing down everything else on your Mac5 min

Quitting and force quitting

How to force quit an app on a Mac: every way that works5 minControl-Alt-Delete on a Mac: the keys that do the same job4 minHow to force quit an app that won't force quit5 minQuit vs force quit on a Mac: what you lose with each4 minHow to restart a frozen app on a Mac without logging out4 minWhat to do when your whole Mac freezes6 minHow to end a background process on a Mac6 minHow to quit a menu bar app that has no Quit button6 minHow to kill a process from Terminal on a Mac, and when not to6 minIs it safe to force quit on a Mac?6 minWhy an app keeps reopening after you quit it on a Mac7 minHow to pause an app on a Mac instead of quitting it6 min

What is that process?

What is kernel_task on a Mac, and why does it use so much CPU?6 minWhat is WindowServer on a Mac, and why is it using CPU?6 minWhat is mds_stores on a Mac? Spotlight indexing explained6 minWhat is mdworker_shared on a Mac, and why are there so many?6 minWhat is mediaanalysisd on a Mac, and can you stop it?5 minWhat is photoanalysisd on a Mac?5 minWhat is bird on a Mac? iCloud Drive's sync process5 minWhat is cloudd on a Mac?5 minWhat is fileproviderd on a Mac, and why is it busy?6 minWhat is nsurlsessiond on a Mac, and why is it downloading?5 minWhat is backupd on a Mac? Time Machine behind the scenes6 minWhat is syspolicyd on a Mac?5 minWhat is XProtect on a Mac, and why is it scanning?5 minWhat is launchd on a Mac?6 minWhat is coreaudiod on a Mac, and why is it using CPU?5 minWhat is corespotlightd on a Mac?5 minWhat is com.apple.WebKit.WebContent on a Mac?6 minWhat is trustd on a Mac?5 minWhat is softwareupdated on a Mac?5 minWhat is cfprefsd on a Mac?5 minWhat is fseventsd on a Mac?4 minWhat is runningboardd on a Mac?4 minWhat is loginwindow on a Mac?4 minWhat is suggestd on a Mac?5 minWhat is the deleted process on a Mac?5 minWhat is sharingd on a Mac?5 minWhat is mDNSResponder on a Mac?4 minWhat are Helper (Renderer) processes on a Mac?5 min

Memory, disk, network and battery

Memory pressure on a Mac: when you actually need more RAM5 minHow to see which app is using the most memory on a Mac5 minIs your Mac using swap? What it means and when to worry5 minWhy does my Mac use so much memory with nothing open?5 minHow to find which app is draining your MacBook battery5 minPower usage on a Mac: what the energy figures mean5 minHow to see which app is using your network on a Mac5 minHow to find what's writing to your Mac's disk5 minCompressed memory on a Mac, explained5 minWhy Chrome uses so much memory on a Mac5 minHow much memory does a Mac really need?6 minWhat is wired memory on a Mac?5 minHow to tell if an app is running under Rosetta on your Mac4 minWhy your Mac's disk is busy when you're not doing anything5 min

Startup and background items

How to stop apps opening at login on a Mac5 minHow to remove login items left behind by deleted apps6 minLaunch agents and daemons on a Mac, explained in plain English6 minWhat Allow in the Background means in macOS settings6 minHow to find out what starts when your Mac starts5 minIs it safe to disable startup items on a Mac?5 minHow to make your Mac start up faster6 minWhy apps keep adding themselves to your login items6 minHow to see and stop background services on a Mac6 minWhere Mac apps hide their updaters, and whether you need them5 minWhat to clean up after you delete an app on a Mac5 minWhy a deleted app still shows up in Login Items5 min

Coming from Windows

Is there a Task Manager on Mac? What to use instead5 minThe Mac version of Task Manager, page by page6 minEnd Task on a Mac: how it works compared to Windows5 minEfficiency mode on a Mac: how to slow down a background app5 minStartup apps on Mac vs Windows: where to find them5 minSwitching from Windows to Mac: what to do when an app freezes4 minCtrl+Shift+Esc on a Mac: open a task manager with the same keys4 minApp history on a Mac: how to see what an app has used5 min

Getting more from Foreman

How Foreman's Efficiency Mode works, and when to use it5 minForeman's menu bar readout: which style to pick6 minReading Foreman's Processes page: sections, helpers and totals6 minWhy Foreman asks to control System Events4 minWhy Foreman sometimes asks for your password4 minForeman and your privacy: what it reads and what it never sends4 min