Cfprefsd Using > 90% Cpu - Any Way to Find out What Program Is Using It?
In the Last Few Weeks I've Noticed My Macbookpro (Mid-2014, Core I7, Retina 16Gb Ram, El Capitan Patched to Latest) Running Quite Hot and Looking at the Cpu...
In the last few weeks I've noticed my macbookpro (mid-2014, core i7, retina 16Gb RAM, el capitan patched to latest) running quite hot and looking at the CPU usage it seems it's cfprefsd that's doing the damage with over 90%.
I'm aware cfprefsd is just covering up for some other process but I don't know how to go about finding out. Anyone have any ideas?
4 Answers
It is possible that when we upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan, our bluetooth settings are backed up and are read by the system.
I found that this was the file that had a few duplicates:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
sudo removing all these files then doing a PRAM and SMC reset immediately worked for me!
PRAM and SMC reset : Shut down your Mac, press the power button, and as soon as you hear the startup chime, hold down Command+Option+P+R
This "fixed" it for me:
I noticed cfprefsd was hammering the disk - so I used fs_usage to track what it was writing:
- Open Activity Moniter, get the PID of cfprefsd
Open Terminal,
sudo fs_usage pid <PID>.I saw my bluetooth preferences file was getting smashed.
So I disabled bluetooth and cfprefsd.
CPU usage dropped instantly to negligible levels.
I realise this is not fixing the root problem, but this made my previously unusable macbook air usable again, so I thought others might appreciate it.
OK, I just saw the same symptoms on a recently updated MacBook Pro 13" (2015 edition so the latest hardware). I updated to El Capitan and sometime soon after started noticing the slowness issue. I had noticed a cfprefs process hogging CPU but not enough to be causing the severe performance issues I was seeing (keyboard non responsive, etc.)
Turning off bluetooth indeed solved the problem IMMEDIATELY so I think you've found your link. Instead of leaving it off I turned it back on, deleted the one device profile that was connected (an external trackpad) and then re-paired. So far so good; not sure what the "actual" issue was but if this resolves it long-term then I think it's a reasonable workaround.
The same happened to me just now. Turned of Bluetooth completely and then the process disappeared.
Running MacBook with El Capitan and latest updates.
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