What can I do to diagnose hangups and slowdowns that may or may not be KM related?

Questions & Suggestions
1

I'm starting to have some issues with slowdowns and beach balls, most notably when I open Messages. Is there a tool I can use to capture these moments and try to figure out what's wrong (probably by sending some info to one of y'all wonderful people? :innocent:)

As an aside, my keyboard backlight is also not working recently which is kind of odd. Still trying to track that one down :thinking::sweat_smile:

2

I would start with the Activity Monitor, and sort by %CPU descending whenever you are having slowdowns/beach balls. The problem app/process is likely at or near the top of the list.

I'm not having any performance issues, so all of my CPUs are low, but this screenshot should give you an example:

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It is very strange to me that Messages would cause the issue. When I open it, there is a very brief (<< 1 sec) spike of about 20%, but then it quickly reduces to < 0.5%.

If Activity Monitor doesn't give you any good clues, then I would:

  1. Reboot and do not start/launch any apps
  2. Launch Activity Monitor
  3. Launch only Messages
  4. One-by-one launch your other apps that are usually running with Messages, and observe the %CPU in Activity Monitor

Try that and let us know how it goes.

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3

It is rare that Keyboard Maestro could cause any such behaviour.

But it is easy to rule Keyboard Maestro’s involvement in or out by quitting the Keyboard Maestro engine (select Quit Engine from the Keyboard Maestro File menu, or select Quit Keyboard Maestro Engine from he bottom of the Keyboard Maestro status menu. Then also quit the Keyboard Maestro editor. Since Keyboard Maestro does not “install” anything, once they are quit it is no longer affecting your system. See if the problem is resolved or not.

If it is resolved, relaunch Keyboard Maestro and see if it returns.

If it returns, check the Engine and Editor logs (Help ➤ Open Logs Folder) and see if Keyboard Maestro is triggering any macros or reporting any other issues.

4

Ah, I think this is what I was trying to remember. I'd started with disabling macros relating to messages with no success, but I was reticent to run without KM long enough to see the issues again. Damn you for changing the way I use a computer, @peternlewis :joy:

@JMichaelTX That's about the same spike I see too, into the low thirties but only briefly.

I'll report back if I find anything interesting. Thanks guys!

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