On Mar 9, 2008, at 11:09 AM, Chris wrote:
Quicksilver updated itself on my mac the other day, and ever since the
new version, it is taking up between 97-99.9% of CPU usage. This means
that the fan starts to run at full speed and my computer sounds like
it's about to take off! When I quit quicksilver, the fan slows down
and runs at a normal speed.
Any ideas? I couldn't find how to download an older version of the
program on your website - the link to previous versions of quicksilver
didn't work for me (running Firefox).
I am running a Macbook 2.2ghz, 2mb ram, leopard..
Any ideas much appreciated! Thanks.
Quicksilver uses lots of memory, cpu or hangs:
Quicksilver keeps the entire index in memory and scans the catalog
sources regularly. Usually when it uses too many resources it’s
because the catalog is configured too large. The default ~/Documents/
source is configured to a depth of 2, if you create a custom source of
infinite depth it will make the catalog large. Also if you configure
a source for your home directory (~) it will probably scan many
unnecessary files (~/Library, etc.). This is also why your music and
pictures aren’t in the global catalog and should be accessed via the
iTunes and iPhoto plug-ins which require you to type → to get into
your music files and photos.
Also if you have network drives configured to be scanned that can make
the catalog large or take a while. Note the Find All Applications
catalog source (in the Applications set) will scan your entire
machine, including network drives for applications. A comfortable size
for your catalog will vary based on the capabilities of your computer,
I try to keep my catalog below 5000 items.
Also, if you have the Clipboard Module plug-in installed and
configured in the Clipboard Preferences to Capture History you might
have large clippings in the history. This would cause Quicksilver to
use lots of memory and perhaps lots of CPU at startup. The clipboard
history is stored in the following file:
~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/Shelves/
QSPasteboardHistory.qsshelf
you can check it’s size. I have my clipboard history set to 100 and
the file is 512KB. To clear it you can use the clear button in the
Clipboard History panel or while Quicksilver is not running, delete
the above file.
If you open the drawer for catalog sources, in the Contents tab
you’ll find all the items found for that source. Clicking on the
headings in this tab will sort the list. Large catalog sources (500 or
more) will take a long time to sort and use lots of memory. If I
accidently sort my Documents with 2000 items I ultimately force quit
Quicksilver since it uses 60-80% CPU and several hundred MB of real
memory. Be careful as the sort order applies globally. If you sort a
small source it works fine, if you then (even accidently) click on a
large source it will eat up resources. A Quicksilver restart resets
the contents tab to be unsorted.
