What Is The 'WindowServer' Process on Mac

One important element of the macOS is the WindowServer process. It is responsible for mediating the connection between the CPU calculations and what is presented on the screen. In other words, the process is tasked with drawing graphical elements on Mac's screen, such as application windows, icons, websites, etc. The handling of such graphical elements is rather taxing - the screen needs to be redrawn every time the user moves a window, edits an image, switches to a different tab in the browser and many other instances. Still, the CPU cycles taken up by the WindowServer process should remain rather low. However, under rare circumstances, the process may start to take up a significant amount of resources. 

To check if that is the case, open the Activity Monitor found in the 'Utilities' subfolder under Applications. In the Activity Monitor window, click on the CPU column. Check the names of the process at the top of the column - they are the ones taking up most of your CPU's output. If WindowServer is among them and is consuming over 60% of the CPU cycles then it is malfunctioning definitely. 

Lowering the WindowServer CPU Usage

Try the method outlined below to lower the amount of resources needed by the WindowServer process quickly.

1. Close unnecessary windows

The number of open windows currently is proportionate to the resources needed by WindowServer if you are using an older Mac computer, especially. Consider closing any unnecessary browser tabs or currently open applications. You can do so via the Force-Quit menu available through the Option+Command+Escape keyboard combination. 

2. Turn off visual effects

Although having all visual effects may indeed make everything more appealing to look at, it can also result in increased resource load. You can opt to turn off all of the visual effects but try disabling transparency first and see if that improves the situation. 

• Go to the Apple menu and select 'System Preferences.'
• Click on 'Accessibility' and choose 'Display.' 
• Find the 'Reduce transparency' option and check its box. 

3. Use Mission Control to reduce the number of desktops

Removing any additional desktops also could reduce the resources needed by WindowServer. Start by pressing the F5 key on your keyboard to open Mission Control. Another method is to click on the Launchpad icon in the Dock and starting Mission Control from there. Now, hover your mouse pointer over any desktop that you are not currently using and click on the 'x' icon in the corner to close it.