macbook pro M4 barely usable (extreme lag, bird, file provided).

Consider downloading and running this little "discovery" utility, Etrecheck. It changes NOTHING. Etrecheck was developed by a senior contributor here, and uses mostly system calls and simple tests to collect often-needed information.

it contains little tests for speeds of devices, CPU utilization, memory usage, energy usage and a digest of recent problems, in one easy to use package. it does not even need to be Installed. Because less can be learned when your Mac is running great, best time to run is when your problems are actually occurring, if possible.

if you follow the directions faithfully, its report (pre-laundered of all personally-identifiable information) can be "Shared" to the System ClipBoard, then Pasted into an ‘Additional Text’ window in a reply on the forums.

Use Etrecheck Pro for free:

http://Etrecheck.com

The amount of data you get can be daunting. If you POST your report, some Readers here are willing to look over those reports, and can provide valuable insights.

Then start a reply on the forums, click the "additional text" icon, and PASTE

Serious software developers buy a [revokable] Apple Developer Certificate and use it to "sign" their software. software that is not signed, and/or that bypasses gatekeeper, is a security risk. it should be removed.

Fichiers sans signature:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.***.s26menu.plist

Commande: ~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/venv/bin/python3 '~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/S26MenuApp.py'

Détails: Gatekeeper contourné

Agents launchd de l’utilisateur:

[En marche] com.***.s26menu.plist (Pas signé - installé 2025-10-04)

Commande: ~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/venv/bin/python3 '~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/S26MenuApp.py'

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Serious software developers buy a [revokable] Apple Developer Certificate and use it to "sign" their software. software that is not signed, and/or that bypasses gatekeeper, is a security risk. it should be removed.

Fichiers sans signature:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.***.s26menu.plist

Commande: ~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/venv/bin/python3 '~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/S26MenuApp.py'

Détails: Gatekeeper contourné

Agents launchd de l’utilisateur:

[En marche] com.***.s26menu.plist (Pas signé - installé 2025-10-04)

Commande: ~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/venv/bin/python3 '~/Documents/Chord engine monitoring/S26MenuApp.py'

Those are Python scripts, and those cannot be signed. The installer or DMG can be signed.

Python scripts in Documents? Definitely not located in the expected directory, though.

I cannot locate any app using that “Chord engine monitoring” name. Closest I can find for s26menu is a takeaway service and it’s not a match, or one of various chord progression apps for the “Chord engine”.

And yes, bypassing Gatekeeper can mean all sorts of trouble.

<< I think I'll try to move to a local documents folder instead of Icloud. >>

Based on the amount of resources used, and the number of crashes because of icloud access, that seems like a very good idea.

the other large consumer of resources is google Chrome.

Chrome is particularly resource-intensive because it installs Google which renders your Mac a full time information-harvesting and -uploading "bot" for Google's purposes. Those processes can't be turned off or disabled, even if you quit the Chrome browser. Even without knowing what else is installed on that Mac it is all but assured a multitude of Google's automatically updating virus-like processes are causing your Mac to work overtime.

Get rid of it. No one needs Chrome. Follow these removal instructions.

—senior contributor John Galt

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95319?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop#zippy=%2Cmac

https://chromeisbad.com/

Does the problem persist with no externally-connected hardware?

If the problem does persist with no external hardware connected, you’ll be removing apps until you find the culprit, or mask the culprit. Given the reported symptoms, anti-piracy apps, and human interface related apps would be my first targets for removal (SteerMouse, AltTab, Open in Helium, BTT, etc), and AI tools tend to generate exhaust given immense resources.

But I’d likely offload my code and documents here, wipe this Mac, install the tools immediately needed, and get on with development. This as reversing back out of a problematic configuration usually takes a while.

And again, check with the Cursor vendor for assistance with that app.

BIRD -- [BSD] Internet Routing Daemon — is the process running iCloud Drive

if you have a lot of stuff stored on iCloud, after an update, traffic can be substantial until all is indexed. Once all is indexed, it should quiet down.

With 100% of your processor core being used by SourceKitService, that is a process for use of Developer Tools (ex. Cursor). The slowdown you are seeing is due to the CPU use. Data written on a low priority thread, such as iCloud indexing, would not have the effect of grinding your UI to a halt. Not familiar with the MIDIRNA app and what it is doing, that process is from a third party with the #2 spot on CPU use.

You can follow up with posting the free EtreCheck report to see if there are other issues going on, but if there is no problem without Cursor, it may be an issue that the developer needs to resolve with an update.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

Etrecheck was unable to find whether you have enabled Time machine.If you do not have a recent local, disk-based backup, your computer is like a ticking Time bomb. You are only one disk failure, one mainboard failure, one crazy software, or one "oops" away from losing EVERYTHING! Drives do not last forever. It is not a question of IF it will fail, only WHEN it will fail. In addition, you never know when crazy software or Pilot Error throws away far more than you intended.

If you are using another direct-to-disk backup method that you prefer, and you currently have a recent disk-based backup, that is great. If not, you should consider using Built-in Time Machine. Take steps to acquire an external drive as soon as possible. If you buy one, a drive 2 to 3 times or larger than your boot drive is preferable for long term trouble-free operation. Do not pay extra for a drive that is fast.  (You can get by for a while with a "found" smaller drive if necessary, but it will eventually become annoying).

Attach your external drive and use

Settings > General > Time machine ...

... to turn on Time Machine and specify what drive to store your Backups on.  It may ask to initialize the new drive, and that is as expected. APFS format is default format if running MacOS 11 Big Sur or later.

Time machine works quietly and automatically in the background, without interrupting your regular work, and only saves the incremental changes (after the first full backup). Time machine backs up your machine — including every connected drive that is in a Mac compatible format. it can not back up Windows format drives.

Time Machine's "claim to fame" is that it is the backup that gets done. It does not ruin performance of the rest of the computer while doing its backup operations. You do not have to set aside a "Special Time" when you only do backups. When you need it, your Time machine Backup is much more likely to be there and be current.

How to use Time Machine to Backup or Restore your Mac:

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

For assistance with issues and performance problems arising from your chosen “spicy autocompletion” tool Cursor app, please contact the app vendor: https://forum.cursor.com/

this is the third-party item that is crashing more often than anything else:

  2025-11-09 13:22:23 de.rme-audio.dkusb Plantage (34 fois)

    Première occurrence: 2025-11-09 13:09:06

Éléments Ouverture:

[Pas engagée] AppCleaner SmartDelete (Julien Ramseier - installé 2025-07-13)

Élément d’ouverture moderne

/Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner SmartDelete.app