>
>
> Provides a graphical display of the CPU time being used by
> applications running under multifinder. It can be used to monitor
> system activity, to see what programs are CPU pigs, etc.
>
>
Evaluating The Display
In general, you should run PerfMeter in the background, though it
works fine either way.
Because MultiFinder does not have preemptive scheduling, applications
are free to consume as much CPU time as they want. So some
applications will be CPU pigs -- even when in the background they will
eat up most of the Mac's CPU time. However, when an application is in
front, it is quite reasonable for it to eat a substantial portion of
the Mac's CPU time -- it needs to set the cursor, provide user
feedback, process commands, etc.
Thus, when evaluating the MultiFinder friendliness of an application,
you should really examine its background behavior, not its foreground
behavior (except in extreme cases).
A friendly application should consume only a few percent of the CPU
time when it's not doing anything and its not in front.
If a background application is doing something worthwhile (for
instance, PerfMeter updates its display according to the frequency you
specify), then it may consume more time. However, a friendly
application should not use so much time as to make the application in
front get sluggish or unresponsive.
A good example of a program that works well in the background is
PerfMeter, a good example of a program that does a horrible job is
PrintMonitor (yes the background printing utility from Apple).
PrintMonitor sometimes makes you wait half a minute or so before you
can get the machine to respond.
