Check your Mac CPU. Follow the spike.

CPU load changes as apps perform work. Opening a large project, exporting video or compiling code can produce a legitimate burst. Note what you asked the Mac to do before treating a high reading as a fault. A small live graph can help you see whether the load drops again after the operation finishes.

Open System in NotchPop to see the current percentage and recent graph. It is a system-wide summary, not a list of individual processes. A display of overall activity cannot by itself identify the app to close or establish that the computer needs replacing.

1. Observe the graph while the known task runs, then after it finishes.
2. If high load remains unexplained, open Activity Monitor using the System tool's shortcut or macOS.
3. Inspect the CPU view and identify the active process.
4. Save work and use the app's ordinary controls before considering a forced process exit.

Activity Monitor is the built-in tool for process-level investigation. Keep the symptoms and timing together: a process consuming CPU while completing your command means something different from the same process staying busy without an obvious task. Avoid force-quitting an unfamiliar system process from a percentage alone.

If the Mac feels slow but CPU is modest, look at memory usage and the actual application's progress. A stalled download can involve the network, while a long operation may simply be waiting on a server. One resource reading is not a complete diagnosis.

For repeated builds, note the project, command and approximate elapsed time alongside the graph. The stopwatch guide provides a deliberate timing workflow. Compare similar conditions and preserve useful work before testing changes; the System tool observes load rather than automatically optimizing or repairing the Mac.