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App Tamer Changelog

What's new in App Tamer 2.8.3

Feb 23, 2024
  • Corrected issues with process control not working correctly during and after system sleep.
  • You can now create a sample report (like in Apple's Activity Monitor) using the contextual menu in App Tamer's process list.
  • vdhcoapp, the helper app for the Video DownloadHelper browser extension, is treated as a distinct application so CPU limits can be set for it separately from the web browser that hosts it.
  • Fixed the appearance of buttons in the process lists on older versions of macOS.
  • Changed several status messages so they are more informative.
  • Added support for Chromium web apps.

New in App Tamer 2.8.2 (Oct 30, 2023)

  • Fixed a bug that could cause slowed processes to run slowly even in the foreground after the system wakes from sleep.
  • On Apple Silicon Macs, performance and efficiency core usage can now be shown in the menu bar even when overall CPU usage is not displayed.
  • When App Tamer is forced to quit or crashes, it will now restore any process priority and performance / efficiency core settings that it changed for running processes.
  • Corrected a problem when reinstalling App Tamer's helper app that could cause the alert to flicker and make it difficult to enter your admin password.
  • When entering license information, a bug could cause Little Snitch to silently block App Tamer's attempts to valid a license. This has been fixed.

New in App Tamer 2.8.1 (Sep 7, 2023)

  • Fixed audio detection when sound is being played to HDMI and DisplayPort devices. The "Don't stop or slow when sound is playing" setting will now work correctly with them.
  • Changed App Tamer's process throttling so it automatically deactivates if App Tamer crashes or is forced to quit.
  • Added helpful tooltips to the popover where you change process settings.

New in App Tamer 2.8 (Aug 18, 2023)

  • A new setting wakes an app when sound is playing, preventing sound from skipping and stuttering as a result of the app being slowed down. The "Don't stop or slow when sound is playing" setting is available in the popover that appears when you click on an app in App Tamer's process list. Web browsers, video chat apps and music players have the setting enabled by default. When an app is running at full speed because the setting is enabled and sound is playing, a speaker icon will appear next to the app in the process list.
  • App Tamer now puts up a warning if you try to slow down an essential system service.
  • Error handling has been corrected so App Tamer doesn't repeatedly try to reinstall its helper app.
  • Warning alerts will not pop up and automatically dismiss App Tamer's settings popovers.
  • There's no longer a delay in re-sorting the process list after CPU values are updated.
  • Fixed bugs in the drawing of user interface elements on Sonoma.

New in App Tamer 2.7.7 (Jun 20, 2023)

  • There's now a button in App Tamer > Settings > Control to reset all app CPU limits back to their default settings.
  • App Tamer recognizes Windows applications running in Parallels' Coherence Mode and won't slow down Parallels while they're frontmost.
  • Animation of the menu bar icon can be turned off using the Terminal command 'defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer showStatusItemAnimation 0'.
  • Updated default settings to run the following on Apple Silicon efficiency cores when in the background: Spotlight, TimeMachine, Arq, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent App Tamer from reinstalling its helper application even after prompting you to approve that reinstallation.
  • The "Include essential system processes" and "Show all" buttons now display correctly on macOS Catalina and Mojave.

New in App Tamer 2.7.6 (Jan 19, 2023)

  • The process list can now be sorted by name, CPU or average CPU by clicking on its column headers.
  • The user interface has been modified to make it clear that "Include essential system processes" and "Show all" are buttons.
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in App Tamer not recognizing power adapter plugging and unplugging on newer MacBook models.
  • App Tamer's helper application is listed explicitly in Ventura's Login Items list, rather than being shown as a "St. Clair Software" item.
  • Additional settings for an app will continue to show after holding down the Option key and clicking on the app in the process list, even if you release the Option key afterwards.
  • Changed the default settings so browsers are throttled to 10% CPU usage instead of 2%. This will reduce the stuttering of audio and video when browsers are playing media in the background.
  • Added a way to display specific subprocesses in App Tamer's process list rather than managing them as part of their parent process.
  • Resolved issues with App Tamer's window mistakenly becoming a floating window without being dragged away from the menu bar.
  • Corrected a bug that could make it impossible to enter the amount of time to disable App Tamer after clicking on the on / off switch.
  • Eliminated a hiccup in the animation of App Tamer's window when it appears from the menu bar.
  • Added a fix to ensure that App Tamer is not hidden when it's launched at login time.
  • App Tamer now prevents launchd and launchservicesd from being slowed down.

New in App Tamer 2.7.5 (Aug 7, 2022)

  • Corrected problems so that VoiceOver works correctly with App Tamer's menu bar icon in Ventura.
  • Fixed VoiceOver and Spoken Content support for the On / Off switch in App Tamer's main window.
  • The title in App Tamer's Preferences / Settings window could be incorrect when first displayed. This has been fixed.
  • Updated security settings so that Setapp's automatic updates work on Ventura.

New in App Tamer 2.7.4 (Jul 28, 2022)

  • Fixed several compatibility issues with macOS 13 Ventura.
  • Updated the user interface to use terminology consistent with Ventura where appropriate.
  • Added checks and prompts to get approval to run App Tamer's helper application at login when running on Ventura.
  • Corrected an error in enabling the "Also slow this app when it's in front" checkbox.

New in App Tamer 2.7.3 (Jul 5, 2022)

  • Corrected App Tamer's calculation of the CPU used by kernel_task so it's always correct on macOS Catalina and higher.
  • Reverted the layout and spacing of App Tamer's icon and statistics in the menu bar to add more space on systems older than Big Sur.

New in App Tamer 2.7.2 (May 11, 2022)

  • Fixed the layout and spacing of App Tamer's icon and statistics in the menu bar to conform better to both Monterey and the custom spacing options offered by Bartender.
  • Corrected an issue that could prevent App Tamer's helper application from being properly installed in certain situations.

New in App Tamer 2.7.1 (Mar 31, 2022)

  • Subprocesses launched by Steam (such as Blender) are shown as separate apps instead of being included as part of Steam's CPU usage.
  • Holding down the Option key while selecting an app will show an extra "Also slow this app when it's in front" checkbox. That checkbox is now enabled correctly in all situations.
  • On versions of macOS prior to 10.15, the On / Off switch in App Tamer's window is colored using the system highlight color.
  • App Tamer's online help is localized in French as well as English.
  • Fixed a memory leak in the drawing of App Tamer's menu bar icon.
  • Corrected user interface issues that occurred when App Tamer was configured to show its icon in the Dock.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer's window appearing in the wrong location on Macs with multiple displays.
  • Resolved a compatibility issue with Bartender 4.

New in App Tamer 2.7 (Mar 2, 2022)

  • You can now configure processes to be run on M1 efficiency cores when they're in the background.
  • CPU usage display and history graphs show separate values for P and E cores on M1 powered Macs.
  • App Tamer's menu bar icon can display separate performance and efficiency core usage alongside total CPU.
  • You can no longer stop processes that are critical to the operation of macOS, but you can still slow them down.
  • Data caching is coordinated with the update frequency of App Tamer's CPU usage display, making it more efficient.
  • Corrected a problem with switching between apps using the Dock when an app is stopped and the Dock is set to hide itself.
  • Fixed spacing and size issues in the process listing of App Tamer's main window.
  • Various parts of App Tamer's user interface have been updated.

New in App Tamer 2.6.5 (Jan 21, 2022)

  • Enhanced App Tamer's "Force Quit" command to ensure that a process is killed even if it doesn't respond to a termination signal.
  • App Tamer's CPU percentage readout in the menu bar was too large and slightly misaligned in Monterey. This has been fixed.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer putting up a "this app is using too much CPU" warning for a helper or sub-process of an application instead of the app itself.
  • Added an option to apply App Tamer's "hide when idle" feature to all running applications. This is currently available using these commands in Terminal.
  • defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer hideWhenIdle 1
  • defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer minutesUntilHide 5
  • If you turn this on, you can then use App Tamer's existing application-by-application "hide when idle" feature to override the settings for specific apps that you want to behave differently.
  • You can override the size of the text in App Tamer's menu bar icon by using this command in Terminal: defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer statusItemFontSize 13

New in App Tamer 2.6.4 (Jul 16, 2021)

  • Eliminated a bug that could cause App Tamer to use more CPU than necessary when managing web browsers and Spotlight.
  • Corrected a problem that could result in processes not being controlled correctly immediately after the machine wakes from sleep.
  • Fast-user-switching is now handled correctly after the Mac sleeps and wakes and when App Tamer has been temporarily disabled.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer reenabling itself sooner than it should after it's been turned off.
  • VoiceOver now works correctly in the alert announcing installation or updating of App Tamer's helper app.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause App Tamer to hang or crash in certain situations.

New in App Tamer 2.6.3 (Jun 18, 2021)

  • Corrected an issue that could cause App Tamer to use excessive CPU, while also adding optimizations to further reduce CPU usage.
  • Thread priorities have been set so that some tasks in App Tamer's helper application can be run on the low-power CPU cores on Apple Silicon-powered Macs.
  • Additional system processes have been marked "essential" and cannot be stopped with App Tamer. They are trustd, secinitd, lsd, keyboardservicesd, corestoraged and apfsd.
  • The maximum CPU limit for an app is now determined by the number of CPU cores in your Mac, not fixed at 800%.
  • Fixed a problem that could leave applications running at a slower speed after quitting App Tamer.
  • Corrected an issue that could prevent App Tamer from slowing down Amazon Photos.
  • Added a warning about slowing down coreaudiod.

New in App Tamer 2.6.2 (Apr 6, 2021)

  • The default window size for App Tamer's window has been restored so it's the correct size at first launch.
  • Resize cursors will correctly appear when you hover over the edges of App Tamer's window, showing that it can be resized.
  • A bug was fixed that could result in App Tamer’s process list showing truncated names for apps and processes, or no names at all.
  • App Tamer now shows the Spotlight Engine process in the Highest CPU Processes list, rather than hiding it as an "essential system process".
  • There's a new, experimental feature that can be used to kill specific processes if they periodically “run away” (they suddenly start using crazy amounts of CPU time). See https://www.stclairsoft.com/blog/2021/04/06/app-tamer-2-6-2-quick-ui-fixes-and-an-experimental-assassin-for-runaway-processes/ for details.

New in App Tamer 2.6.1 (Mar 4, 2021)

  • Correctly tracks applications launched by a sh or tcsh shell script.
  • Fixed problems with the Origin game launcher not appearing in the process list.
  • If you resize App Tamer's window to be smaller, it will now correctly remember the size.
  • Setapp applications can no longer be completely stopped, as that may prevent them from working correctly.

New in App Tamer 2.6 (Nov 2, 2020)

  • Compatible with macOS 11.0 Big Sur.
  • Built as a Universal App to run natively on Apple Silicon.
  • macOS 10.9 or later is now required for App Tamer to run.
  • Putting a CPU limit on Spotlight Indexer could sometimes slow Spotlight searches. This has been fixed.
  • App Tamer's application icon and preference tabs have been updated to match the aesthetics of Big Sur.
  • When App Tamer is set to hide or quit an application after a period of idle time, notifications are only posted when that is done successfully. This eliminates repeated notifications from App Tamer in cases where an app refuses to hide or quit when it's told to.
  • Eliminated a memory leak.

New in App Tamer 2.5.2 (Jul 15, 2020)

  • Compatible with the beta release of macOS 11.0 Big Sur.
  • High-CPU-usage warnings will not be displayed when Do Not Disturb is turned on in Notification Center.
  • When you click on a system process, the settings popup will show a small "Info" icon if the system provides a description of what that process does. Click on the Info icon to get more insight into what processes like iconservicesagent, WindowServer, launchservicesd, etc do on your system.
  • App Tamer will no longer allow you to stop BetterTouchTool, and displays a warning if you try to it slow down because that's a bad idea.
  • App Tamer's process list now just toggles between showing "highest CPU processes" and "all running processes", rather than providing three different views. The button that switches between these modes is now titled "Include / exclude essential system processes" to make the contents of the lists clearer.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the main window to display incorrectly when set to Dark Mode in App Tamer's preferences.

New in App Tamer 2.5.1 (May 18, 2020)

  • There is now a "manage" AppleScript command so you can change settings for an app using AppleScript.
  • App Tamer won't put up "using too much CPU" notifications for processes that it's already managing.
  • When App Tamer shows a notification about an app using too much CPU, clicking on the "Let it continue" button will silence warnings for the next 10 minutes. This length of time can be controlled from Terminal using "defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer notificationMuteTime XXX" where XXX is the number of seconds to silence notifications.
  • Processes that are hidden by App Tamer's "Hide when idle" setting will no longer be automatically un-hidden if they were throttled or stopped and are returned to normal CPU usage.
  • App Tamer's window pops down from its menu bar icon correctly in full-screen mode even when App Tamer's icon is set to show in the Dock.
  • Setting the statistics update interval to "never" will no longer disable App Tamer's tracking of application idle time for the "Quit when idle" and "Hide when idle" features.
  • App Tamer will now correctly slow and stop web browsers that are being run with their ownership set to a different user.
  • Fixed problems with Command-Q being enabled even when App Tamer wasn't showing its icon in the Dock.
  • Processes that are run via 'sudo' or 'su' from the Terminal are now shown correctly in the process list.

New in App Tamer 2.5 (Feb 26, 2020)

  • By default, App Tamer will now slow down Microsoft Edge when Edge is running in the background.
  • Added support for Coherence and other apps that create site-specific browsers based on Google Chrome.
  • A warning is shown when you slow down Spotlight, as this may adversely affect applications that depend upon Spotlight.
  • App Tamer's performance has been greatly improved when apps like Epichrome or shell scripts make frequent, repeated calls to the sleep, kill, and lsof shell commands.
  • If App Tamer is configured to run in the background (not showing its icon in the Dock), it will ignore Command-Q when its window is open so you don't accidentally quit it.
  • Google Chrome apps are now handled correctly. If a Chrome app is configured not to slow down, Chrome will be kept running at full speed so that it can serve as the "engine" for the app without compromising the app's performance.

New in App Tamer 2.4.9 (Dec 11, 2019)

  • App Tamer's high-CPU-usage alerts will no longer prevent you from typing in the frontmost app when they pop up.
  • High-CPU alerts will appear next to the menu bar even if App Tamer's icon is hidden by Bartender.
  • The appearance preferences now show more clearly that App Tamer will adapt to the current appearance (Light or Dark Mode) when running in Mojave and Catalina.
  • There is now an option to automatically download and install updates as they become available.

New in App Tamer 2.4.8 (Sep 30, 2019)

  • Added support for Google Chrome Apps.
  • Added support for the new Apple Music app in Catalina.
  • App Tamer's "Managed Processes" display now shows processes whose priority has been changed, in addition to those that are set to be stopped or slowed in the background. Note that you can change a process' priority by holding down the Option key when clicking on it in App Tamer's process list.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer not starting up correctly if you Fast-User-Switch to a different account and then restart your Mac.
  • Corrected a problem in which certain system processes would not be correctly slowed down after waking from sleep.
  • A bug has been fixed that could leave App Tamer's process control disabled after the Mac wakes from sleep.

New in App Tamer 2.4.7 (Aug 6, 2019)

  • Fixed a bug that could cause App Tamer to use excessive amounts of CPU when iTunes or Spotify was streaming music and App Tamer was set to hide or quit them after inactivity.
  • When App Tamer is turned off, the time when it will resume is shown at the bottom of its window.

New in App Tamer 2.4.6 (Jun 24, 2019)

  • The developer release of macOS 10.15 Catalina is now supported.
  • App Tamer wasn't correctly reporting all Spotlight Indexer activity as a single task. This has been fixed.
  • A new preference allows you to specify how long App Tamer waits after starting up or waking from sleep before it enforces CPU limits.

New in App Tamer 2.4.5 (May 21, 2019)

  • The menu bar icon's appearance has been improved in Dark Mode.
  • Fixed a bug that caused App Tamer to show some processes as being managed even when they weren't.
  • If you tear off App Tamer's window from the menu bar, the window title bar now shows App Tamer's name in it.
  • When checking for updates, alerts could sometimes appear behind other windows. This has been fixed.
  • App Tamer exits more gracefully if it crashes or can't communicate with its helper app.
  • App Tamer is now notarized by Apple.

New in App Tamer 2.4.4 (Mar 24, 2019)

  • Corrected a problem that could cause App Tamer to use more CPU and energy than it should.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause App Tamer to quit randomly.

New in App Tamer 2.4.3 (Mar 6, 2019)

  • App Tamer can now be configured to let all processes run at full speed when the keyboard and mouse are idle (ie. you're away from your Mac).
  • Fixed a bug that could cause App Tamer to quit if it was launched when the computer was under extremely high load.
  • Corrected a problem that could prevent App Tamer from waking apps when you clicked on them in the Dock.
  • Enhanced App Tamer's 'wake' AppleScript command so you can wake up all applications.
  • Fixed several crashes.

New in App Tamer 2.4.2 (Jan 3, 2019)

  • Added an option to keep App Tamer's window floating above other windows when it's torn from the menu bar.
  • Worked around a bug in Mojave that prevented App Tamer from waking background apps when you used a scroll wheel or gesture to scroll their windows without bringing them to the front.
  • Improved keyboard traversal of the process lists in App Tamer's window, enabling type-to-select and selection using the arrow keys.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer not keeping Safari awake while it was downloading a file.
  • Corrected some UI glitches that occurred when the process list updated while you were using it.

New in App Tamer 2.4.1 (Sep 24, 2018)

  • App Tamer now fully supports Mojave, including Dark Mode.

New in App Tamer 2.4 Build 8684 (Jul 18, 2018)

  • You can turn off the CPU usage graph in App Tamer’s window.
  • App Tamer can now be set to hide an application after a certain amount of idle time.
  • Scroll wheel use is recognized as activity in an application even if the app is in the background.
  • App Tamer now handles the macOS Gatekeeper Path Randomization security feature correctly if the app is run directly from its downloaded disk image.
  • A bug has been fixed that caused App Tamer to fail to throttle or unthrottle a process for up to 5 minutes after the battery charge state changed if the “Do not slow or stop apps if power is plugged in” option was turned on.
  • For software developers: App Tamer will no longer manage apps that are being debugged with Xcode.
  • The VoiceOver process can no longer be stopped.
  • Some user interface glitches have been corrected.

New in App Tamer 2.3.5 Build 8441 (Mar 2, 2018)

  • Resolved a problem with App Tamer progressively using more and more RAM when run for long periods of time.
  • App Tamer's total run time, amount of CPU saved and the number of apps it has automatically quit are now shown in the Stats tab of its preferences.
  • Localized application names are shown in the process list when they are available.
  • The sorting of the Managed Processes list will no longer get confused when the mouse is over the list when it refreshes.
  • Corrected problems with the menu button in the lower right corner of App Tamer's window becoming unresponsive under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a bug that caused App Tamer to crash on macOS 10.8 and 10.9.
  • Improved VoiceOver support.

New in App Tamer 2.3.4 Build 8322 (Jan 10, 2018)

  • App Tamer can now be set to quit applications after they've been idle in the background for a certain amount of time. Note that if the application pops up alerts about unsaved changes, etc, those alerts will still pop up. App Tamer doesn't auto-OK them or otherwise intervene.
  • There were situations in which App Tamer's management of CPU usage could fail for apps that have multiple sub-processes, like web browsers and Spotlight. This issue has been fixed, so managed apps should stick more closely to the CPU usage you've set for them.
  • When you turn on Time Machine Acceleration, App Tamer checks to see if Time Machine is also configured to be slowed to a particular CPU limit and will put up an alert to let you know that these settings are at cross purposes.
  • App Tamer's own CPU usage has been reduced.

New in App Tamer 2.3.3 Build 8218 (Oct 13, 2017)

  • Added the ability to change a process' priority. While this generally doesn't make much of a performance difference, it can help when multiple processes are competing for disk or network access. Hold down the Option key while clicking on a process in the process list to access the priority slider.
  • There's now a checkbox to speed up Time Machine backups in the Options tab of the preferences. It uses this method: http://osxdaily.com/2016/04/17/speed-up-time-machine-by-removing-low-process-priority-throttling/
  • App Tamer will no longer alert you to processes using too much CPU when its process management is turned off.
  • You can no longer limit the CPU usage of WindowServer or hidd because that can cause Bad Things.
  • Processes using an average of more than 5% CPU are shown in bold.
  • App Tamer's icon in the menu bar uses slightly less space.

New in App Tamer 2.3.2 Build 8071 (Apr 5, 2017)

  • App Tamer's window is now resizable.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in App Tamer not correctly slowing a process even when it showed that it was managing it.
  • Worked around a macOS issue that could result in App Tamer warning about an application's CPU usage even after being told not to.
  • App Tamer's default settings have been changed: Preview and OmniOutliner will no longer be managed by default, Safari will be slowed to 2% CPU usage rather than being stopped in the background, and iTunes will be slowed to 10% rather than stopped.

New in App Tamer 2.3.1 Build 8007 (Mar 1, 2017)

  • Corrects several issues and improves Spotify support:
  • If Spotify is playing music in the background, App Tamer will no longer stop or slow it down.
  • Corrected a logic error that prevented App Tamer from correctly slowing apps that have lots of helper processes (such as Spotlight and Google Chrome).
  • When Chrome and Spotlight are slowed by App Tamer, their CPU usage is now more steady.
  • Fixed several small memory leaks.

New in App Tamer 2.3 Build 7971 (Feb 8, 2017)

  • New "Detection" feature that alerts you when an application or background process starts consuming excessive CPU time.
  • Updated user interface that's consistent with the look of El Capitan and Sierra.
  • App Tamer will no longer stop iTunes when iTunes is ripping a CD.
  • When it launches, App Tamer now automatically quits any other copies that are running.
  • All Spotlight indexing processes (and their aggregate CPU usage) are now displayed as a single task.
  • Fixed a bug where App Tamer considered the frontmost app "in the background" when you clicked on App Tamer's icon in the menubar.
  • Eliminated a crash that could occur when macOS supplies incomplete process information to App Tamer.
  • App Tamer will never stop VoiceOver.
  • Fixed VoiceOver support in the Quick Start windows.
  • App Tamer now requires macOS 10.8 or higher.

New in App Tamer 2.2 Build 7179 (Aug 31, 2016)

  • Compatible with macOS 10.12 Sierra.
  • Improved App Tamer's efficiency when managing lots of processes.
  • Made App Tamer much more intelligent about stopping and starting helper processes such as Safari Web Content, Safari Networking, Google Chrome Helper, etc.
  • Made contextual menus (when clicking on processes in App Tamer) behave consistently.
  • Fixed problems with text not fitting correctly when running on French systems.

New in App Tamer 2.2 Build 7170 Beta 3 (Aug 28, 2016)

  • Further improved efficiency on El Capitan and Sierra.
  • Fixed a launch-time bug that caused crashes on macOS 10.9.
  • ade contextual menus (when clicking on processes in App Tamer) behave consistently.

New in App Tamer 2.2 Build 7147 Beta 2 (Aug 2, 2016)

  • Corrected a build problem that prevented App Tamer from launching on macOS 10.10 and earlier.

New in App Tamer 2.2 Build 7143 Beta 1 (Jul 20, 2016)

  • Resolved a problem with App Tamer hanging at launch time on the beta release of macOS 10.12 Sierra.
  • Made App Tamer much more intelligent about stopping and starting helper processes such as Safari Web Content, Safari Networking, Google Chrome Helper, etc.
  • Improved App Tamer's efficiency when managing lots of processes.
  • Fixed problems with text not fitting correctly when running on French systems.

New in App Tamer 2.1 Build 6924 (Oct 8, 2015)

  • Compatible with El Capitan.
  • Refined the logic that detects when App Tamer is having trouble monitoring Chrome's download activity.
  • The AppleScript command for turning autostop on and off now returns the old setting as its result.
  • Updated support for NetNewsWire, the App Store app, Go for Facebook, Leaf, Reeder and Fluid browsers.
  • Improved "Show in Finder" so that it works with system daemons and other non-application processes.

New in App Tamer 2.0.5 Build 6844 (Mar 25, 2015)

  • If your Mac has more than four processor cores, you'll now get a dialog offering to change the cpu history graph to a logarithmic scale. This mode shows much more detail when cpu usage is a lower percentage of total capacity (which is very common because you're rarely using all cpu cores on 8 and 16 core Macs).
  • Fixed problems with 64-bit Safari plugins not being stopped and started correctly.
  • App Tamer now shows more helpful error messages when it can't connect to the internet to validate your license number.
  • When installing its helper application, App Tamer will try to fix permission errors for you when it encounters them.
  • When App Tamer reenables itself after being turned off for a period of time, it now displays a notification in Notification Center on Mac OS 10.8+ .
  • Corrected a bug that would mistakenly hide both stopped and slowed apps when the "Hide applications when they are stopped" setting was turned on in your preferences. Now App Tamer doesn't hide apps that have just been slowed down.
  • Improved the appearance of the CPU history graph.

New in App Tamer 2.0.4 Build 6656 (Oct 8, 2014)

  • App Tamer has been updated to fully support Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite.

New in App Tamer 2.0.3 Build 6527 (Jun 13, 2014)

  • When a process is limited to a certain amount of CPU usage, that limit is now displayed next to the process’ name in App Tamer's window.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause App Tamer to incorrectly limit the CPU usage of an application in certain situations.
  • Fixed a problem where App Tamer could cause applications to hang when restarting or shutting down your Mac.
  • Fixed a rare bug that could cause App Tamer to crash when some OS X services return an error.

New in App Tamer 2.0.2 Build 6400 (Mar 28, 2014)

  • Fixed a problem with App Tamer sometimes failing to slow down a process even when you’ve specified a CPU limit for it.
  • Added a small highlighted corner in the status indicators to show whether a running application has been configured to slow down or stop.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause App Tamer to crash when it started up under certain conditions.

New in App Tamer 2.0.1 Build 6189 (Feb 24, 2014)

  • Corrected a bug that caused App Tamer to fail to turn itself back on after being turned off.
  • Improved App Tamer’s efficiency dramatically when dealing with applications that have many subprocesses (like Safari, Chrome and Terminal).
  • App Tamer no longer gets stuck if you enter an invalid value for the %CPU limit in an application’s settings.
  • When the parent process of an application quits, the application is made visible in App Tamer’s process list and has a settings panel that will let you slow and stop it. This affects Arq and VLCStreamer, as well as other applications
  • You can now enter a value of zero for the amount of time to turn App Tamer off if you want it to stay off indefinitely.
  • Corrected a problem with App Tamer repeatedly printing warnings in the console log if the Dock is relaunched.
  • Fixed a situation where App Tamer would crash when a process launched additional copies of itself.

New in App Tamer 2.0 Build 6039 (Jan 22, 2014)

  • AutoLimit:
  • Put a limit on the amount of CPU an app can use while it's in the background.
  • You can limit Mail, for example, to use no more than 10% cpu. It will still download your new messages, but won't tax your computer while you're doing something else.
  • This lets you manage many more applications than you could with App Tamer 1.x, because it works with virtually any app, even those that need to run in the background.
  • New User Interface:
  • You can now get everything straight from the menubar. Click on App Tamer's icon to see CPU usage, what App Tamer is doing and to change settings for your applications.
  • Hover over an app to see it on the graph. Click on it to change its settings.
  • The colored squares show you what App Tamer is doing.
  • Use the utility menu (the gear icon in the lower right corner) to change preferences, get help, buy App Tamer or quit it.
  • Improvements Throughout:
  • The engine that manages your applications has been streamlined, enhanced and refined since version 1.x to make saving CPU and battery even faster and easier.

New in App Tamer 1.3.2 Build 3385 (Jan 14, 2013)

  • Added Retina display support.
  • App Tamer now wakes up applications for scroll wheel and gesture scrolling even when they're in the background.
  • Applications wake up when the display configuration changes so they can switch window configurations if necessary.
  • Errors were fixed that caused warning messages in the Console under some circumstances.
  • Fixed bugs in handling the consequences of high CPU load.

New in App Tamer 1.3.1 Build 3285 (Jun 22, 2012)

  • The "AutoStop only when on battery" setting is now more logical, and has been renamed "Don't AutoStop when plugged in and battery is above %".
  • Added the ability to detect downloads in uTorrent 1.7.4 when its "Append !ut extension to incomplete files" setting is turned on.
  • App Tamer's modal dialogs no longer lock out its AutoStop stop/start handling.

New in App Tamer 1.3 Build 3168 (May 30, 2012)

  • You can now set up App Tamer to only use AutoStop when your battery charge is below a certain percentage. Doing this will minimize battery drain when you are not plugged in, speed recharge time when you are plugged in, and will otherwise keep AutoStop turned off.
  • App Tamer now offers several AppleScript commands that let you to turn AutoStop on and off in your AppleScripts, as well as wake a stopped application.
  • A problem has been fixed that could cause helper applications for your web browser to get stuck, sometimes freezing the browser.
  • On some machines, disabling AutoStop for a specified number of minutes didn't work - it would always turn back on after 5 minutes. This has been fixed.

New in App Tamer 1.2.1 Build 3133 (Apr 4, 2012)

  • App Tamer could fail to get all information about some applications (such as their icons or process identifiers) while OS X was very busy. This could result in AutoStop not working with those applications until you quit and relaunched App Tamer.
  • The menu bar menu did not work correctly under Mac OS 10.5. This has been fixed.

New in App Tamer 1.2 Build 3101 (Mar 27, 2012)

  • App Tamer's menu bar icon now displays CPU usage in a number of ways. The needle on the icon moves to reflect processor load, the icon can be colorized so it turns yellow and then red as usage increases, and you can also display the CPU usage numerically next to the icon.
  • Problems have been fixed so that App Tamer correctly sees all processes launching and quitting. In version 1.1.2, it would occasionally lose track of an application or show an application twice.
  • If App Tamer's icon is not in the Dock, double-clicking on App Tamer when it's already running will open its window.

New in App Tamer 1.1.2 Build 2826 (Jan 3, 2012)

  • App Tamer's CPU requirements have been reduced substantially, especially in situations where applications launch and quit often.
  • Added status info to let you know why AutoStop is disabled when you've got the "AutoStop only when running on battery" preference turned on and your computer is not running on battery.
  • App Tamer now stops additional helper applications for Safari and Firefox when the browsers are stopped (Safari Webpage Preview Fetcher, com.apple.Safari.SyncClient, com.apple.PubSubAgent, org.mozilla.plugincontainer and org.mozilla.updater).
  • Added support for custom web browsers created by Fluid.app.

New in App Tamer 1.1.1 Build 2753 (Oct 26, 2011)

  • Corrected performance problems caused by processes that relaunch very frequently (often without your knowledge). This change keeps App Tamer from using too much CPU time on affected Macs.
  • Fixed compatibility with Alien Skin Photoshop plugins.

New in App Tamer 1.1 Build 2692 (Aug 23, 2011)

  • Significantly reduced the amount of CPU required by App Tamer, especially when the "Details" drawer is closed.
  • The "Details" drawer now reminds you to close it if you leave it open for more than 2 minutes.
  • Corrected a high-cpu usage condition when the system wakes from sleep.
  • Eliminated some stability issues in Mac OS 10.7 "Lion."
  • Fix a bug that could leave some processes running but with their windows dimmed like they're stopped.
  • Some background processes, like Arq and DockIt, are now shown in the menubar menu even if they are not using CPU.

New in App Tamer 1.0.9 Build 2543 (Jul 13, 2011)

  • Gaming mode now stops Time Machine backups and Spotlight indexing as well as background applications.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when waking from sleep when running under Lion.
  • Eliminated Console error messages when running under Lion.
  • App Tamer now dims/undims windows correctly when "autostop only when on battery" is turned on and you unplug or plug in the power adapter.
  • Screensaver plugins that use WebKit no longer freeze when Safari is AutoStopped.
  • Reeder no longer freezes when Safari is AutoStopped.

New in App Tamer 1.0.8 Build 2541 (Jul 12, 2011)

  • Gaming mode now stops Time Machine backups and Spotlight indexing as well as background applications.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when waking from sleep when running under Lion.
  • Eliminated Console error messages when running under Lion.
  • App Tamer now dims/undims windows correctly when "autostop only when on battery" is turned on and you unplug or plug in the power adapter.
  • Screensaver plugins that use WebKit no longer freeze when Safari is AutoStopped.
  • Reeder no longer freezes when Safari is AutoStopped.

New in App Tamer 1.0.7 Build 2373 (Apr 7, 2011)

  • Corrected a bug which would cause App Tamer to repeatedly pause for several seconds on some machines.

New in App Tamer 1.0.6 Build 2370 (Apr 6, 2011)

  • App Tamer's download monitoring has been updated so it will not stop Firefox 4 or newer versions of Google Chrome while you are downloading files.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in applications not being restarted when they were brought to the front.
  • Found and fixed two problems that could cause App Tamer to consume more CPU time than it should.
  • Corrected a problem that could cause Parallels Desktop 5 to stay AutoStopped when it shouldn't.
  • Modified App Tamer's priority slider to be more understandable.
  • Identified the source of isolated installation problems. Some users have incorrect permissions set on the /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools folder. These need to be fixed before App Tamer can install its helper application or there is a risk of leaving a security hole. Contact [email protected] for assistance if you encounter this problem.

New in App Tamer 1.0.5 Build 2292 (Mar 14, 2011)

  • Right-clicking on a stopped application reveals a contextual menu that allows you to turn AutoStop off and quit, force quit, or relaunch the application.
  • This version works around an issue that caused Parallels Desktop to freeze your keyboard and mouse for a few seconds when it was autostopped.
  • App Tamer now works with the developer seed of Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion."

New in App Tamer 1.0.4 Build 2206 (Feb 4, 2011)

  • Corrected a problem that could cause the CPU history graphs to stop updating when the CPU is heavily loaded.
  • Fixed an error in the license engine that could make some licenses fail to validate.

New in App Tamer 1.0.3 Build 2186 (Jan 26, 2011)

  • You can now choose to hide an application when it is AutoStopped.
  • A new setting lets you change the amount of time that App Tamer gives newly-launched applications before it enables AutoStop.
  • The main window has more space for the list of stopped applications. The list now also includes the %CPU saved for each app and is sorted by the amount saved.
  • CPU savings in the menubar menu and in the list of stopped apps are now calculated as a percentage of all available CPU's, not as a percentage of 1 processor. This is different from the %CPU listed in the Details drawer, which is shown as a percentage of one CPU so that the numbers are consistent with Activity Monitor. This means that if you stop an app that's reported as using 100% CPU by Activity Monitor or App Tamer's Details list, it will only show as a savings of 50% on a dual core Mac, 25% on a quad core Mac, etc.
  • Holding down the Option key while choosing "Disable AutoStop" from the menubar menu now turns it off indefinitely, rather than prompting you for the number of minutes to turn AutoStop off.
  • Fixed the "Disable AutoStop…" command so that it consistently reenables at the correct time. In version 1.0.2, if you disabled AutoStop for a specified period, reenabled it again manually, and then disabled it again, the delay-before-reenabling didn't work correctly.
  • App Tamer will no longer stop Safari if it's downloading files of type mov, mp4, flv, divx, wmv, mms, or rm. This fixes a problem with CosmoPod.
  • Some pages in NetNewsWire's browser would not display correctly if Safari was also running and was AutoStopped. This has been fixed.
  • App Tamer is now more tolerant of very slow machines so it doesn't keep asking to reinstall its helper application.
  • The license window is smarter so that it won't try and re-authorize an already-licensed copy of App Tamer.
  • There is no longer a long lag in AutoStopping applications when the CPU statistics update time is set to 10 or 15 seconds.
  • Fixed a bug in handling Fast User Switching that could leave App Tamer running in an account that you'd switched away from.
  • Corrected the helper application settings for Dreamweaver so BBEdit will continue to run when using Dreamweaver.
  • Fixed a bug in the French version - "Disable AutoStop..." did not bring up the delay prompt as it should have.
  • Fixed an incorrect status message that would be shown after waking from sleep if AutoStop was turned off.
  • Added an expert option to turn off the drawer animation. Use this command in Terminal: defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer noAnimation 1
  • Added BBEdit as a helper application for Xcode. This is necessary because if BBEdit is running, Xcode checks in with it before doing a build to see if any project files have been changed by BBEdit.
  • Developer Feature:
  • Developers can now declare helper applications in the info.plist file of their applications. App Tamer will stop and start helper apps along with the application.

New in App Tamer 1.0.2 Build 1880 (Nov 10, 2010)

  • Feature changes and enhancements:
  • App Tamer is now more efficient so it it consumes less CPU power itself.
  • The status menu in the menubar now shows CPU usage and savings.
  • Choosing 'Disable AutoStop' from the menubar menu will ask how long to disable it. AutoStop will be automatically reenabled after that time has elapsed.
  • App Tamer now automatically determines if an application is a 'helper' for a game or other application, and will keep it awake or put it to sleep along with its parent application.
  • App Tamer will no longer stop iTunes if it is playing music or a movie.
  • Status alerts have been added to make the Details drawer more understandable.
  • You can relaunch applications from the Application Manager's contextual menus.
  • When switching between accounts using Fast User Switching, App Tamer will automatically disable itself when you switch away from the account in which it's running and will turn itself back on when you return.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Problems detecting downloads have been fixed. App Tamer will not stop browsers when they are downloading files.
  • OS X's spindump utility is now turned off when App Tamer starts up. This corrects performance problems and stuttering that some users have reported.
  • App Tamer no longer automatically opens its window when you bring it to the front.
  • If App Tamer is set as a login item with the 'hide' checkbox turned on, it will now be properly hidden after login.
  • Under Mac OS 10.5, kernel_task will no longer include all idle cpu time - its %CPU value is now reported correctly.
  • Problems with incorrect window dimming and undimming have been fixed.
  • When dimming the Finder's windows, the Desktop will no longer dim along with its windows.
  • Corrected a problem which caused windows to brighten and then dim again while apps were stopped in the background.
  • When App Tamer isn't frontmost, the on/off switch is disabled so clicking to bring App Tamer to the front doesn't accidentally change the setting.
  • The 'awake' period is now longer after the computer wakes from sleep (10 seconds instead of 5).
  • App Tamer now knows details about Parallels Desktop so that its background processes are properly stopped and started along with it.
  • Added application-specific warnings for Default Folder X.
  • Geek Features:
  • There is now a manual preference option to hide applications when they're AutoStopped. To turn it on, quit App Tamer and then use this command in Terminal: defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer hideWhenStopped 1. To turn the feature back off, use: defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer hideWhenStopped 0
  • When window dimming is turned on, the brightness of the dimmed windows can be modified with a defaults setting. Run this command in Terminal (the default value is 65% - lower percentages are darker, higher percentages are brighter): defaults write com.stclairsoft.AppTamer dimPercentage 65.

New in App Tamer 1.0.1 Build 1346 (Sep 23, 2010)

  • If you clicked in the Dock and then immediately quit App Tamer, it would leave some applications' windows grayed out (though the apps were actually running). This has been fixed.
  • AutoStop will not stop an application until it has been running for more than 30 seconds. This prevents most applications from getting stopped before they finish launching.
  • If App Tamer can't communicate with its helper application, it complains and tries to relaunch it. This would sometimes happen erroneously if your machine was running very slowly. App Tamer has been modified to account for this situation.
  • If you are running both Flash Player and Flash (when debugging Flash projects, for example), App Tamer will keep both of them running if either one is in front, even if you have AutoStop turned on for Flash.
  • App Tamer no longer warns you about a conflict with Witch because the new release of Witch fixes the problem. See http://manytricks.com/witch/ for more information.
  • App Tamer is now more efficient so it uses less CPU time itself.