Same effect here. I can force quit the Helper EH process and my CPU and the fans get a break, but after a while (something like an hour or so), the process is back and eats somewhere around a constant 50-60% CPU.
Not familiar with Macs, but if you can suspend the process rather than kill it, that my keep it from returning. You can identify the process by trial and error, that's all.
Webnerd wrote:
How can I prevent the system from starting Spotify Helper EH?
I did this:
sudo chmod 000 "/Applications/Spotify.app/Contents/Frameworks/Spotify Helper EH.app"
sudo chmod -N "/Applications/Spotify.app/Contents/Frameworks/Spoti
fy Helper EH.app"
...i.e. I blocked myself from accessing the Helper EH app. As Spotify runs as me, it no longer has access to these files and thus can't start the process.
Based on the resource usage, I suspected that Helper EH was a renderer for Flash ads or something along those lines. And indeed Spotify works fine without it - it just pops up an empty banner area. Also some components no longer work e.g. Browse & Discover. I don't particularly miss them, you might.
This change may need reapplying when Spotify updates (depends how their updates work).
@Spotify: Sorry if I'm blocking your ads, but they are unnecessarily bad for battery life. You changed something in the last months and now the app eats CPU and keeps activating the Nvidia GPU, although I can't see any demanding graphics that would require it. Other comparable apps use far fewer resources. Flash in browsers can be (surprisingly) CPU intensive too, but at least they usually manage with the Intel GPU.
I have Spotify 1.0.23.90.g42187855 on my Mac (OSX 10.9.5). I just see 2 Spotify processes on Activity Monitor: Spotify and Spotify Helper (no EH) Spotify Helper is the one taking up 100% CPU.
From the previous messages in the thread, it seems the Helper's job is to update all the info you see while browsing (even if you are currently displaying the current playlist).
I found that deactivating the friend feed will lower the helper´s load below 5% and closing the window (with the red button, not minimizing it with the yellow) sends it below 1%.
That took care of ti, but since I sometimes like to be able to see what song I'm playing, I added the Mini Player app, free from the Apple App Store.
Hope this helps!