Troubleshooting IntelliJ IDEA Performance Issues: Configuration Tweaks and Code Adjustments
The article describes a Java developer's experience with severe IntelliJ IDEA slowdown, outlines several configuration changes, plugin management steps, JDK selection, and a multithreaded code fix that together resolve high CPU usage and improve IDE responsiveness.
The author, a Java developer, encountered extreme sluggishness in IntelliJ IDEA after running a multithreaded program; even after cracking the IDE license, CPU usage remained high, prompting a systematic investigation.
1. Modify IDEA configuration file – edit the file bin\idea.exe.vmoptions as shown in the screenshot. This reduced start‑up time slightly, but CPU usage stayed high.
2. Disable code inspections – navigate to Settings → Editor → Inspections and uncheck unnecessary inspections. This had little effect on the problem.
3. Uninstall unnecessary plugins – remove plugins that are not required for the current project. The author, being a beginner, found no useful plugins to uninstall, so this step was skipped.
4. Choose an appropriate JDK version – use the official JDK 1.8 instead of the bundled JDK. This did not solve the CPU issue either.
After these attempts, the author suspected a memory leak caused by the multithreaded code. The running program showed two Java™ Platform SE binary processes, one consuming over 80% CPU due to an infinite while(true) loop.
By adding a flag variable and setting flag = true when a ticket counter drops below zero, the infinite loop is broken, eliminating the CPU spike.
Post‑fix, the IDE resource usage returned to normal, as demonstrated by the final screenshot of CPU and memory statistics.
In conclusion, the issue was resolved by identifying the problematic multithreaded loop and applying a simple flag‑based termination, highlighting the importance of careful thread design and IDE configuration tuning.
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