Activity Monitor shows idle memory to be 80% or more

Hi. I'm using a 2009 model MacBook with 4GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor.
I've been having issues for quite a while now where even with just ONE program active, it will often lag, slow WAY down, or even flat out crash. Upon further inspection in the Activity Monitor, I discovered that the vast majority of the computer's memory -- at least 80% and up -- is marked as idle.
First: What does this mean?
Second: Is there any thing that can be done about the stated issues?
Thanks.

This Apple note will help with the definitions of each memory category: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342
See these FAQ to help with stated issues:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

Similar Messages

Activity Monitor shows virtual memory usage is way too high

35 Gb of virtual memory for Safari, Mail, iTunes, Activity Monitor and all running processes!
Why these numbers are so high compared to Tiger? Can someone please explain? Is it a bug or something or is it the new way introduced with Leopard?
RAM and CPU usage looks fine though but this VM usage seems too high to me. I will run out of disk space after a couple of days of runtime. And the Adobe Creative Suite is not even running. Jeez...
Message was edited by: flec65

Thanks for the hint Niel.
The /private/var/vm folder is actually only 64 Mb. I can calm myself now...
(via Go menu in the Finder, select Go to Folder and type /private/var/vm to access it)
But why is Activity Monitor behaving like this in Leopard?

My mac mini is running slow. Bought it in 2009. Activity monitor shows nothing running that should not be. Someone suggested it might be my operating system? Check for software updates, and I am current. Suggestions?

My mac mini is running slow. Bought it in 2009. Activity monitor shows nothing running that should not be. Someone suggested it might be my operating system? Check for software updates, and I am current. Suggestions?

Open Activity Monitor, Show:>All Processes, sort on CPU%, see if anything using too much CPU% when this happens, click on Memory tab, do you have many Pageouts?
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.
Check the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive in Disk Utilty by highlighting the Drive & looking at the bottom of the window.

How do I uninstall SyncMate Server, Activity Monitor shows it still there after appzapper uninstall of SyncMate app? Killing in AM proceeds with a SyncMate Server startup again??

How do I uninstall SyncMate Server, Activity Monitor shows it still there after appzapper uninstall of SyncMate app? Killing in AM proceeds with a SyncMate Server startup again??
Mavricks, MacbookPro, typical config of everything and standard business user, no heavy graphics, animation or media editing. MS Office, web apps, etc.
I have the same issue with Logmein, which I installed a trial, uninstalled with appzapper, which I thought does a good job of untangling the components of apps but for these 2 it doesn't. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thx,

Usually applications like these have their own uninstallers, either build into the installer ( ! ) itself or as a separate uninstaller app. Check the site of the software provider for instructions.
Here's the instructions for SyncMate: http://wiki.eltima.com/user-guides/syncmate-mac-os/uninstall.html
And LogMeIn: http://help.logmein.com/SelfServiceKnowledgeRenderer?type=FAQ&id=kA030000000DGF1 CAO&kw=

Why does Activity Monitor show traffic to my external drive?

Because one of my email accounts was hacked a couple of months ago (from my provider's end, I'm convinced), I have been monitoring network usage on my iMac using Activity Monitor. Yesterday, I noticed almost continuous use, altho "spiky". The spikes were very regular and high and just kept going on and on. I shut down all my apps (including mail, browser, etc.) except Photoshop. Spikes still there. Pulled out the Ethernet cord. Spikes still there. Shut down blue tooth, wi-fi - spikes still there. Overnight, I shut down my computer. This a.m. when I powered up, still spikes. I noticed Time Machine was running. Stopped it, and spikes stopped. I have my back up on a separate external hard drive. Why in the world would Activity Monitor show this as "network activity"? Is there any way I can use settings that would show only "real" network activity, from outside my wi-fi, blue-tooth, and external drives? Spiky right now (can't get screen shot to upload), but more irregular. Have browser, email,and others open. Time Machine not running.
Maybe there's some other app that would help me watch my network usage in the way I would like. Please recommend. Thx!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3045965

Activity monitor shows Logic CPU use @ 100% randomly

I'm running a light session (6 audio, 2 instruments) and after I initiate playback, the rainbow ball appears and the activity monitor shows high CPU activity. The problem seems to occur particularly if I click anywhere in the arrange window while playing. Any ideas?

unresolved, isolated condition

HT202060 How can I make Activity Monitor show one graph instead of four for MacBook Air?

How can I make Activity Monitor show one graph instead of four for MacBook Air?

Learn about OS X: Activity Monitor shows one CPU Usage graph on systems with more than four cores
Copied and pasted from top of the page.

Thunder bird is deleting my emails shortly after they arrive. The activity monitor shows they are deleted. I cant find a way to stiop it.

As stated, the emails disappear even as I watch. I have no filters set to delete and also I thought deleted emails went into the trash but they are not.

''christ1 [[#answer-724471|said]]''
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
The activity monitor shows they are deleted.
</blockquote>
What exactly does the Activity Monitor show?
Can you post a screenshot?
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
</blockquote>
''Gnospen [[#answer-724436|said]]''
<blockquote>
In tools/account-settings/server-settings do you move or delete deleted mail immediately?
In account-settings/ junk settings what you do there?
In ''global junk preference'' (button) or ''tools/option/security/ junk'' do you '''move''' or''' delete''' marked junk?
You might need to reset your training data for adaptive junk
</blockquote>
''Gnospen [[#answer-724436|said]]''
<blockquote>
In tools/account-settings/server-settings do you move or delete deleted mail immediately?
In account-settings/ junk settings what you do there?
In ''global junk preference'' (button) or ''tools/option/security/ junk'' do you '''move''' or''' delete''' marked junk?
You might need to reset your training data for adaptive junk
</blockquote>
In that setting I have not enabled the adaptive junk mail controls, the square is unticked. Similarly the global junk preferences.

IMac running very slow at times. Activity monitor showing hpdot4d using approx 500% cpu. How can I fix this?

IMAC running very slow. Activity monitor shows hpdot4d using about 500% cpu. How can I fix this?
Using mavericks OS X 10.9.5
Help!

Have restarted computer, process hpdot4d has disappeared. Have printed a page from HP printer but computer fine now.
Thanks.

Activity monitor shows wrong disc space

why does activity monitor shows wrong disc space after delating items still look as if they are there

See:
Where did my Disk Space go?
What are Local Snapshots?

My activity monitor shows 24 lines of cpus.

That would be nice, but I have only 12 cores. Has anyone else seen this?

I thought that was possible but appreciate the validation.
What originally caught my eye was that only every other line in the activity monitor showed any activity. So I ran the hardware diagnostics to see if there was anything amiss. No problems were found. So it looks like the hyperthreading is not being used, but all the cores do participate to some extent.
I was involved in the signal processor industry in the 80s when the use of multiple processors was really getting going. Our system was synchronous, but even so, required a lot of planning to use efficiently. My work is mainly finite element analysis, Monte Carlo simulation and image processing, all of which can be programmed in parallel, so I expect to benefit from it at some point. So far 20-35% that you note is pretty accurate.

Activity monitor shows data sent when playing songs

What's going on? Whenever I play a song on iTunesl, Activity Monitor shows data being sent, as if I'm streaming it. Am I?

Data sent is termed uploading. Data received is termed downloading. So no, you're not streaming it.
There are a lot of processes running on your Mac at the same time, many of which need to connect to the Internet to maintain a connection, check for data, etc. So it will send out a small amount of data, and receive some as well all the time. The amount of data transferred is usually very small, and you don't need to worry about it.

Why does my macbook pro keep showing me the force quit screen and states that there is not enough memory? The activity monitor shows that there is plenty of memory available.

The message displayed in the Force Quit Applications window says "Your Mac OS X startup disk has no more space available for application memory. The only applications that I have open are Safari and Finder and I am simply reading a discussion board.

It would appear that this error can be caused by an excessive system demand for swap space that exceeds the maximum allocation. Just try restarting the computer.
I found a possible solution for finding the cause of the error. Open Activity Monitor. Be sure you have the Real Memory column showing and the Processes dropdown menu set to All Processes. Select the Real Mem column and sort in descending order. Leave Activity Monitor open. The next time the error appears the application at the top of the column is the one causing the error.

Activity Monitor showing incorrect amount of virtual memory size

Hi,
I noticed that in Activity Monitor that the Virtual Memory size was incorrect.
Does any body else have the same issue?

Ignore that. The method it's calculated works as following:
1. You have the Finder and Safari open.
2. Both programs and no other ones use the content of a single block of data. This block takes up 2MB of RAM or swapfile space.
3. The block is counted as 4MB in the VM size entry because it's being used twice.
Expanding the scenario over many processes and blocks adds up to a VM size figure which is far larger than the actual amount in use or the combined total of RAM and swapfile space.
(48360)

Activity Monitor shows very little free space. Help?

I am wanting to do Photoshop Creative Suite 6 on my MacBook Pro and everything is running SO SLOW! I have opened the Activity Monitor to check things out. I am not a computer expert at all, so I have included some information below in hopes that this will help dissect the problem.
It seems to me that the following numbers are high and I am wondering if I can TRASH anything that is taking up too much space? What programs on my MacBook Pro are taking up SO MUCH space? When I open my computer, I only start running FireFox and Entourage. Should I get rid of other icons in my dock that are not running? By being on the dock, does this use RAM?
I had a lot of pictures on iphoto and I moved them all to an external hard drive.
I have emptied the iphoto trash and double-clicked the actual trash can to delete everything!
I don't have any third party software on my computer. I have heard that this can be bad, so I don't have any of that.
I did purchase Mac Cleaner (or something similar) several years ago, and it caused MAJOR problems on my computer. I had to start from scratch and set up everything again with the help of a great MAC products person on the phone. I want to TRASH anything that is taking up extra space (cashe) but I don't want to buy a third party "MAC Cleaning" product.
I have a Mid- 2009 MacBook Pro
Processor: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
Software: OSX 10.8.5
It also shows in the "About the Mac" that L2 Cache is 3 MB. This seems high for the cashe. Can this be cleaned up somehow?
I realize that the following numbers fluctuate, but gave the "ballpark" numbers as they are coming up now.
The GREEN portion of the "pie" is almost non-existent. The % User fluctuates between 5.00 and 8.00. The RED % System is at about 2.50. The Black % Idle fluctuates between 80.00 and 90.00.
The System Memory FREE (Green) is at about 104.0 MB. The ACTIVE is at 758.2 MB. The INACTIVE is at about 646.0 MB. USED: 1.90 GB.
VM Size: 200.40 GB
Page ins: 751.4 MB
Page outs: 209.7 MB
Swap Used: 1.17
Disk ACTIVITY
Reads in : 347394
Reads out: 161500
data read: 5.61 GB
Data Written: 6.95 GB
DISK USAGE
Space utilized: 65.41 GB
Space Free: 93.44 GB
NETWORK
Packets in: 48755
Packets out: 33185
Data Rec'd: 48.7 MB
Data Sent: 4.5 MB
Thank you to anyone who can help by calculating these numbers and letting me know how I should proceed. I greatly appreciate any help you can provide!

Since your computer is five years old there is no warranty to negate. If if there were, replacing the RAM in a MacBook Pro would not void the warrantly. If you update the RAM, keep the old RAM just in case.
The new RAM is a $100 investment. Compare that to a Retina MBP with 8 GB of RAM for $1,400 (128 GB SSD) or $1,500 (256 GB SSD). Your choice.
Take a look at the free tutorial at http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook on replacing RAM in your MBP to see if you think it is easy enough for you. I expect you will.
On a 2009 MacBook (not Pro) I recently upgraded the RAM to 8 GB and the disk to an SSD and it improved the boot time and application start times dramatically. Now it runs most things as fast as my MacBook Air. It even boots faster than my MBA. That was about a $200 investment. So I my expereince is it is worth updating older Macs.
Rather than installiing an expensive SSD, you can boost the speed of the disk dramatically to SSD-like speeds for about $110.
I am referring to the Seagate 1T Hybrid SSHD 2.5” drive selling for about $110 on Amazon. It includes an 8 GB SSD cache that really speeds up your I/O and with 1 TB of storage you should never run out of disk space.
It is fairly easy to replace the disk yourself, especially if you purchase the following inexpensive kits:
Toolkit: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/ (referenced above)
USB 2.0 disk enclosure: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5BPU2S/
Again, go to ifixit.com for a tutoral on replacing the disk.
Porting the data is easy:
Install the new drive in the external enclosure.
Boot the Recovery Partition (Boot then hold down Command and R simultaneously).
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
(If your system came with installation disks, boot from them.)
Use the Disk Utility Partition tab to format the drive Mac OS Extended (journaled) with a GUID partition.
Disk Utility > Partition > Partiton Layout: Singe Partition > Options… > GUID Partition Table > OK > Name: Macintosh HD2 > Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled) > Apply >
Erase tab > Name: Macintosh HD2 > Security Options… > single pass of zeroes > OK > Erase…
(Wait, this will take a long time.)
Clone the existing drive onto the new one:
Disk Utility > Restore > Source "Macintosh HD” or whatever the old system disk is named.
> Destination: “Macintosh HD2” or whatever you named it.
> Restore
(Wait. This well take some time.)
Physically swap the two drives using the tutorial above.
Boot normally.
Save the old disk as an archived backup until you are sure you don’t need it.
Be sure to backup your system before any software updates or hardware upgrades.

Activity Monitor shows idle memory to be 80% or more

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for