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?

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Activity Monitor - Java Virtual Memory Use is 16,333.00 TB. How is this possible?

Activity Monitor: Virtual Memory column -
Java Real Memory @ 330 MB
Java Virtual Memory was 16,333 TB.
How could this be?
Running:
Safari
Mail
Pages
Activity Monitor open
Safari was incredibly slow today, as it has been a lot lately, but inconsistently. The other computers in the house had normal speed. I'm not a tech person. I attached a copy of the activity monitor - how it looks right now. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you.
bottom half

As Kappy says, the virtual memory information is mostly meaningless except to developers, and most of them do not really care.
In this case the Java VM usage is most likely a math error on the part of either the operating system, or Activity Monitor (when a 64-bit number goes negative, but is then displayed as an unsigned value, it can look like what you are seeing; ignore it).
What you ARE interested in is "Real Memory" usage, and who is using it. Look at those numbers in Activity Monitor.
If you want to see if pageout activity is affecting your performance, then start Applicaitons -> Utilities -> Terminal and run the command "sar -g 60 100" which will report pageout numbers once a minute for 100 minutes (adjust the numbers to suit your tastes). Mostly zero means no pages outs. Occassional spikes generally occur when starting an app or switching to an app which has been idle for awhile. Sustained pageouts starts to indicate a problem. High sustained pageouts means you could benefit from either having more RAM or running fewer concurrent applications.

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?
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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

Activity Monitor shows wrong disk usage

On my new MacBook Air (with Lion), Activity Monitor states I'm using 123 GB of the available 264 GB -- which is impossible, as it is still a "shadow" of my MacBook Pro, which only is using 107 GB of its 128 GB. Also, WhatSize on my Air is showing only 40 GB used... why would Activity Monitor be so wildly off -- or is there something else (possibly Lion-related) going on?

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

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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?
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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??

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Just a friendly reminder, this is a forum where users help other users.
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Activity Monitor shows virtual memory usage is way too high

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