Why is Safari Using up All My RAM?

I've read, and posted various topics related to this issue, and have not yet seen any answers to this.
Some say "why is this a problem"? Well, this is a problem if all I'm basically running is Safari, Mail, & maybe iTunes, and the Activity Monitor shows:
Safari - using 662.30 MB of "Real RAM", & (really) 24.62GB of Virtual Memory (& it's gone as high as 135 GB) which is ABSURD!
Plus, even though I'm using 1.09GB of "Active memory", & 680.14MB is "Inactive", they are added, to show 1.96 GB of Used memory, leaving me a whole 35.86 MB of memory left!
Thus, I get big slowdowns, some programs won't even work, etc.... I empty the cache constantly, use flash only on the windows I'm choosing to activate flash for, thus it forces me to close Safari, or use Firefox if I need to use any other programs! This is very frustrating, and would love to hear if anyone has either a fix for this, or at least a rational explanation as to why Safari is using up nearly all of my available memory. (it would be nice if my iMac could hold more than 2GBs)...

HI,
If an application freezes or crashes, and you need to Force Quit, use the Activity Monitor.
Safari VM on my iMac runs about 146MB. Are you absolutely certain it says: 135GB and not MB?
Just emptying the Safari cache isn't the only maintenance available.
Troubleshoot third-party plug-ins
If you're using the latest versions of any third-party plug-ins yet Safari still unexpectedly quits, try disabling plug-ins:
Open Safari.
From the Safari menu, choose Preferences.
Click Security.
Deselect "Enable plug-ins".
Use Safari for a while until you are reasonably certain it is no longer unexpectly quitting
Go to:
/Library/InputManagers
~/Library/InputManagers
If there are any files in the Input Managers folders, move them to the Trash.
From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari/Reset Safari. Select the top 5 buttons and click Reset.
It's always possible there's an underlying issue.. perhpaps a problem with the Mac OS X itself.
Go here for help Maintaining Mac OS X
Mac OS X: How to force background maintenance tasks (logs and temporary items)
Carolyn

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Safari using up all the RAM

if I leave Safari open for an hour just regularly browsing sites, Safari and its other process Safari Web Content will use up all the available RAM on my computer. I have 4GB total, and eventually Safari will use up all the rest, usually 1-2GB. Any idea what's going on here? I have adblockers, such as Glimmerblocker, and extensions in Safari but they didn't affect Safari this much before 5.1/Lion.

Using Lion on 17" MacBook Pro -
I don't know about MDS - don't know what it is - but after seeing available HD space disappear gradually down to nothing when using computer - I tried all sorts of disk cleaning utilities - and have found that ---- AT THE LEAST --- gian swapfiles are engulfing the var/vm folder, taking up that HD space.
I read elsewhere that this is a Safari memory management problem.
Is it also MDS, whatever that is?
Is there a solution?
Sometimes restarting or doing shutdown and restart helps.
Sometimes the same HD space remains disappeared.
HELP!
David
[email protected]

Logic doesen't make use of all my ram cap capacity

Why doesn't use logic 9 all of my ram memory?
For example i have the abbey road drums and that is generally knwon that it needs very much memory. But when i play it the memory load is only 1.5 GB. But i have 8 GB memory. Why it doesen't make use of all the memory?
And how is it in your set up?
Thanks for reply.. regards..

Logic uses 1.5 GB because that is all it needs. RAM allocation in Logic is dynamic. It doesn't claim 8 GB when it only needs 1.5. Just create more tracks and load more AR drums, and no doubt you'll see the amount of RAM Logic uses, increase. Provided you are running it in 64 bit mode, of course. Otherwise (in 32 bit mode) it'll start whining ("my memory is getting low!") somewhere between 2 and 3 GB.

Why does Safari use so much memory?

Below is a screenshot of the "Safari Web Content" process using 2.57GB of ram! When I took a screenshot yesterday at 1.7GB I thought that was a lot!
It seems Safari will use as much ram as can be thrown at it. I had a lot of windows and tabs open, but really doubt I had more than a few hundred megs of content loaded in those windows and tabs, never mind 2.6GB!
My experience with Macs and OS X would pretty much be perfect if it weren't for Safari. It brings my system down to a slow grind because the virtual memory/swap is always thrashing so badly.
Apple goes on about the "magical" performance updates they make to Safari - well guess what? They mean nothing when Safari has all your ram tied up and the swap file is thrashing like crazy.

Glad it's better now, Doc. I'm still wondering if you empty your Safari cache regularly.
I use GlimmerBlocker, and love it. From what I've read here, it's less problematic than ABP, and it's built so it doesn't get out of date, with an OS/Safari upgrade. Just a thought for ya.

Itunes is using up all my RAM.

I have ripped my collection of dvds onto my computer. I also have videos from my video camera that I have put onto my computer. When i try to edit there info in itunes it takes a very long time. I have also noticed that I will open up itunes with 2 GB of ram and as soon as I edit the info my ram will drop down to 8 MB or lower. I then force quit itunes (before the files are even updated) and my ram will only go back up to 128 mb.
Does anyone have any idea what this can be?
I have been putting movies onto my computer for about 4 years now, and this is the first time this has aver happened.
I just downloaded the latest version on itunes last night. This problem was also on the previous version.

I am experiencing the same issue when ever I add a Genera iTune Pinwheels and starts using up all of my system memory. I took my computer to the apple store and they found that I had a bad Ram module. I will see if the issue persist after the new ram module come in. I hope it will fix the issue if not I will have to try uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. What software are you using to copy the DVD I wonder if it is the software we are using to get the DVD to the Mac.

Mavericks uses upp all my ram help ?

I have 8 GB of ram installed and mavericks seems to use it all up. The memory cache as per activity monitor seems to keep all the data in it until all RAM is used up and then makes free space. I know restarting my MacBook Pro would clear the memory, but I would like to know if there is an alternative? Can anyone please help. I know my RAM is good and my the hard drive I have installed is an SSD. So this problem is really crippling the potential of my system. Thanks in advance for your help ..

Maybe we need to see what you have on your system as there is nothing about the way Mavericks is handling your RAM. This is the way OS X's RAM allocation works now.
OS X Mavericks will use all of the available RAM and dole out that available RAM to other applications, as needed.
Maybe your issues are elsewhere.
It would help us to help you if we could have some more technical info about your iMac.
If you so choose, please download, install and run Etrecheck.
Etrecheck was developed as a simple Mac diagnostic tool by a regular Apple Support forum user and technical support contributor named Etresoft.
Etrecheck is a small, unobstrusive app that compiles a static snapshot of your entire Mac hardware system and installed software.
This is a free app that has been honestly created to provided help in diagnosing issues with Macs running the new OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
It is not malware and can be safely downloaded and installed onto your Mac.
http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck
Copy/paste and post its report here in another reply thread so that we have a complete profile of your Mac's hardware and installed software so we can all help continue trying to help and solve your Mac performance issues.

Safari 5 uses up all my RAM

Safari 5
G5 iMac 1.9GHz, 2.5GB RAM
Leopard 10.5.8
Safari loads using 287MB of RAM (on account of the number of open tabs). Gradually over the next hour or few, it increases to the point where it's used all my dynamic RAM, the machine starts doing swap outs and page outs and slows down really badly. I have to quit Safari and relaunch.
What's going on? I'm at the point where much as I like Safari, I'm going to abandon it for a slower, uglier, less greedy browser.

~Bee wrote:
To remove a plug-in:
Quit Safari.
Locate the plug-in. Plug-ins are usually installed in one of these folders:
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/(To find this folder, open the hard disk icon, and then open the Library folder.)
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/(This folder is in your home folder (represented by the tilde ~). To find it, open the hard disk icon, open your home folder, and then open the Library folder.)
I can't see Glims in either (my own folder is empty, and in the top level folder, the only two items can't I identify are npdivx.xpt andnsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt. The second of those is vaguely the right date as to when I might have installed Glims but I'm not certain of it.)
Remove any plug-ins you’ve added. You may need to enter the account name and password for an administrator account on your computer.
I would be very reluctant to remove all plug-ins - many of these are old, essential, and long predate this problem (Flip4Mac, RealPlayer, Flash, DivX etc). I'd be lost without them and they were never a problem before. Glims is the only one I'd want to uninstall if I could only identify it.
IMPORTANT:Removing a plug-in might prevent Safari from doing certain tasks, such as playing movies.
Quite!

Why is iTunes using 2gb of my ram?

I noticed that my computer was being really slow and sluggish, so I opened the activity monitor and I saw that iTunes was using 2gb of ram! I didn't have anything playing, downloading, etc. It was just open in the background. I'm running OSX 10.8.5.

I'm not sure why, though quitting iTunes and reopening it brings it back down to normal.

Why does Safari zoom in all by itself?

This never happened until I bought a new Mac mini, did a fresh OS 10.6 install and updated to 10.8 about a month ago. When I'm navigating Safari 6.2.4 all of a sudden the page zooms way in. The only way I can get it back to normal is to relaunch Safari. Is this one of those stupid things Apple has done to make using OSX better? Could this be related to all the pop-ups for Video Payer and JAVA updates that have started popping up?
Tracy

Testing with Smart zoom disabled is a way to make sure that zoom is not triggered accidentally.
Some extensions can cause Safari behave abnormally.
Safari > Preferences > Extensions.
If you have any installed, turn those off and test.

Command + Scrub using up all my RAM

Hi,
I am using after effects CC 2014.
I am creating a small animation and am trying to sync it with Audio so am using the Command + Scrub feature to playback audio and animated sequence.
It works fine, but as I scrub, my RAM is drastically eaten away at until it runs out of RAM, it takes about 10mins until it is all gone.
I have looked everywhere for an answer to this issue but can't find anything.
I have purged all memory and this gives back about 200MB, but After effects still enslaves 3.8GB of RAM.
Without Audio Scrubbing the RAM usage stays nice and low, somewhere After Effects is holding the Audio files hostage in the RAM I assume.
How can I purge this from my RAM, only option currently is to quit after effects and reopen every 10-15mins.
I am only using 8GB ram but it is a simple animation using Illustrator Files.
Thanks

Wait -- when you're scrubbing audio, you're just getting the timing down. Who needs images? Use a marker on a layer. Then remove the Caps Lock and animate to those markers. Done.
But truth be know, you have other issues going on that NOBODY can address in a helpful manner without additional information:
FAQ: What information should I provide when asking a question on this forum?

What's using up all my RAM?

Hey all,
I've got a MBP Late Mid-2011 with 8GB of RAM. In the Activity Monitor, it says I am using up nearly all of my 8GB - but on what? I cannot seem to figure this out, and it is seriously slowing my machine down like crazy. Any help would be greatly appreciated...screeshot below:

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Why Does Safari Use Excessive Memory with Gmail?

I am running Safari 7.0.1 along with Maverics (10.9.1) on a 2011 MacBook Air with 4 GB of memory. Just recently I have begun to notice excessive memory usage when using Gmail. I have iStat Menus as well as something called MemoryKeeper so I can monitor memory use in real time.
The table below shows numbers taken from Activity Monitor with each of the sites running in a single tab. The Safari Web Content is through the roof with Gmail compared to My Yahoo or indeed with any other single site. In Gmail it starts out above 500 MB and slowly comes down to the lower end indicated if I do nothing. If I open tabs with both My Yahoo and Gmail, I sink below 100 MB and if I have three tabs open I'm heading to zero. As far as I can tell, the excessive memory useage only occurs with Gmail.
Process
Yahoo
Gmail
Safari
156 MB
167 MB
Safari Web Content
96 MB
531-338 MB
Kernel Task
464 MB
464 MB
Free
662 MB
210 MB
Typically I will close Safari and start it again if I get much below 100 MB. I usually have to close Safari at the end of the day to refresh it for the next day. This has only become a problem within the last month or so, and I am at a loss to explain it. I thought it might be Mavericks related (though I have been running Mavericks since its release), but then the Safari I have on my 5 year old Mac Mini running Snow Leopard gives me similar results.
When I run Google Chrome I don't have any of these problems. Indeed, though it is not my preference, I am having to use it more and more for day to day activities or I have to stick with one tab if I am going back and forth between Gmail and other sites. I have not seen this problem reported elsewhere, so I have to believe there is something going on in my system. I have cleared the cache one time on both systems, but that doesn't seem to have made any difference. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
-Bill

I would not have even tried this app had I not heard about it on the Mac Rountable podcast (episode #222), where it received favorable comments from otherwise knowledgeable people. It also has a 4.5 star rating on the Mac App Store with 706 5-Star ratings out of 1,049. If you add up the 5-Star and 4-Star ratings you get close to 1,000 favorable rates right there. I have to wonder if people really know what's going on. Since the most obvious detrimental effects for me were centered around using Safari with Gmail on Mavericks, others must not be using that lethal combination. As I mentioned, using Google Chrome does not seem to have any obvious deliterious effects.
Well, there's going to be one more 1-Star rating reflecting my experience.
-Bill

Help! Why is kernel_task using up all my memory?

Does anyone know what I can do to reduce this "kernel_task activity?

Does anyone know what I can do to reduce this "kernel_task activity?

Why should I use 64 bit?

Only think I can think of is the use of all my RAM, have 4 GB!
Is there any applications created for the 64-bit platform?
If only using, Firefox & Pidgin is there any idea to switch to 64-bit?

I think the better question is, why not?
That is, if you need Flash, some funny video codecs like wmv3(9?), or no driver for 64-bit, then you probably don't want to go 64-bit.
Otherwise, you should just go 64-bit... in that case you either don't need flash, or you know how to get 32-bit browser working in a 64-bit OS to get flash... and that all the 64-bit codecs are all you need, and you have all necessary drivers for your hardware.

Program stealing all my ram

I have a little problem with a program called ocspd.
It runs all the time with no problem, but sometimes it begin using up all my ram. This resolves in my iBook to run really, really slow.
Does anybody know what this program does, or how I make it stop??

hi Baruch,
ocsp is an Online Certificate Status Protocol utility, and i bet ocspd is the daemon for that... http://www.hmug.org/man/1/ocsp.php
i bet it's used in web browsers to authenticate to sites that use this certificate protocol...
now, as to why it's using a ton of RAM... that's strange.
- does it still happen after a reboot?
- are your browsers up to date? what browser do you use?
cheers

Why is Safari Using up All My RAM?

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