Do you think your Mac PC is a bit slow or a program stops working? it may be because you owe free up RAM Mac and in this article we will show you what you can do about it.
Freeing up your Mac has the advantage that different steps can be applied to get more space on your computer.
How to free up RAM memory Mac?
There are millions of things that cause us any annoyance and that is to see that your Mac computer is slower than normal and it is an application that was working perfectly and let it do it from one moment to the next.
And even if you don't even realize it, it is most likely that in these situations the RAM memory is being used to the maximum and therefore slows down its performance. However, below we show you how it can be used and how to optimize and free up RAM Mac. If you still don't know how to do to include a RAM memory, you can find out everything you can know on the subject on the official pages of the Mac.
What is RAM memory?
But, do you have any knowledge about what RAM is? Well, before showing you the little tips, it is important to remember that we refer to the acronym "random-acess memory" which in Spanish is translated as random access memory.
To define it, RAM is the memory that is used to carry out the tasks and processes that are being carried out at the moment, this being faster than the other storage, the Mac device can reserve part of its memory and thus be able to accelerate some processes.
However, we can find that users, even if they perform very basic tasks, may encounter memory problems associated with a RAM that is probably frozen with a program or simply with web pages.
And if you are thinking of replacing or adding another RAM memory in a Mac, it is simply somewhat complicated, so it is probably not a quick and safe solution, however it is worth going to a specialist and doing this task.
One of the options you can do is download an application that gets internal developers to help optimize your memory RAM, however, below we will give you a set of specific tasks that will help you manage it efficiently.
Symptoms that you're running out of RAM
One of the best ways to see if you are running out of RAM, is when the spinning beach ball in the course, when your system has run out of application memory, when you feel that it takes a long time to load programs and applications, and when there are failures in each of them.
In this video you will see how without an installed application you can free up RAM of your Mac, here are the simplest and most practical methodologies.
How to release the memoria RAM from your Mac?
Before you can install it, you can choose to put more RAM, and you can also use an application from external developers, however, there are other steps that you can take to the letter that will help you free up space in your RAM and where you can solve all those problems that are related to all.
Restart the Mac
One of the easiest ways to free up space in your RAM memory is to restart your Mac since when restarting these will be erased because the RAM memory that is being used as well as the cache memory will be used from scratch.
You should know that the truth is not advisable so if in the event that your information has not been saved or if you have not closed the programs you used, just think about it a couple of times and analyze if it is the best you can do.
Update the PC's operating system
The solution to your RAM memory problems can be found in a system update, since if it is a problem that all users have, it is best to review and update the latest IOS update to improve the memory situation RAM.
Check the Activity Monitor
A Mac computer with a frozen application, the first thing you have to do is check the activity monitor, this is a tool that you can find in the "utilities" folder in "applications" in the Finder.
In the activity monitor, you will be able to verify how much memory is being used and thus be able to verify and identify if an application or program is slowing down the PC and consuming too much RAM. Likewise, you will be able to verify the processes that take place and the RAM they use.
In the Activity Monitor you will be able to see how much memory is being used and thus identify if a specific application is occupying too much RAM. You will also be able to see all the processes that are taking place and the RAM they use.
In the "Memory" section you can check the application memory, the physical memory and that reserved for applications, since it cannot be erased and the compressed memory that should not be used by other applications.
The number that accompanies the cache section, is the one that will indicate so that the available memory that is obviously not in use and the used swap space section indicates that the memory that MacOS occupies.
How to free memory using Activity Monitor?
These are the steps below that you should use to release the activity monitor:
- Open the "Activity Monitor" that you will find in the "utilities" folder within the "applications"
- Then select the "Memory" tab, by clicking on it you will have a column for the processes on the Mac and this will let you know which applications and processes are making the most use of RAM.
- Once you have located this app, select it and click on the information icon in the shape of a circle and with a 'i' in the middle. This will give you information on how much RAM that program is using.
- If you think it is necessary, you can close any process by selecting it first and clicking on the icon with an "x" in the center
In the case of a web page, it will update it and does not close the browser, on the other hand, if it is a program, closing it in the activity monitor will close the application itself so you can lose any unsaved changes. In the same way, you should not close any process that you do not know, since your Mac computer could not work correctly.
Close suspicious apps
Sometimes you may not realize it, but they are not running in the background, that is why you should be aware because sometimes they can slow down or even occupy a large part of your RAM memory.
How to close a program from the Dock?
To close a program that you have open, all you have to do is right-click on the icon that appears in the dock and select "exit" from the drop-down menu. In the case of a hung application, you must select "force exit".
How do I disable programs that run when I log in?
Continuously, some of these applications are those that work in the background, and in general they use up the resources of our RAM memory, which are programs that work automatically when we log in.
- Open "System Preferences", click on the "Users and Groups" section.
- Select the corresponding user and if it is not, take it.
- Select "Startup" and there you will see a list of all those applications that open automatically when you start your Mac.
- To eliminate those that do not interest you, they must select them from the list and click on the button.
Check CPU performance
You should also know that when your computer is slower than usual, often the applications that may be causing it are not necessarily running out of RAM. Sometimes these programs are using a lot of CPU power. To check if that is so or not, you can also take a look at the Activity Monitor.
- Open the Activity Monitor again, a tool that you will find in the «Utilities» folder within the «Applications» folder.
- Then select the "CPU" tab.
- Click on the "% CPU" column to sort all processes and applications according to their current CPU usage.
- You should also check if it has unusual use of the central processing unit, such as if an application or process is using too high a percentage of CPU.
- Once this suspicious application or process is located, select it and click the "x" icon to force its exit.
How to optimize and maximize the RAM memory of your Mac?
If, having tried all of the above, you still do not have too much RAM available, you will be interested in knowing what you should do to maximize what you have left. To optimize your Mac's RAM, we recommend that you follow these tips.
Do a cleaning of your desk
If your desktop is full of documents, images, screenshots and other types of files, it is worth cleaning up, or at least putting everything in one folder. The more icons you have on your desktop, the more RAM memory will be used.
Set up your Finder
If when you open your Finder you open the 'Recent' folder or the 'All my files' folder, we recommend that you change this setting since all the information about the location of the files saved there will be stored in your RAM.
To do this, go to Finder and click on the 'Preferences'from the top toolbar. In the new window, select the section 'General'and select another folder with fewer files from the drop-down menu.
Once you have made this change, you will have to restart Finder for it to be saved. To do so, you just have to left click on the finder icon in the Dock while pressing the 'keyAlt'and choose the option'Force restart'.
Close your web browser tabs
One of the reasons that your RAM is running low may be having many websites open. We also recommend removing extensions that you have installed in your browser, as this may also be causing it.
Close or merge Finder windows
Each Finder window that you have open has some impact on RAM, which means that closing them all can be a solution, as well as merging the various windows by clicking on the tab 'Window', followed by 'Merge all windows'.
Make sure you have free space on your hard drive
If you are running out of space in your RAM, you can use your Mac's disk as virtual memory. This is why, in these cases, it is advisable to have free space on the hard disk, at least 20%.
Check your printer
If you have recently been using the printer, you may have sent a document to print that is still in the print queue. Check if this is the case or not to rule it out as the culprit that your RAM is running low.
Use the sudo command in Terminal
Although this trick is not recommended if you are not an expert computer scientist, the truth is that a possible solution would be to open the Terminal tool and type 'sudo purge'. You will need to enter your password and wait for the idle memory to clear.
Clear the cache
Another possible solution is to clear the cache memory accumulated on your Mac or MacBook, although we do not recommend it if you do not know what you are doing. In any case, these are the steps to follow:
- Open Finder, click on the 'Ir'from the toolbar and select'Go to folder'from the drop-down menu.
- Enter the following command: '~ / Library / Caches /'.
- There you will find files that you may want to delete to clear the cache, but be careful not to delete a file that the system needs to function.
Use a program to clean your Mac's RAM
As mentioned previously, it is not necessary to install any program to manage a RAM memory since it is self-sufficient in itself, it develops with a good job, and of course if there are some applications that could help you, one of them is Parallesl Tololbox.
This program itself includes a set of tools that are included "free up memory" where you can also suggest "search for duplicates" that will allow you to delete files that you don't need and that of course take up a lot of space.
If you want how increase RAM Android In this article you have the possibility to learn how to solve without having to resort to a technician or specialist, where you can do it on your own and following the correct steps.