Q: Why is mavericks listed memory usage exceeding the total for all processes used?
Hello,
My macbook pro (OS X 10.9.5) has been running very slow, often taking a half a minute to load icons in finder, or open a new finder window etc., with the rainbow wheel appearing whenever I attempt very basic tasks. I have followed several of the tips provided on the apple support community (apart from installing more RAM) but have been unable to solve this issue. (It seems that 4GB of RAM should be sufficient for executing basic tasks and running 3 or 4 standard programs simultaneously, and indeed, it used to be.)
I am wondering if the following observation provides any clues; when I open a few programs at once (e.g. currently I have Safari with 4 tabs, two modestly sized MS excel files 200-1000 KB each), Activity Monitor and 6 Finder windows) I appear to already be reaching close to my maximum RAM according to the "Memory used" in the Activity Monitor. Currently it says I am using 3.97 GB out of Physical Memory 4.00 GB (Virtual Memory reads 5.23 GB and app memory reads 2.31 GB). I am not sure if the memory being used by individual processes should add up to the total Memory Used listed at the bottom, but in my case it does not. I copied the list in an excel file and calculated the total memory used to be only 2.26 GB.
Does this indicate something is wrong with the memory management on my system, and could this explain the extreme sluggishness of my system?
In case it is also relevant, the top memory users are
Safari Web Content 599.4
kernel_task 513.3
Safari Web Content 193.5
Safari Web Content 103.1
com.apple.IconServicesAgent 88.3
WindowServer 78.2
Finder 72.8
Microsoft Excel 65.9
Dropbox 59.5
Safari 51.3
Flash Player (Safari Internet plug-in) 43.1
Safari Networking 33.1
mds 26.9
mds_stores 25.3
softwareupdated 25
I have also posted some basic system information below.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
System Version: OS X 10.9.5 (13F1096)
Kernel Version: Darwin 13.4.0
Boot Volume: Macintosh HD
Boot Mode: Normal
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 4GB RAM
Posted on Aug 9, 2015 3:03 PM