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is this a Virus? (computer low on memory)

HI,

I get this box pop up every time i load my mac now. I'm not running low on memory and have all apps closed. I'm running Yosemite OS.


It feels likes its a virus to me, but it didn't disappear after i scanned my mac.

Anyone have any ideas?


Many Thanks,

Stu


MacBook Air 13", OS X 10.10

Posted on Jan 1, 2020 11:49 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 2, 2020 12:48 AM

sygboe Said:

"is this a Virus? (computer low on memory):[...] I get this box pop up every time i load my mac now. I'm not running low on memory and have all apps closed. I'm running Yosemite OS. It feels likes its a virus to me, but it didn't disappear after i scanned my mac[...]?"

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View the Activity Monitor:

To see what is using most of the RAM view it using the Activity Monitor, Close whatever it is. Perhaps, it is a scan that is always going on in the background. Go Here: View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac. Yosemite is old school, and obsolete. So, upgrade to High Sierra, if upgrading past that is not an option for you.


Rid of the Security Software:

Moreover: Rid your Mac of that A/V and Security Software. It's unneeded on a Mac, as it just gets in the way. This is a pure example of it getting in the way. I see no icon on that message window referring to an app. You are getting that message most likely because of the software installed that is used for managing your Mac.


Use an Uninstaller for the Software:

Removing Security Software from your Applications folder will not rid of it all, as much of it will remain in your system cache. So, contact the developer and request the uninstaller.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 2, 2020 12:48 AM in response to sygboe

sygboe Said:

"is this a Virus? (computer low on memory):[...] I get this box pop up every time i load my mac now. I'm not running low on memory and have all apps closed. I'm running Yosemite OS. It feels likes its a virus to me, but it didn't disappear after i scanned my mac[...]?"

-------


View the Activity Monitor:

To see what is using most of the RAM view it using the Activity Monitor, Close whatever it is. Perhaps, it is a scan that is always going on in the background. Go Here: View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac. Yosemite is old school, and obsolete. So, upgrade to High Sierra, if upgrading past that is not an option for you.


Rid of the Security Software:

Moreover: Rid your Mac of that A/V and Security Software. It's unneeded on a Mac, as it just gets in the way. This is a pure example of it getting in the way. I see no icon on that message window referring to an app. You are getting that message most likely because of the software installed that is used for managing your Mac.


Use an Uninstaller for the Software:

Removing Security Software from your Applications folder will not rid of it all, as much of it will remain in your system cache. So, contact the developer and request the uninstaller.

Jan 28, 2020 12:54 PM in response to sygboe

This message occurs when...

A) Your boot disk is low on storage and the macOS Kernel cannot create new swapfiles. For most people this is not the case.


B) You have a process (or a set of processes) that are asking for excessive amounts of virtual memory address space. The macOS kernel create page in memory page tables to manage all virtual address space. If a process or set of processes request too much virtual memory address space, eventually the macOS kernel is using so much RAM to page tables that it no longer as sufficient free RAM for applications to run.


Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor -> Memory may tell you what processes are using a lot of memory.


But some applications like web browsers use a separate sub-process for each open tab. Any give sub-process may not be using a lot of memory, but if there are a lot of tabs open, they add up to a lot of memory and virtual address space being used.


Video editing and large file image processing can also be very virtual memory intensive. Especially if running several concurrently or having open multiple large format files concurrently.


There are also some poorly written apps that have memory leaks. The longer they run the more virtual memory they forget they have asked for, and it accumulates. Note, this can happen to a web page's JavaScript, but if that is the case the tab sub-process should show a lot of memory usage.

is this a Virus? (computer low on memory)

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