MacOs Monterey - run out of memory

Can you boot in safe mode and check if still happens?

In order to boot in safe mode you need to switch off yuor mac and switch it on holding the switch button until the startup hd and the options icon appear. Then you select with the mouse the startup disk and, while holding down the Shift (not Shift lock!), key hit the enter key (under the boot hd the "safe mode" option should appear).

Please note that in safe mode, third party extension will mot work together with the related services.

https://support.apple.com/en-en/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.  

There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   

Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.

There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is desshoigned solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  

You shouldn't blame Apple for the mess you've created by installing CMM. So, uninstall the garbage software you've installed, CleanMyMac, according to the developer's instructions. Then check to see if you've removed all of the supporting files by downloading and running the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name.  For CMM software you'd do the following search(es): 

1 - Name contains cleanmymac

2 - Name contains macpaw

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  

Have you installed or run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Also, Google Chrome is a known resource hog. Have you considered another browser like Firefox which would also be a lot more secure from a privacy standpoint.

That's what we're trying to find out. Download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

I am having the very same problem on my new MacBook Air with 12.01 installed. It asks me to force quit Word (and says it’s using 20+Gb of RAM). It has happened a few times and with very few programs open (such as Dictionary). I believe it must be an issue in Monterey.

I bought my first macbook (air m1 2020) last week. I am leaving Windows after 30 years.

I was very happy even knowing that 245gb and 8gb ram are very bad and limited disk space near 2022.

I paid too much money, very expensive, here in Brazil you have to sell a car or motorcicle in order to by a mac.

I paid 7,000,00 mil reais. much money. It is like to buy 5 macbooks in Eua.

So now, i noticed that everytime my CleanMyMacX app shows that I Am with very low memory,

and it needs to liberate memory! What??? 7,000,00 mil reais for something that not support even a browsers loading??? just 5 tabs in a browsers (whatever, chrome or safari) is showing just 150mb of memory is remaining.

sad with that!!!

I think Apple is treating us like a dumb!

Macbook Air IS GARBAGE! It is just an old branding, status about something that is no longer good as it could be in the past. Apple is dead!

i want my money back!

You can install anything you want. However, research has shown that public VPNs are not that privacy oriented. If you want privacy use Apple's Private Relay. That would be the most secure VPN except for those for banks, schools and employers. But not any public.

As for CleanMyMac, if you had done your due diligence before spouting off you would see that our recommendations are based on hundreds of cases where CMM has trashed someones system and performance.

If removing CMM doesn't fix the problem at hand it will improve system performance because it's not needed and only takes up system resources.

Me too, my MacBook pro 16 inch with heaven knows how many terabytes of memory has only been in use for a couple of weeks and I've hardly put anything on it, and yet twice it's given me the same message whilst using Microsoft Word, I can only imagine it's some weird software glitch with Monterey, but I know little of these things.

M1 Pro, V12.0.1. 32 gb, 2tb. Activity monitor does not indicate any problem. And since the last message it has done the same thing with another program (a runtime version of a file maker pro database).

M1 Pro, V12.0.1. 32 gb, 2tb. Activity monitor does not indicate any problem. And since the last message it has done the same thing with another program (a runtime version of a file maker pro database).

There seems to be a bunch of memory leaks in Monterey. See https://eclecticlight.co/2021/11/22/more-memory-leaks-in-monterey-12-0-1-how-to-avoid-them/

Personally I see "Run out of Memory" message with (IMO wrong) suggestion to force quit apps when some OS service, (like mds) gets confused and runs away with memory, making an ever increasing swap file. When that happens the short term solution is either restart the Mac OR quit the guilty process vith Activity Monitor.

In Activity Monitor, View -> All Processes and see the Memory tab. If you see that some iconless process like for example mds, fseventsd or WindowServer takes way more memory than any of your "real" apps, that is a sign that they are not being friendly.

Long term solution would be Apple fixing their OS.

Thanks, very helpful, infinitely more so than 'old toad's' effort.

As I speculated, 'I can only imagine it's some weird software glitch with Monterey, but I know little of these things.'

Is it yet safe to restore my pointer to the pleasant large coloured state I had it in previously?!