MacBook RAM Issue

Thanks for this. When I check my AM, there are many processes using RAM which I presume are background tasks. I have 8GB RAM but I don't get how so much is being used with just two apps 'properly open'. I think Safari has a lot of cached files using up my memory. Is there any way to clear Safari's RAM?

(You can see Microsoft sharePoint is using some memory at the bottom - I don't even know what that is!!)

Ah, so even though I'm using 5GB/8 ATM, the cached files are going towards completing other background tasks? The line is green and more or less flat, so does that indicate my Mac is under virtually no pressure atm (Safari with around 10 tabs, Activity Monitor, Spotify)?

Thanks for this grant. I'm clearly less tech savvy than you as I didn't understand a lot of those terms!!

I do understand that you say my Mac is beginning to 'slow down'. Could this be because of apps or simply it's age (Intel 2020)? I always close tabs when not using them, so that shouldn't be a problem. Is there any way to lower compressed data (not like I know what that is haha). I also have my main 10 or so most used websites in my favourites bar on start page, so I can quickly access them.

When I say I close tabs when not using them, I have up to 10 tabs open at a time because I switch tabs minute by minute - It would be less energy efficient to close a tab instantly and 1 minute later, open it back up.

I still don't really understand how, even with no Apps 'properly open' (by that, I mean open like in the dock, I'm not including apps that run in the background for background tasks'.), my RAM usage is from 30-50%. As you said, my compressed files are taking up quite a bit. At the moment, 944MB. I may just be thinking things, but I feel my mac has slowed down in the past month or two, probably because I've installed like 10 new apps, a few of which run in the background at all times.

Do you know any ways to lower compressed?

Thank you very much for reviewing this :)

I installed virtual box when downloading blue stacks emulator like 2 years ago, I thought I uninstalled both of them around a year and a half ago, as when I search Virtualbox in finder, nothing comes up. Would you happen to know where I can find it, I'd definitely like to remove it since I don't remember the last time I used it.

I'd like to keep Hand Mirror, Macs Fan Control, Hidden Bar, Rectangle (I presume that' the same as rectangle launcher) as I use them all on a daily basis.

Though, I could remove pock and speedtest.

I don't know what LaunchAltLogin is, how do I remove it?

I'm aware of BetterTouchTools intense CPU and RAM usage, though I would like to keep it.

I don't know what bash and zsh are.

I don't fully understand what you means when you say I'm running lots of speech intensive stuff. As far as I know, I only use dictation for a single shortcut (use it for nothing else) and Siri. I don't know how to keep that local (I'm not all too tech savvy in case you couldn't tell 😁).

AerialCompanion was a 3rd party screensaver I downloaded, but I thought I removed it as it doesn't appear in my screensaver library anymore. It appears that ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.glouel.AerialUpdaterAgent.plist

    /Applications/Aerial Companion.app is related to it. If that's the case, I'd like to remove it. Do you know how?

I know I've just asked a lot of stuff. I apologise if I'm causing any inconvenience to you, I'm just trying to make the best of my mac and make sure it hasn't got unnecessary stuff on it :)

Great, thanks for the tip.

Should I then install the latest version of VirtualBox, and there will be a tutorial on how to uninstall it? I presume when I uninstall that, it will also uninstall the older version which I can't find anywhere in my finder?

Thanks. I clicked the uninstaller tool and it ran something in terminal. It said 'Process complete' or something along those lines. Has it now uninstalled the previous versions?

I didn't add the new version to my app library (as I don't want it lol) so should I just bin the dmg file and hopefully not Virtualbox will be gone? It said my last open was July 11th last year lol.

To check if it's still on my mac, I've ran an etrecheck to see?

If so, would you mind if i send it to you - It's all gibberish to me!

At the bottom it says this. As you can see, there are some BlueStacks Files. I installed blue stacks and virtualbox together, do you think I can find this in finder and just bin it?

Clean up:

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.glouel.AerialUpdaterAgent.plist

        /Applications/Aerial Companion.app

        Executable not found

    /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist

        /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper

        Executable not found

I can’t find that aerial companion data in my finder, I’ll Install the app again and uninstall it - though I don’t think it has an uninstaller like virtual box. If I delete the app again, will it delete the damaged file? Idk what you mean by stop using the references. As far as I know, I don’t think I use it anymore.

In regards to VirtualBox, I clicked the uninstaller tool and it ran something in terminal. It said 'Process complete' or something along those lines. Has it now uninstalled the previous versions?

I didn't add the new version to my app library (as I don't want it lol) so should I just bin the dmg file and hopefully not Virtualbox will be gone? It said my last open was July 11th last year lol.

i don’t have a backup of my Mac, I just back up my photos, pages documents and logic projects(the only files I don’t want to lose) on am an external hard drive.

I’ve removed all login items and prevented some apps from doing background tasks

Thanks for this, I've now binned the aerial companion file and another file which shouldn't have been there.

I also found this (which came with VirtualBox) which I got rid of just now:

Launch Daemons:

    [Not Loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist (Not signed - installed 2021-04-11)

        Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper

VirtualBox is completely gone now - Was that supposed to lower my RAM? It's still around 40% with no apps open (ATM 70% with 2 safari tabs and finder).

Is there anything else on that EtreCheck I should change? Any other things I should remove to improve Mac performance?

You said in a previous post that my mac was probably struggling as (without me knowing) it was running an old version of VirtualBox in the background. Will my mac be quicker now tis gone?

Thanks for this. Quite frankly, I just don't get Time Machine. To use it will it take up storage on my mac? I saw once a website saying if I wanted to make a backup, i'd need a formatted drive. I don't have any empty drives!

How do I set it up in the most hassle-free way?