"Heavy Memory Usage" pop up - what does it mean?

Question

Level 1

17 points

"Heavy Memory Usage" pop up - what does it mean?

Aside from the obvious - using too much memory.

THen the popup goes on to say: CleanMyMac has found that you're running out of both physical & virtual memory. Let's fix it. RAM & swap almost full"

Is this just an ad for CleanMyMac? Or do I need to do something?

It's a fairly new MacBook Air with M2 chip and 8 GB memory - I wouldn't think I'm running out of memory already. I don't do any gaming, nor use much that requires video or other memory hogs.

DOes it have anything to do with system junk? When I scan for that, I get lots of cache's - for example "netscape cache" which takes up many GB.

I'm just confused - things seem to be working fine, so am afraid to "clean" anything, esp if that is some kind of malware or scam.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Feb 12, 2024 6:57 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Mac Jim ID

Community+ 2026

Level 9

65,516 points

Feb 12, 2024 7:13 AM in response to gwesq

One thing is for sure, you do not need or want CleanMyMac. There are many ads for for CleanMyMac and/or AntiVirus that will claim there is a problem and those just need to be ignored, but without a screenshot of what your are seeing, the solution may be different.

If you are receiving this popup as a Notification in the upper right of your screen, then go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications, and remove all the websites that are allowing notifications.

You can also post the free report using EtreCheck to verify that there are not any files launching on startup that is causing the problem. Use the Additional Text option when posting.

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

Reply

Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

156,332 points

Feb 12, 2024 9:55 AM in response to gwesq

In addition to Mac Jim ID's comments, Stop unwanted Notifications - Apple Community might be applicable.

Non-Apple "cleaning" apps are all scams. If you actually installed and used "CleanMyMac" the most expedient solution is to erase the affected Mac. That's what I do and it's what I recommend. It saves time.

Reply

"Heavy Memory Usage" pop up - what does it mean?

Similar questions