Static wallpaper using 13GB of RAM - how to prevent?

Alias7 wrote:

Sorry mr. owl. Lots of points and open-source doesn't necessarily mean trustworthy. How do i know Owl or the software developer is not a "Jia Tan" type guy/country pushing trustworthy, but compromised (or soon to be), software to lots of apple users via community forums? Small chance, but possible. If it was trustworthy software, why not in Apple Store?

.

There is no need to apologize.

Part 1 of 3

To answer your question

Background Etrecheck Application 

At one time there was an  Etrecheck Application available on the Apple Apps Store.

Due to certain constrains place upon the Developer by APPLE, the developer chose to remove it from the Store and make is available Directly from them.

This specific application is well known,  on these Forums,  as a Go To for trouble shooting and avoiding all the question / answer and question / answer to finally get the issue pinned down.

Part 2 of 3

I can see you're in the Wallpaper panel and the top selection is Big Sur Shore Rocks, which is one of the macOS aerial wallpapers (it’s a video-based dynamic wallpaper, not a static JPEG). 

“Big Sur Shore Rocks” is not a wallpaper included in macOS Tahoe as a default system wallpaper. That naming and imagery come from macOS Big Sur (version 11) wallpaper collections, not Tahoe (which is macOS 26) — it was one of the stock backgrounds introduced with Big Sur

Apple doesn’t officially bundle Big Sur wallpapers in macOS Tahoe, but you can still get the image from third-party wallpaper sites that host those classic wallpapers.

Here’s the key detail:

Even if you think you’re using a static wallpaper like Pro Black, macOS sometimes keeps the previously selected video wallpaper loaded in memory, especially if:

A - It was previously set to “Show on all Spaces”

B - Shuffle Aerials was enabled at any point

C - You switched between video and static wallpapers without logging out

D - You use multiple Spaces or an external monitor

The circular arrow icons in your screenshot suggest shuffle/dynamic behavior may be active.

Part 3 of 3

As for using or not using the Etrecheck application now or at a later time

We can only point the user in certain directions

Thereafter it fall upon the user ( you ) to make informed and educated choice

Alias7 wrote:

After days of use, Activity Monitor shows that "Shell (Wallpaper)" is using 13.5GB of RAM. Computer gets extremely slow. It started happening after upgrading to Tahoe. I guess this is apple trying to convince me my mac is slow so need to upgrade.

Background info: I'm on Tahoe 26.3, macbook air M2 with 24GB RAM.

What is "Shell (Wallpaper)" that you are running? I don't see such a process on my Mac on Tahoe 26.3. Is this something that came with your Mac or is it something that you installed (Etrecheck would provide insight into this ...). On my Mac, Wallpaper is using about 15 MB of memory, which is 1/1000 of what you are reporting.

Apple probably doesn't care if you upgrade your Mac. Most of Apple's revenue (> 50%) comes from iPhones; about 20% comes from services; and less than 10% from Macs. https://bullfincher.io/companies/apple/revenue-by-segment I am using a 2019 Macbook Pro and it runs plenty fast under Tahoe. My wife has an 2022 M1 iMac and it is very fast and responsive.

I am wondering if this problem you are experiencing is self imposed ("Shell (Wallpaper)" process). If it is from something you installed, running in Safe Mode might eliminate it, which would be useful to know.

It’s unclear whether the choice of wallpaper has anything to do with it.

You are reluctant to run Etrecheck (which does not cost anything or modify your system in any way) but it is quite possible that you have installed other software that that does. We cannot know unless you tell us.

Also: 13.5 GB looks like a lot, of course. But look into Activity Monitor and tell us how much ogf that is actually in use and how much of it is “compressed”. macOS actively compresses portions of app memory that is allocated but not being actively used.

And, last but not least: I have never seen the word “Shell” associated with “wallpaper”. This leads me to reinforce the idea that some third party software is part of the problem. Again, we cannot know.

Alias7 wrote:

Why is a basic wallpaper causing 13GB of RAM to be used? I've set my desktop background to Pro Black which is just a static picture that came already installed. After days of use, Activity Monitor shows that "Shell (Wallpaper)" is using 13.5GB of RAM. Computer gets extremely slow. It started happening after upgrading to Tahoe. I guess this is apple trying to convince me my mac is slow so need to upgrade.

Restarting fixes it. Or manually killing the process in Activity Monitor fixes it. But annoying to have to do every few days.

Background info: I'm on Tahoe 26.3, macbook air M2 with 24GB RAM.

Restart the computer in Safe Mode 

Do the issues persist ?

Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up.

To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac.

Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

Part 2 of 2

To Drill Down further and to avoid a game of 20 questions  

Download the Application Etrecheck  ( External Link ) directly from the Developer.

The Application is Not a " Silver Bullet "  and is  only a tool to examine the Hardware / Software used on this computer 

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer Hardware / Software used on this computer 

The application is free or paid from added features. 

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - Share Report >> Copy , then  paste  >>>> using the Additional Text Icon  <<<<

Start up in Safe Mode followed by a normal restart, as originally suggested by Owl-53.

see > Start up your Mac in safe mode

Then as a test, select one image and stay with it for one for a week.

Go to your Wallpaper Settings and take a screenshot of the upper part of the Wallpaper panel, then post the screenshot using the Community forums Image Insertion tool.

steve626 wrote:

Alias7 wrote:

I won’t download a random app not from the App Store. Ideally someone who has had this issue before can chime in.

It is reasonable to be cautious. You can search through Apple Discussions and see that scores and scores of users have utilized Etrecheck successfully to identify and resolve problems. In fact in the past it used to be available from the App Store and from the Developer web site, but now is available only from the Developer site. It is open source software so there is nothing to hide.

Without Etrecheck, it is hard for anyone reading here to get insight into your setup and suggest fixes. Unless, as you noted, someone else has had the exact same issue and resolved it.

The individual (Owl-53) who suggested Etrecheck has accumulated over 100,000 points as a forum participant. Since a "helpful" or upvoted post counts for 6 points, that individual's suggestions have been helpful maybe ~ tens of thousands of times? So probably someone you can trust. 😃

👍

🦉-53

Alias7 wrote:

I would love to try Safe Mode. But since it takes several days to for the RAM problem to manifest, I don’t want to limit functionality and performance for several days.

Safe Mode and Restarting does not limit functionality and performance for several days.

The truth is, that they will actually help functionality and performance for several days.

Maybe Activity Monitor can help diagnose what’s going on when it happens?

Yes Activity Monitor can help you understand what RAM is used for and how it works.

see > View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac

Alias7 wrote:

I won’t download a random app not from the App Store. Ideally someone who has had this issue before can chime in.

It is reasonable to be cautious. You can search through Apple Discussions and see that scores and scores of users have utilized Etrecheck successfully to identify and resolve problems. In fact in the past it used to be available from the App Store and from the Developer web site, but now is available only from the Developer site. It is open source software so there is nothing to hide.

Without Etrecheck, it is hard for anyone reading here to get insight into your setup and suggest fixes. Unless, as you noted, someone else has had the exact same issue and resolved it.

The individual (Owl-53) who suggested Etrecheck has accumulated over 100,000 points as a forum participant. Since a "helpful" or upvoted post counts for 6 points, that individual's suggestions have been helpful maybe ~ tens of thousands of times? So probably someone you can trust. 😃

As you wish

We do not suggest dangerous applications to install on computers

I personally have this specific application installed on 3 different computers if that is of any help

As mentioned Your Choice

Is the static wallpaper one of Apple's or something you uploaded?