Q: mac slow activity monitor wired

You only have 23 MB of free RAM, which is causing the slowness. What does it mean? It's time for more RAM.

First of all, open System Information (in /Applications/Utilities) and copy here "Model Identifier", so we can know which iMac you have and how much RAM you can install. Generally, if you have a 2010 or newer iMac, you can install 32 GB of memory. You can buy more RAM at OWC or Crucial > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

As I see the AirPlay icon on the menu bar, I assume you have a Mid 2011 or newer iMac, so you can install 32 GB of RAM.

Apart from that, you have 1.64 GB of inactive memory, that is wasted memory. You can use an application like FreeMemory (you can get it in the Mac App Store) to turn inactive into free RAM. Also, if you have Xcode and its command tools installed, you can use the purge command

In Activity Monitor, press "Real Mem" at the top of the window, so you will see the processes that take more memory. Then, tell us the name of those processes.

You can quit processes from Activity Monitor to save RAM, but you have to be careful. Anyway, you need more memory

That looks pretty normal to me, except for the high Page out and Swap use which indicates that you need more RAM for your usage.

See > OWC Certified RAM for Apple iMac with Lifetime Warranty

Currently I'm running OS X, a few Utilities, Safari, iTunes which never quits and I'm using a little more RAM than you are.

Also note: that with 8GB of RAM, I have no Page outs or Swap used and my Mac has not been restarted for almost 3 weeks.

That's the problem. OS X Lion and Mountain Lion consumes more memory than Snow Leopard or Leopard, and in some cases, 4 GB of memory aren't sufficient.

You have to install more memory. Have a look at my first reply or den.thed's reply to buy memory

Nothing to add to my latest reply

Yes, but look at All Processes > Real Memory in the Activity Monitor and you will see all sorts of other essential OS X processes that are also using Memory.

OS X, by itself, no other apps running can consume between 2-4 GBs of RAM, easily.

Newer versions of OS X use a LOT more CPU, GPU, RAM and hard drive resources.

Most of your RAM is going to the smooth operation of OS X.

Plus, the more you fill up the iMac's internal hard drive , the slower your iMac can run, also.

You do not post your year, screen size, CPU speed of your iMac.

You need to add more RAM, though.

Correct and reliable Mac RAM can be purchased from online Mac RAM sources Crucial memory or OWC (macsales.com).

Follow den.thed's steps and tell us the processes that take up more memory. Maybe we can do something to have more free RAM

inkjet4 is the process that is consuming the memory. Select it and quit it in Activity Monitor. It looks like a printer process, so quit it. It should start up when you want to use the printer