kernel_task high memory usage

My kernel_task was up to 4.7 GB! I uninstalled LogMeIn, and everything resolved. I cannot believe what havoc this created, freezing up all my CC apps and browswers. I had forgotten I even had it, really never used it. So grateful I found this!

Hello.

After I (re)boot, updated Mac OS X v10.10.5 (Yosemite) top showed my kernel_task process using almost 800 MB of RAM. After using about 5.5 hours, it went up to about 1.2 GB of RAM. I was using VMware Fusion v8.1.1's 64-bit W7 EE SP1 (was updating it) guest, Mac Outlook 2016 (got its updates today too), Terminal, Jabber, Spark, Preview, 3 web browsers (Chrome v50, Safari v9.1, and Firefox v46), Cisco AnyConnect, McAfee AV, CrashPlan, etc. This was on my work's 15" MacBook Pro (Retina; early 2013) has 16 GB of RAM. Is kernel_task process' memory usage a little high?

Thank you in advance. 🙂

800MB is within bounds for a 16GB system. Since you have kernel extensions installed (McAfee, and maybe others), going o 1.2GB can be a very normal situation.

Since this thread is already 7 pages long _AND_ marked "Answered", you might consider starting a new thread to discuss your issues.

In your new thread, if you wish to point to anything you think is relevant in this thread just provide a link, but since many kernel_task too large all have different situations, it is unlikely.

In your new thread, please post the output from EtreCheck

<https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6174>

<http://etrecheck.com>

Perform the EtreCheck "When" you have a large kernel_task memory usage, otherwise, there is no point to it if large kernel_task memory using is the problem.

And I can tell you, you will be told to remove McAfee, and any Mac clearners, or memory cleaners.

<http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/>

Finally since you are running Yosemite, post your new thread in the Yosemite forum, not the Mavericks forum.

This doesn't work because the system won't let me move the files, only copy them. When I try to delete the files after copying them, I get a message saying they can't be deleted because the files are being used by OS X.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

marc_l wrote:

This doesn't work because the system won't let me move the files, only copy them. When I try to delete the files after copying them, I get a message saying they can't be deleted because the files are being used by OS X.

If you cannot move the files, chances are you are NOT using Mavericks. You should be posting in the forum related to your specific operating system release.

You should give as much details as you can.

It would be nice in your new "Post" to include the EtreCheck output

<https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6174> or <http://etrecheck.com>

For me this solved it:

I no longer use 2 screens

As soon as I plug in a large 2nd screen, my CPU spikes to 400-500% for a mysterious kernal_task.

As soon as I remove it, cpu usage normalizes

I should have included that my ops sys is Sierra 10.12.6 (latest to date 2017-08-24.

My RAM memory is 4 GB (1x4) original