Guide: How to solve Yosemite memory leaks and CPU usage

I will try this method tomorrow and get back to you. I've spent the past week with a broken computer. is it the kind of problem apple can fix in another version of the software? or am i now dealing with a broken computer from now on cause i downloaded apple's own software which rendered my computer useless?

Ill let you know how your method works.

what are the squares on either side of my application windows?

also when i restarted into safe mode, i saw multiple lines crawl up my monitor as the system started up, maybe 5 which moved up my screen like a television does when you click to an unresponsive channel.

readytorun, your image isn't loading for some reason so I'm not certain what you mean about the squares. However, the lines crawling up you screen during startup in Safe Mode is normal. See OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? where they explain that odd video behaviour can occur during startup.

thanks for the quick reply, i figured out the the tiny squares at the corners of my applications must have been a sign i was in safe mode.. as i checked system report under software and it said was in safe mode.

big relief regarding video problem, didn't know how to explain it so ill read this article after i complete these steps this dude gave to fix my computer. about to reset the pram - another process I've done numerous times since yosemite - but worth another shot. thanks again for the comment and article about video. my icons have looked like juumbled messes. i could go on but ill spare you till i finish this method - thanks

I've been experiencing animation lack and low memory (10~20% free memory according to Memory Clean) and now it seems much better. (perhaps just the feeling.) anyways thanks!

mid 2014 rMBP 15 Yosemite

It is very important to follow the instructions from Luis_Mercado exactly. For example, people have found them not to work because they haven't disconnected any external or second monitors.

You may also need to redo your View Options (Finder > View > Show View Options). I have found that they sometimes get a bit mixed up in a major OS upgrade. I suspect that the algorithms that calculate the spacing between icons or the system processes display the icons themselves are sometimes tweaked. This can be especially noticeable if you have icons with longer name and tight spacing.

i have no secondary monitors, thanks for icon help but that has nothing to do with it. i had some screenshots which are now gone after I've Restored, Reinstalled, and Reset in every facet numereous times. these instructions are really just things I've done over and over again in numerous other ways suggested by other users in these forums.

I have typed this same bit of writing over and over again and still nothing.

bluetooth audio delay, no mail notifications, heavy cache within safari, system wide slow down, graphics are jumbled in the system as well as applications.

I've cleaned the system for start up daemons, statup items, old adware, preference panes, preference lists, used etrecheck, fixed permissions more times than i can remember, verified disk multiple multiple times, and still even after this "fix" - nothing.

Don't get too hung up over the amount of free memory reported by applications such as Memory Clean. I have nothing against that application, in fact I've used it myself from time to time. Recent versions of OSX are very good at aggressively using available memory, at tracking what is available, and at freeing up memory when required.

Provided you have a decent amount of RAM installed on your system, a low reported number for free RAM may not be a problem. You can monitor things such as paging activity but I usually recommend people base their judgement on how their system is performing. if it feels fine, then it usually is. OSX is very sensitive to the amount of physical RAM installed on your computer. Indeed, if you have an older machine (clearly not your situation), adding memory is the single most important thing you can do to speed things up. As a general rule of thumb and subject to all of the usual technical caveats (no need for people to tell me about the ins and outs of this), if there is RAM to be used, OSX will find something for it to do and it will be to your benefit.

Sorry, I misunderstood about the icons. I'm no expert but jumbled graphics at the system level doesn't sound healthy. I had a similar experience several years ago after an OSX upgrade. In the end it turned out to be a bad RAM module that was failing but only under heavy load. The memory errors left a trail of corrupt system files behind. It was a very difficult problem to find.

I mention this not because I have any indication that something similar is happening to you but only to make the point that sometimes problems occur in conjunction with events such as operating system updates but are not related.

I sincerely hope you find a solution soon.

First - thank you for your time.

no i do not go off of memory clean or clean app, tho in another forum where safari is the main problem, safari seems to be doubling the amount of cache it uses up slowing down the whole system. this is why i refer to memory issues regarding entire system slowdown. the whole problem started for me with bluetooth.

if i watch a movie on bluetooth the audio starts to delay after 5 mins. this is obviously unacceptable and incredibly frustrating. this led me to safari issues, then realized i was receiving none of my email through notifications. which then led me to time machine which did NOT restore. in that i chose a date for mavericks and at start up screen nothing happened. the circle kept spinning for literally 2 days while i waited and hoped patience would persevere - it didn't.

so now I'm on a kinda cleaner mac but with yosemite which is creating all these other problems.

here's my etrecheck at the moment.

EtreCheck version: 2.0.6 (91)

Report generated October 28, 2014 at 2:45:53 AM EDT

Hardware Information: ℹ️

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) (Verified)

iMac - model: iMac13,2

1 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

empty empty empty empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

empty empty empty empty

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX - VRAM: 1024 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 0:24:10

Disk Information: ℹ️

APPLE HDD WDC WD10EALX-408EA0 disk0 : (1 TB)

S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 999.35 GB (794.20 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Western Digital My Book 1140 3 TB

S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

My Book (disk1s2) /Volumes/My Book : 3 TB (41.59 GB free)

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files: ℹ️

/etc/hosts - Count: 20

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Services/ToastIt.service/Contents/MacOS

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) Support

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[running] com.epson.ecrp.launcher.plist Support

[running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist Support

[loaded] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist Support

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[loaded] com.charlessoft.pacifist.helper.plist Support

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support

[running] com.syniumsoftware.CleanAppDaemon.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

[not loaded] info.lokiware.attachmenttamer.cleanup.plist Support

[invalid?] info.lokiware.attachmenttamer.setupagent.plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.1.0 Support

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 71 Check version

User Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 Support

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

CleanApp Logging Service Support

Flash Player Support

Java Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

Auto backup: YES

Destinations:

My Book [Local]

Total size: 3 TB

Total number of backups: 100

Oldest backup: 2013-08-10 04:35:37 +0000

Last backup: 2014-10-28 00:37:20 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 3 TB > (Disk size 0 B X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

2% WindowServer

1% bluetoothaudiod

1% VLC

1% Safari

1% coreaudiod

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

387 MB CleanApp

309 MB VLC

189 MB mds_stores

180 MB Mail

163 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

2.26 GB Free RAM

4.71 GB Active RAM

605 MB Inactive RAM

1.02 GB Wired RAM

1.20 GB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

how did you fix it?

I'm not an expert but a few things stand out.

You certainly aren't processor or memory bound.

I don't think Lokiware is compatible with 10.10. At a guess, that could be causing your email problem.

I'd also be checking if the Epson agents support 10.10 as printer manufacturers are notorious for dragging the chain on software updates. The problem is often the ancillary software they provide rather than the driver.

If you are using CleanApp, it has to be the new beta. The older version isn't compatible.

The Roxio Toast kernel extension looks a bit odd. Are you using a version that is compatible with 10.10?

It is best to uninstall incompatible software if it loads anything at the system level. For this type of software, simply dragging the application to trash isn't enough. You usually have to use an uninstaller from the developer.

I'm probably repeating something you have already done and, if so, I apologise, but if you boot into Safe Mode are the problems still present? If not, that would indicate that some third party software is the cause.

You asked how I fixed the problems after the bad RAM module was replaced. In the end, I had to completely reinstall the OS and my applications from scratch as the random nature of the error and the subsequent corrupt files made any other approach impractical.

I forgot to mention that your Hosts file seems to be odd. Unless you have edited it for some reason, you might want to look around to find instructions on how to restore it to default settings. I'm sorry but i don;t know the answer off the top of my head.

Also, as a general observation not related to your problems, you only have 8 GB of RAM installed. While 10,10 will run happily in that amount of memory, your system will really benefit from some extra memory. Get the RAM from OWC (macsales.com) or some similar reputable supplier that sells properly specified RAM for Macs as it is usually much cheaper than from Apple.

Luis

I am afraid it did not do the trick, Mail memory leak is back in full force. I am furious at Apple, livid. How can they bring out an update like this ?

Unacceptable and then when you call them they deny there is a problem !

Besides that are there are any other suggestions, total clean reinstall I can not do given all the apps. I will use my laptop for now for Mail since I only installed Yosemite on one Mac as a precaution.

Thanks !