iMac "Your system has run out of application memory"

Question

Just recently started getting "Your system has run out of application memory" when using any of my applications on 21.5" iMac, 3.1 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB Hard drive with 450GB free. I just upgraded to High Sierra from El Capitan, but having same problem. I was running multiple Adobe Creative Suite apps for over a year on this iMac and than they started freezing. Can&#x27;t use any of them now. I have included EtreCheck info below and would appreciate any suggestions.EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)Report generated 2017-10-17 15:24:35Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.comRuntime: 6:17Performance: Below AverageClick the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.Problem: Apps are crashingDescription:System runs out of application memoryHardware Information: ⓘ    21.5" iMac (Late 2015)    [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty &amp; Service]    iMac - model: iMac16,2    1 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5675R) CPU: 4-core    8 GB RAM Not upgradeable        BANK 0/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok        BANK 1/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok    Handoff/Airdrop2: supported    Wireless:  en1: Unknown    iCloud Quota: 190.36 GB availableVideo Information: ⓘ    Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 - VRAM: 1536 MB        iMac 4096 x 2304Disk Information: ⓘ    APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)    [Show SMART report]        EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [EFI]: 210 MB        (disk0s2) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [CoreStorage Container]: 999.35 GB        Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [Recovery]: 650 MBUSB Information: ⓘ     USB30Bus        Seagate Backup+ Hub            Seagate Backup+ Hub WH                Backup+ Hub WH disk2: (4 TB)                    EFI (disk2s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [EFI]: 210 MB                    Seagate Backup Plus Drive (disk2s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Seagate Backup Plus Drive : 4.00 TB (3.34 TB free)        Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller        Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)        Hewlett Packard HP JetDirect J4135A        Seagate Backup+ Hub         hub_device            MediaTek Inc MT1887            EPSON Expression1600            EPSON USB2.0 Printer (Hi-speed)Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_busVirtual disks: ⓘ    Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) /  [Startup]: 998.98 GB (423.46 GB free)        Physical disk: disk0s2 999.35 GB OnlineSystem Software: ⓘ    macOS High Sierra  10.13 (17A405) - Time since boot: about one hourGatekeeper: ⓘ    Mac App Store and identified developersClean up: ⓘ    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist        /Applications/Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app/Contents/MacOS/Updater/Adobe Acrobat Updater Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Acrobat Updater Helper        Executable not found!    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.amazon.music.plist        /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music Helper        Executable not found!    com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist        /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/OSServices.framewo rk/Versions/A/Support/CSConfigDotMacCert -l ~/Library/Logs/CSConfigDotMacCert-@me.com-SharedServices.log -u [redacted]@me.com -t SharedServices -s        Executable not found!    3 orphan files found. [Clean up]Kernel Extensions: ⓘ        /Library/Extensions    [loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]        /Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]    [loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.7 (26995) - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]System Launch Agents: ⓘ    [not loaded]    8 Apple tasks    [loaded]    167 Apple tasks    [running]    95 Apple tasks    [killed]    18 Apple tasks    18 processes killed due to insufficient RAMSystem Launch Daemons: ⓘ    [not loaded]    41 Apple tasks    [loaded]    171 Apple tasks    [running]    99 Apple tasks    [killed]    18 Apple tasks    18 processes killed due to insufficient RAMLaunch Agents: ⓘ    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-11) [Lookup]    [failed]    com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a 23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]    [running]    com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]Launch Daemons: ⓘ    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]    [loaded]    com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]    [running]    com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]    [not loaded]    com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-10-17)    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e 8b29c3ef - installed 2012-04-02) [Lookup]    [running]    com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist (? 595582c 212092b1 - installed 2015-11-02) [Lookup]User Launch Agents: ⓘ    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-11) [Lookup]    [failed]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (? e18d8339 0 - installed 2009-10-20) [Lookup] - /Applications/Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app/Contents/MacOS/Updater/Adobe Acrobat Updater Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Acrobat Updater Helper: Executable not found!    [failed]    com.amazon.music.plist (? 7c73c27a 0 - installed 2016-07-14) [Lookup] - /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music Helper: Executable not found!    [failed]    com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (? ? ? - installed 2009-07-16) - /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/OSServices.framewo rk/Versions/A/Support/CSConfigDotMacCert: Executable not found!    [loaded]    com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-10) [Lookup]    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]    [loaded]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2012-10-26) [Lookup]User Login Items: ⓘ    Dropbox    Application        (/Applications/Dropbox.app)    Backup and Sync    Application        (/Applications/Backup and Sync.app)    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    Application        (/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)    MagicMenu    Application (Smith Micro Software, Inc.; Consumer Division - installed 2016-10-02)        (/Applications/StuffIt Archive Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/MagicMenu.app)Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-09-03) [Lookup]    AdobePDFViewer: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-09-03) [Lookup]    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-10-03)    AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]    SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.2.0 (installed 2016-10-02) [Lookup]Safari Extensions: ⓘ    [enabled]    searchtab - Roby Strand - http://www.yahoo.com (installed 2014-11-25)3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ    Seagate Dashboard for Mac OSX (installed 2017-05-18) [Lookup]Time Machine: ⓘ    Skip System Files: NO    Mobile backups: OFF    Auto backup: YES    Volumes being backed up:        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 998.98 GB Disk used: 575.52 GB    Destinations:        Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local]        Total size: 4.00 TB        Total number of backups: 58        Oldest backup: 5/18/17, 3:50 AM        Last backup: 10/17/17, 12:10 PM        Size of backup disk: Excellent            Backup size 4.00 TB &gt; (Disk size 998.98 GB X 3)Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ        12%       WindowServer         6%       Finder         4%       kernel_task         3%       Mail         2%       helpdTop Processes by Memory: ⓘ    819 MB        kernel_task    813 MB        firefox    413 MB        plugin-container    360 MB        plugin-container    213 MB        mds_storesTop Processes by Network Use: ⓘ    Input         Output        Process name    575 KB        18 KB         Mail    169 KB        223 KB        Dropbox    148 KB        70 KB         mDNSResponder    14 KB         35 KB         apsd    1 KB          558 B         netbiosdTop Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ      9.80    WindowServer      3.98    Mail      3.68    Finder      2.28    mdsVirtual Memory Information: ⓘ    2.34 GB       Available RAM    56 MB         Free RAM    5.66 GB       Used RAM    2.29 GB       Cached files    53 MB         Swap UsedSoftware installs (last 30 days): ⓘ    Adobe Flash Player:  (installed 2017-10-10)    Adobe Flash Player:  (installed 2017-10-16)    Install information may not be complete.Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ    2017-10-17 15:00:21    CalendarAgent Crash [Open]    2017-10-17 15:00:04    Firefox.app Crash [Open]    2017-10-17 14:53:51    Adobe Illustrator.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]

MWilcox6428 · Answer

Turns out the problem was Adobe Illustrator leaking memory. Removing the preference and settings files from the system folder and restarting Illustrator solved the problem. Thanks for your input.

rkaufmann87 · Answer

When you purchased your iMac you bought an entry level machine with non expandable RAM.  You then decided to use RAM intensive applications such as Adobe Creative Cloud. In short, because your machine is low on RAM you need to manage what you have. You can use Activity Montior to do so, you can learn how to manage the RAM in Use Activity Monitor to read system memory and determine how much RAM is being used (OS X Mountain Lion and earlier) - A…Good luck.

MWilcox6428 · Answer

Thanks for your reply. I do regret not purchasing a machine with more RAM. But I remember researching my needs and thinking the 8 MB would be enough, and it has been working fine for more than a year. As of last week I had InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat and Photoshop open, along with Firefox and email with no problems.I am thinking there may be another problem, and I need to do a clean install and reinstall my files and apps. Although I don&#x27;t look forward to that process.

James at 118 · Answer

This problem is not solved. I used a mid 2012 macbook pro 13 for years, adding memory up to 16GB. At 4GB Photoshop barely ran. At 8GB the machine was achingly slow with Photoshop and Lightroom open most of the time. At 16 GB with both open nearly all the time, it was faster but still draggy. LR took several minutes to open. Not once, with any amount of memory, did I have this error. A week ago I migrated to a Late 2016 Macbook Pro 15 with a 512GB SSD. This machine has a faster processor, the same amount of memory as my last laptop, and an SSD with about 30% free space. PS and LR open in a few seconds on this machine. How is it that a faster machine with the same amount of memory and plenty of free drive space now runs out of application memory? It seems unlikely that a machine (macbook pro 15), presumably used by many photographers running both PS and LR, is inadequate to the job. It sounds more like a settings problem: not enough virtual memory on the drive allocated for applications. If it&#x27;s a memory leak, how can apps that were fine for years on the same before OS version (Sierra) now leak memory?Can someone suggest a solution to the problem? Thank you!

rkaufmann87 · Answer

James at 118Please create your own thread and when you do please follow the directions below and someone will help. You are posting on an answered thread. It is the correct etiquette on forums to create your own thread on answered threads so you get the attention and the focus is on YOUR problem and not someone elses.Please post an EtreCheckreport of your system. We can then look for obvious issues. Please click the link, download the app and run the report. Once you have the report, please copy and paste it as your reply to this post.

rkaufmann87 · Answer

Glad you figured it out!