“No matter what I do, my Mac is still slow”, an average tech-consultant hears this phrase multiple times a day. Give a person even the most powerful computer, and pretty soon it will be cluttered with apps, extensions, and things that are too much for it to handle. To reverse it, one has to go back and сlean up the mess, removing memory agents one by one. Prepare for a fight — every byte of memory is at stake. So let’s put your Mac on a diet and get it more free RAM to breathe freely.
May 26, 2020 The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. The Mac maintenance and security app called Combo Cleaner is a one-stop tool to detect and remove “Your computer is low on memory” virus. This technique has substantial benefits over manual cleanup, because the utility gets hourly virus definition updates and can accurately spot even the newest Mac infections. Settings - System - Storage - Change how we free up space also Right click on your harddrive (in This PC) go to properties - Disk Cleanup (regular mode and in administrator mode Clean up System Files) you can probably check all the boxes to cleanup also you can probably go into your windowstemp folder and remove things in there you can.
First, remove desktop clutter. Get a combination of Setapp apps that clear away unneeded desktop files.
Download Declutter Free“Your system has run out of application memory”
How do you know your Mac is low on memory? Floating “rainbow wheels” aside, you may notice your Mac now takes ages to load. You’ll also see many browser applications crashing. You’ll be also thrown warning messages as “Your system has run out of application memory”. To help it, you should first visit the Activity monitor to see memory usage on Mac.
How to check RAM usage on Mac
Go to Applications and type in Activity Monitor in the search bar. This invokes a good old Activity Monitor that should tell how much free memory you’ve got left.
A shortcut to open Activity Monitor:
Press F4 and start typing Activity Monitor in the search bar.
I’ve attached a screenshot from my Mac and as you can see my memory usage almost reached full capacity. Here’s what it all means:
App memory: taken by apps and processes
Wired memory: reserved by apps, can’t be freed up
Compressed: inactive, can be used by other apps
Swap used: memory used by macOS
Cached files: memory you can really use
Wired memory: reserved by apps, can’t be freed up
Compressed: inactive, can be used by other apps
Swap used: memory used by macOS
Cached files: memory you can really use
Notice the colored graph under Memory Pressure. If your graph is all but red and yellow, your Mac is really gasping for fresh memory. It seems counter-intuitive, but “available memory” your Activity Monitor is not that important after all. In fact, it’s a system intended behavior to use all memory resources when available. On the contrary, the Memory Pressure graph is much more telling, so grow a habit to check this graph in the Activity Monitor every now and then.
How to check CPU usage on Mac
Open the CPU tab in Activity Monitor to keep in check CPU-heavy processes. Normally an app would be using 0-4% of CPU. If it takes abnormally more than that, go inside that particular item in the list and press the Quit button.
How to free up memory on Mac
Tip # 1. Remove Login Items to lower Mac memory usage
Login items are programs that load automatically upon Mac startup. Some of them covertly add themselves to the list and this is no good. If you’re looking to free up RAM, they are the first candidates for deletion. Don’t worry, you’re not deleting the app itself, you just stop it from auto-launching every time.
So, to remove Login Items and at the same time reduce your memory usage of your Mac, you need to:
- Open System Preferences and select Users & Groups.
- Click your nickname on the left.
- Select the Login Items tab.
- Check programs you don’t want to load as your Mac starts.
- Press the “–” sign below.
Now, you won’t see these apps pop up the moment you turn on your Mac. Although this method doesn’t require some superpowers of yours, some special Mac optimization and memory cleaner tools may do the job faster and ensure the smooth performance of your Mac. CleanMyMac X is an excellent example of such software. Here’s how to disable Login Items with CleanMyMac X:
- Download it for free and go to the Optimization tab.
- Check Login Items to see the list of apps that get opened when you start your Mac.
- Click Remove.
As you’ve already come to the Optimization module of CleanMyMac, you can also fix hung apps and heavy memory consumers there. In this way, you’ll free up the solid amount of RAM on Mac — 100% free of charge.
Tip # 2. Free up disk space if Mac is low on memory
The available space on your Mac’s drive translates into virtual memory. This comes to save you when you’ve run out of physical RAM. So now your computer relies on your hard drive space to keep your apps going.
The classic geek rule of thumb holds it that you should keep at least 20% of disk space on your startup drive. Not only this potentially reduces your future spending on iCloud storage but it also keeps your Mac speedier.
What to delete to free up space:
- Large unused files, like movies
- Old downloads
- Rarely used applications
- System junk
But here’s a simpler solution to save your time — clean up your drive with CleanMyMac X— the app I’ve mentioned above. Many users recommend it as an excellent way to free up more space because it searches for large & old files, useless system files, Photo junk, mail attachments and shows everything you can safely delete. Interestingly, it finds about 74 GB of junk on an average computer.
Extra trick: How to free up RAM on Mac with CleanMyMac X
If you have downloaded CleanMyMac, you may also take advantage of its amazing feature — the ability to free up RAM in a few seconds. Try this next time you see “Your system has run out of application memory” message.
- Go to the Maintenance tab on the left.
- Click Free Up RAM.
- Click Run.
As simple as that!
And you can do it even if you download a free version of the app.
Tip # 3. Clean up your Desktop
This tip always comes at the bottom of instructions and unfairly so as it is quite effective. Without even looking at your Desktop I would assume it’s cluttered with mountains of icons. Thing is, your macOS was designed in a way that it treats every Desktop icon as a little active window. The more icons, the heavier memory usage on Mac. So in order to release available memory resources, it’s recommended to keep your Desktop clean.
You don’t have to do it all by yourself. With apps like Declutter and Spotless, every desktop cleaning session will be scheduled in advance and executed automatically. Your only job is to define the rules on how your files should be organized.
Tip #4. Clear cache files
Another way to free up RAM on Mac is to clear it of cache files. Of course, it won’t save you gigabytes of space, but deleting cache regularly, you can help your Mac run faster and avoid system issues.
So, to remove cache files on your Mac, you need to:
- Open Finder.
- From the Go menu, select Go to Folder.
- Type ~/Library/Caches in the field and press Go.
- In the window that appears, you will see all your cache files.
- Press Command+A to select all files or delete files one by one.
- Enter your user name and password to confirm.
If you find some files still in the folder after you emptied it, maybe you have some windows open on your Mac. Just like that, you can save up some space on your Mac. Don’t forget to empty the bin afterward.
App where you can draw on videos. Aug 17, 2012 Simply have the app play video in the BG and allow users to draw in realtime over it. The timing and coordinates of that user's drawing are then rendered in the final version which can be edited to change line width, color, etc. (Similar to how Screenflow allows users to change aspects of their screen record session afterwards).
Tip # 5. Tune up Chrome’s Task Manager
Although Google Chrome is not the one to blame for massive memory usage, it can indeed affect your Mac's performance. If you use Chrome as your primary browser, you probably have many windows opened there. Chrome runs a lot of processes to ensure a fast browsing experience for you. So, it uses your RAM for storing your tabs, plugins, and extensions. Look at how many entries Google Chrome has in Activity Monitor:
The question then arises, 'Why does Chrome use so much RAM?' The thing is that each process is responsible for a separate plugin or extension of your browser. For example, when a tab unexpectedly falls, you need to refresh it to continue your work there. If one process were responsible for all tabs and extensions, you would need to restart the whole browser instead. Can you imagine how many times would you do that? That’s the proper answer to why Chrome uses so much RAM.
I’ve been using Chrome for some years only to discover (recently) that Chrome had a task manager of its own. You can use it to force quit memory-heavy processes in the browser. It’s a handy tool because it lets you see how a page weighs on CPU usage on a Mac.
- Go to Chrome settings (dotted icon in the top right corner)
- Click More tools -> Task Manager
To free up even more RAM, close the GPU process. The GPU Process, though helpful in theory to accelerate pages, eats up a considerable amount of memory. Click to end it to free up RAM on your Mac.
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software supports all alphabets supported by your operating systems, including those that use non-Roman and non-Latin characters, so you will never face the problem of not getting access to file names on volumes mounted in non-native OS. Paragon updater app is not optimized for your mac. The warning states that the app is not “optimized for your Mac” and lets you know that it needs to be updated by the developer to improve compatibility. The warning will appear only once. Aug 16, 2019 Usually, the message 'Paragon Updater not optimized for this Mac and needs to be updated' is given due to the app not being updated to 64-bit. I wonder if there is a way to check to see if my Paragon software is up-to-date (NTFS and Hard Disk Manager, both for Mac)?
Tip # 6. Manage RAM usage with CleanMyMac X menu
CleanMyMac X has another useful and convenient feature for managing your Mac’s performance and memory usage. As you install CleanMyMac X and start it for the first time, it’s icon will appear in your menu bar. Click the icon to open the CleanMyMac X menu. Here you can find updates on the current condition of your Mac and perform quick tweaks to increase your Mac's speed. Whenever you feel like your Mac underperforms, open the CleanMyMac X menu to check how much RAM is available and free it up as well.
Tip # 7. Close Finder windows
Okay, suppose you’re still asking yourself, how do I clear RAM on my MacBook Pro/MacBook Air. The next trick is as magical (you’ll see for yourself) as it is time-saving. It’s no secret that each window in the Finder eats up RAM. But how many open windows are there? Some of them are collapsed or stacked in some blind spot on your screen. This Finder command merges all your windows into one. See how to do it:
Click on Finder > Window > Merge All Windows
Now you can manage Finder windows more effectively and free up memory on MacBook.
What else you can do to minimize memory usage on Mac
I’ve saved the easiest tips for the end, as long as these ones are self-explanatory.
- Replace AdBlock (very memory-demanding) with a lighter extension
- Keep fewer opened tabs in the browser
- Restart your Mac more often to free up RAM
- Close all hung-up print queues
That was my take on how to make your Mac a bit speedier to use. If you’re looking for more guidance, check simple ways to speed up your Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to check application memory on Mac?
To check RAM usage on your Mac, go to Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities). In the Memory tab, you will see all the active processes that are using your Mac’s RAM. At the end of the window, there is a Memory Used graph, which indicates how much application memory is used.
How to find out whether your Mac needs more RAM?
Your Mac may be using almost all its RAM, but you don’t need more if it’s using it efficiently. Open Activity Monitor and go to the Memory tab. The Memory Pressure graph shows the current condition of your RAM: green color means your Mac’s using RAM effectively, while yellow is a sign that some application or process is using too much of application memory. The red memory pressure signals that your Mac needs more RAM.
How to quickly free up RAM on your MacBook?
To free up RAM on your Mac, firstly, you should find out what app uses so much of your memory. The memory-heavy programs are listed in Activity Monitor, Memory tab. If there is an app you aren’t using at the moment, click it and press the “X” sign to quit it. This will, in turn, free some of the application memory
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What Is A Mac Cleaner App?
Mac Cleaners are dedicated utilities designed to scan, monitor, and manage your Mac machines from stray files that occupy unnecessary storage space & eventually slow down your computer. These include – caches, logs, duplicates, partial downloads, localization files, old backups, large/unused programs, and other residues. Using the Best Mac Cleaner Applications, you can keep an eye & eradicate these files & apps which may hog your memory & finally some cleaning appeals monitor for viruses & other vulnerabilities.
Cleaning your Mac regularly is an essential task as with time junk files accumulate on your Mac, making it slow. The junk files include unnecessary cache files, log files, temporary files, trash items, duplicate files, and more. Cleaning all this junk manually is time-consuming. Also, it doesn’t even guarantee accurate results. The best solution available to clean this junk is to use advanced apps to clean Mac. So wondering which are the best Mac cleaning software available in the market? Let’s discuss.
Top 3 Mac Cleaners and Optimizers
TuneupMyMac
| Best choice |
CleanMyMacX
| Best choice |
Ccleaner
| Best choice |
7 Best Mac Cleaning Apps 2020 (Free & Paid)
Mac cleaner software is capable of removing junk, optimizing disk storage and enhancing the performance of your Mac. Here, we have listed some of the best apps to clean your Mac. The list includes free and paid versions available in 2020.
List of Content
1. TuneupMyMac
Price: $49.95
Ratings: 4.9
![Reddit Apps To Clean Mac Memory Reddit Apps To Clean Mac Memory](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126435801/140816915.png)
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
Your search for the best Mac cleaner ends today with TuneupMyMac. This advanced cleaner for Mac helps you deep scan your system storage to find and clean all junk effectively. You can use TuneupMyMac to optimize your system for better performance and seamless user experience. You can download its free version to explore various features of this powerful cleaning app for Mac. Read full review
Features of TuneupMyMac
- It offers 4 effective cleaning modules. These modules include cleaning, optimization, manual cleaning, and security features.
- Its file shredder feature helps you permanently delete secret files and folders.
- You can try its free version to explore various cleaning and optimization features.
- Offers one-click cleaning to save time
- Deletes confidential and sensitive data to keep your data security intact
- Compatible with older Mac versions as well as latest macOS
2. CleanMyMac X
Price: $34.95
Ratings: 4.9
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
CleanMyMac X is next best Mac cleaner you should try in 2020. It helps you clean megatons of junk and makes your system run faster than ever. Technically, it removes the need to install dozens of cleaning and optimization software as it comes loaded with all necessary features. It works as a macOS cleaner, a malware remover, a performance monitor, Mac optimizer, and more. It chases junk in all corners of your macOS and helps you deep clean it to free up GBs of disk space.
Features of CleanMyMac X
- Helps you clean and fixes all performance issues in just one click to save time. For effective & safe cleaning, it always asks you for confirmation before deleting anything.
- Works as a malware remover and protects your online privacy.
- Comes with an app uninstaller and updater to keep all apps & programs up to date.
- Multi-language support
- One-click cleaning & optimization
- Protects against malware and online threats.
- Not compatible with older Mac versions.
- Free version only removes up to 500 MB of junk.
3. CCleaner for Mac
Price: $19.95
Ratings: 4.8
Compatibility: OS X 10.6 or later
Free Version: Available
CCleaner for Mac is all-in-one Mac optimizer that is designed to clean and optimize your system for better performance. It deep scans your system storage to find & clean junk even from the remotest corners of your Mac. It offers one-click cleaning to make your Mac run faster and smoother. To help you reduce clutter, it cleans Trash items, temporary files & folders, broken permission entries, and more.
Features of CCleaner for Mac
- Offers full customization to give you greater control over the cleaning process.
- Cleans browsing history, cache files and cookies to keep your online privacy intact.
- Additionally, it offers real-time monitoring, automatic updates, scheduled cleaning, and more.
- Offers real-time monitoring
- With scheduled cleaning helps you save time
- Automatic updates for complete cleaning
- Missing security features
- Fewer features compared to other leading Mac cleaner tools
4. IObit MacBooster 8
Price: $39.95
Ratings: 4.3
Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
IObit MacBooster 8 is a powerful cleaner for Mac that is meticulously designed to clean and protect your device. It helps you clean up to 20 types of junk files and effectively removes malware and virus threats. Its smart algorithms help you optimize Mac hard disk for an excellent performance boost. With smart security features, MacBooster helps you protect your data and system privacy. It works seamlessly to clean Mac even if you are using a smaller SSD or hard disk on your system.
Features of IObit MacBooster 8
- In addition to cleaning other junk, it also helps you find and remove duplicate files.
- Working as a startup optimization tool, it helps you speed up your boot process.
- Offers effective Internet security and malware protection.
![Best Best](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126435801/331753993.png)
- Works as a best Mac cleaner and system protector
- Priority customer support
- Lite version is available
- No priority support with the basic version
- Hard to navigate through features.
5. EaseUS CleanGenius for Mac 5.0
Price: $35.34
Ratings: 4.0
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
If you are using older Mac OS X 10.7 or later version, then EaseUS CleanGenius is one of the best cleaning software for Mac. It is designed to work tirelessly to keep your system clean of junk and helps you free up tons of disk space effortlessly. The best part is, it also works as a security and privacy protector. Its smart security features keep your system safe against malware and online threats. Read full review
Features of EaseUS CleanGenius for Mac
- Being one of the best Mac cleaning utility, it helps you speed up your Mac in a few clicks.
- Offers features like duplicate file cleaner and app uninstaller to keep your system in good shape.
- Protects you against malware and online security threats.
- One-click cleaning to save time.ation
- Works as a duplicate file finder, app uninstaller, and more.
- Keeps privacy & security intact.
- Compatibility issues with latest macOS versions.
- Limited features in comparison to its competitors.
6. Avira Optimizer for macOS
Price: Free
Ratings: 4.0
Compatibility: OS X 10.12 or later
Free Version: Available
Being one of the best Mac cleaning software, Avira Optimizer for macOS brings effortless cleaning and Mac optimization. It is a state-of-the-art solution that offers on-demand privacy and storage optimization. You can use this powerful Mac cleaner to make room for more files with a single click. It not only helps you clean up GBs of disk space, but it also improves overall Mac performance. This efficient Mac cleaner tool is trusted by millions of users around the world.
Features of Avira Optimizer for macOS
- For efficient cleaning and protection, it offers on-demand privacy and storage optimization.
- Allows you to schedule cleanup to save time.
- Offers one-click cleaning and optimization for effective results.
- On-demand privacy and storage optimization.
- Schedule cleanup option.
- One-click cleaning
- Lacks on batch cleaning functionality
- Offers limited features
7. AVG Cleaner for Mac
Price: Free
Ratings: 4.3
Compatibility: OS X 10.8 or later
Free Version: Available
AVG Cleaner for Mac is the best free Mac cleaner that gives you the detailed information of all junk files. For better control, it allows you to select files for deletion. You can even keep them if you want. You can preview these files before you delete them to avoid accidental deletion. You can use this advanced Mac optimization tool to delete cache files, log files, leftover junk, temporary files, duplicate files and more. It deep scans your Mac for effective cleaning.
Features of AVG Cleaner for Mac
- Helps you clean up hidden clutter in addition to other junk files. Here, it cleans downloaded file history, log files, uninstalls leftovers, cache, Trash contents, and more.
- Allows you to preview files before you delete them.
- With its AVG Zen network feature, you can remotely overview your Mac and control its performance.
- Helps you deep clean hidden clutter.
- Works on an interactive interface.
- Cleans & protects Mac from a single dashboard
Reddit Apps To Clean Mac Memory Windows 7
Cons:- Doesn’t suit to advanced users.
- Hard to navigate through features.
Conclusion
Best App To Clean Memory Mac
The complex task of cleaning junk on your Mac and optimize it for better performance could be easily performed using best Mac cleaner tools. Here, we have tested & reviewed some of these best options. Do try them and share your experience in the comments below.
Cracked Mac Apps Reddit
Frequently Asked Questions: Top Mac Cleanup Solutions (2020)
Q1. Are Mac Cleaners Worth It?
The short answer is Yes! Just like any other computer, your Mac machine requires some clean-up work done once in a while. Consider using a Mac Cleaner App when your Mac isn’t performing up to the mark. Scanning your machine with a legit Mac Cleaning Software can certainly help you restore the past performance. Also, having privacy & overall protection is an excellent reason one should consider before using a computer cleaning utility.
Q2. Is There Any Free Mac Cleaning App?
Yes, there are several free cleaning software for Mac, all claims to clean and optimize your Mac while only a few of them hold the potential to keep your Mac machine free from all the junk, viruses & other vulnerabilities. We suggest using TuneupMyMac free version that offers advanced cleaning methods to deep clean your computer & frees it from memory hogging resources for better performance & seamless user experience.
Q3. Does App Have A Mac Cleaner?
Well, yes, your macOS has a built-in Mac Cleaning Utility called Optimized Storage. It lets user’s free up storage space by making the system keep things in iCloud automatically. Though its capabilities are limited, you can use the Optimized Storage feature for basic system cleanup. For extra flashy features & through protection, you are required to switch to a dedicated Mac Cleaning Software.
Free Mac Clean App
Q4. How Often Should You Clean Your Mac?
Well, all the aforementioned Mac Cleaning Utilities are capable of cleaning & optimizing your Mac machine as an when required. However, it is equally important to take care of your MacBook externally. It would help if you gave your Mac machine a quick clean every two days using a microfibre cloth to keep it safe from low-dust environments.
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