How to Clean Up Virtual Memory on Mac?


Mac OS X is defined as a hardware oriented graphical user interface and an advanced robust operating system designed and developed by the Apple Inc. There are various versions of Mac OS X like Leopard, Snow leopard, Mavericks, Lion, Mountain Lion, Yosemite, etc. It uses hierarchical file System to store the details of the files. It supports large files and uses a Unicode for naming the files and folder items. You can install lot of applications on your Mac systems and you can upgrade them. Mac operating systems generally uses virtual memory to store the files and to open the applications, etc. There will be no problem if the user opens less number of applications. If the user tries to open more and more applications at a time, then Mac system fastness will be decreased. So in order to increase the performance of the Mac system you have to clean up or free up your virtual memory.

What is meant by virtual memory?

Generally Mac system comes along with limited amount of RAM. As memory plays an important role in the system to carry out entire operations and to run applications in the system, so it should be as fast as possible. Usually each computer has some finite amount of memory. But if you want to carry more operations at a time then you want some more memory. So due to this Mac system might actually need to use memory more than its physical memory available in the system.

Virtual memory is nothing but memory management technique, which enables the process of using the memory space address that is implemented by using both hardware and software. It divides the physical memory into equal parts and the memory space allocated can also be divided into logical pages of same size. A sufficient physical memory is enough to run the apps. If more apps are opened at a time then more memory will be used. If all the physical memory is used, Mac computer will try to utilize virtual memory.

How to clean up virtual memory on Mac?

To cleanup and free up you Virtual memory on Mac systems you have to follow some few steps

  • Now hold down the Command button and hit on the Tab key. Now all the application which is currently opened will appear in single icons across the center of the system screen. Now continue to hold the Command button and tab to each application that you are not using currently and hit quit option key. The application will still remain on the screen until you release the command key.
  • In order to quit all the applications and to return to the login screen of your Mac system then selects Log Out option from the Apple menu. If you quit all the application then also background process of your Mac computers will continue. Hence this will free up or clean up the virtual memory.
  • Now restart your Mac system from the Apple menu, or press the power button and click on the restart option. This will clear out all the virtual memory and start your memory over from the scratch. Continue reading this page to know more details about how to clean up or free up Virtual memory on Mac.