all mac applications won't open

So I've had my macbook since it came out in late 2009 and I've been loving it ever since. But a recent problem has arisen. I usually have 3 or 4 applications running normally and I try to open another and it will bounce on the dock a few times and eventually stop and the application won't open. I try clicking it again and the same thing happens. I also try with other applications and it happens to everything else. The only way to fix this issue is to restart my computer or I won't be able to open anything else. I've even tried to close one application to see if another opens, but when i see that doesn't work and i try to reopen the application, it doesnt open. I've looked over and cant find a solution. Please help.

Which applications do have open at the same time, and how much system memory do you have installed? The symptom you describe is indicative of low memory. If your machine runs low on available memory it will try to use virtual memory (swap file) which is hard drive space.

You can determine how much memory you're using by opening your Activity Monitor.app from Applications, Utilities.

chscag said:

Which applications do have open at the same time, and how much system memory do you have installed? The symptom you describe is indicative of low memory. If your machine runs low on available memory it will try to use virtual memory (swap file) which is hard drive space.

You can determine how much memory you're using by opening your Activity Monitor.app from Applications, Utilities.

Click to expand...

I usually have iChat, Firefox and iTunes on simultaneously. I have 2 GB of memory installed. I just checked Activity Monitor and it says that only about 70 MB is free. But on my hard drive I still have 110 GB out of 250 GB free. What do you think I should do to fix this?

The 70MB free that are reported are from the RAM memory, not you HDD memory.

And that is a quite high usage of RAM from only 3 apps. Do you have a lot of tabs open and using Flash in them? If so, that might be your problem. I don't think iChat or iTunes could be such memory hogs.

I hope this helps you.

Ralvr said:

The 70MB free that are reported are from the RAM memory, not you HDD memory.

And that is a quite high usage of RAM from only 3 apps. Do you have a lot of tabs open and using Flash in them? If so, that might be your problem. I don't think iChat or iTunes could be such memory hogs.

I hope this helps you.

Click to expand...

I do have multiple tabs up and running at the same time with flash. The iTunes is constantly playing music nonstop throughout the day. If I bought a 2 GB stick of RAM and switched it with one of the 1 GB sticks that are in there, will the speed increase and or stop the problem? Thanks

Getting a RAM upgrade will definitely help you to have more room for running apps. Although if you're going to upgrade it, I'd recommend going the 4GB (or more even, depending on your Mac's model) way for your usage patterns.

And, if from those open tabs you have some are from youtube I think that turning on the use of HTML5 might alleviate some of the burden on your RAM.
To do the HTML5 switch in youtube go to this URL: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Again, I think doing that in youtube can help, but since I don't go too often there I can't give you a real reason to do the change.

I hope this helps you.