Need help with System has run out of Application Memory on Mac desktop

Hello All,
I need help with my Mac. While running Firefox, I continually get notifications "system has run out of application memory".
I'm not able to move on or continue working until I force quite Firefox, which then sometime leads me to needing to completely restart my computer as everything begins running very slowly and delayed.

Any help on how to fix this would be most appreciated. It usually only happen when I'm running Firefox and only has 3-4 tabs open. No other applications are running in background usually.

Thank you!

- What exact model Mac do you have?
- What OS version is it running?
- How much ram does it have?
- How full is your computers storage (gigs used & gigs free)?

* Nick

The last time we heard about this sort of message, it turned out to be malware.

So in addition to what Nick sagely suggested above, I'd add that as a preventative step download the free Malwarebytes anti-malware for Mac, do a scan, and toss anything it suggests you get rid of. Also uninstall any "cleanup" or "anti-virus" type programs *per the manufacturer's prescribed uninstall procedure*

pigoo3 said:

- What exact model Mac do you have?
- What OS version is it running?
- How much ram does it have?
- How full is your computers storage (gigs used & gigs free)?

* Nick

Click to expand...

Details of my Mac are in the attached image. Storage is 871.35 GB free of 999.35

Thank you chas_m for the idea. I can gust google the best malwarebytes for mac to find the best one to install?

There is only one.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

chas_m said:

There is only one.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

Click to expand...

Thank you so much chas_m!! So far, so good here. Any other advice is always appreciated, just in case things start acting up again. Many thanks though!

When was the last time you shutdown and/or even rebooted your Mac, or even booted up in Safe Boot mode — that can clear up some surplus stuff??

What are you running and doing when you get the message?? And how many apps etc???

What does Activity Monitor (Utilities) show what's going on???

Try running Safari and use it for a bit and see if it makes much difference.

And an answer to Nick's questions would sure help.

pm-r said:

When was the last time you shutdown and/or even rebooted your Mac, or even booted up in Safe Boot mode — that can clear up some surplus stuff??

What are you running and doing when you get the message?? And how many apps etc???

What does Activity Monitor (Utilities) show what's going on???

Try running Safari and use it for a bit and see if it makes much difference.

And an answer to Nick's questions would sure help.

Click to expand...

Hi @pm-r
-I've had to shut down the computer and restart number occasions. It helps but only for a bit, then things return to usual.
-The issue usually pops up when I'm using Firefox and only have a couple tabs open and with no additional apps running in back ground.
- When I've looked into Activity Monitor, it shows nothing exception happening, firefox using up the most activity but nothing exceptional.
-I did answer Nicks questions. I've added a screen shot to the response. I'll include it here, just below. Let me know if you can't access it.

Sorry I missed seeing the specs earlier.

But I guess you've been to the FF site and read their suggestions:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram

How many FF Extensions do you have enabled??

And for more suggestions, maybe try searching the web for more:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=GjqUVrOxOZLn-QOTkJ7IDg

Or, as suggested, give Safari a try.

malware/browser hijacks

chas_m said:

The last time we heard about this sort of message, it turned out to be malware.

So in addition to what Nick sagely suggested above, I'd add that as a preventative step download the free Malwarebytes anti-malware for Mac, do a scan, and toss anything it suggests you get rid of. Also uninstall any "cleanup" or "anti-virus" type programs *per the manufacturer's prescribed uninstall procedure*

Click to expand...

This appears to be the source of the issue on a MacBook Air one of our teachers has. A couple of browser hijacks were removed by the Malwarebytes scan (very quick scan, BTW). I still had to uninstall one component manually from Applications, then I performed a reboot.

I'll have to give it a couple of days to be sure, but it makes sense, especially when the Firefox startup page got changed.

FYI: Before coming across this thread/solution, I performed a PRAM reset per the Helpful answer at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474263?tstart=0, but that didn't resolve the issue.

I know the storage tab in About this Mac is infamously inaccurate but 871Gb free of 999Gb on a 2013 iMac? Surely that can't be right. That's barely enough for the OS and native apps. Is it possible that malware could effect Spotlight indexing?

Why ever not Rod? My iMac shows 50.12GB used of 512GB flash drive. I do not do iTunes, movies or photos and run full system, MS Office, Epson printer software etc. I think it is a little insulting to tell a user that they can't be using only 128GB of their hard drive.

Rod Sprague said:

I know the storage tab in About this Mac is infamously inaccurate but 871Gb free of 999Gb on a 2013 iMac? Surely that can't be right. That's barely enough for the OS and native apps. Is it possible that malware could effect Spotlight indexing?

Click to expand...

Hey Rod.... some of us are not junk collectors to all and everything to be stored on our Macs. I have a 1TB HDD in my iMac with only about 90 GB used; which means I have around 900 GB empty! And I run MS Office and Logos 6 both of which take up considerable space.

Considering the original issue in this thread was "System has run out of application memory" I think it's quite relevant to note that less than 20% of storage is in use. Despite exceptions which merely prove the rule the vast majority of users do use iTunes, Movies, Photos, have a few games and use considerably more than just the stock standard native apps. It is one of the most common problems brought to me, people on holiday who have filled thier Mac Book Air 128Gb with photos and music to the point that they can hardly operate the device.
I, like most of them only have one computer and have only ever had one computer at a time. My rMBP is the the product of 26 years of consecutive Apple devices, has 500Gb Storage with 167Gb free.
Most can only afford one desktop or laptop (not both) an iPhone and perhaps an iPad. So unless you have several computers, don't take photos or listen to music it is surprising (to me) that in three years only 187Gb is in use so I simply queried that. No question too stupid right?

Confirmed for me by the user (see my post from 10/18) -- no problems since a Malwarebytes scan identified & removed some browser hijacks.