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What is iChat Helper and why is is using 1 GB of RAM????

paul.b.davis

paul.b.davis

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Well, the title says it all, but here it is again

What is iChat Helper and why is is using 1 GB of RAM?

Is it safe to quit it (from Activity Monitor) or will this cause some kind of problem?

BTW I am not running iChat right now and it is still taking up all that memory
 
Well, whatever it is, it seems to be having some kind of memory leak, as it should not be using an entire gig of RAM. It should be safe to quit it, but does it seem to happen all the time or just every once in a while?
 
This was the first time I noticed it.

I am a freak about how much RAM I am using for some reason, and when I noticed the little pie graph in my dock was mostly black (I changed the colors to match my wallpaper better) I opened it up and saw that, I will keep tabs on it from now on
 
Peace said:
I know there's an iChatAgent..Are you sure it's not using 1GB Virtual memory?
Click to expand...
thats it, iChat agent, and yes I am quite sure it was under the column "Real Memory" in activity monitor


p.s. what is the difference between real and virtual memory anyway
 
paul.b.davis said:
thats it, iChat agent, and yes I am quite sure it was under the column "Real Memory" in activity monitor


p.s. what is the difference between real and virtual memory anyway
Click to expand...

Real Memory is just that, RAM that you actually have installed. I have 1.25GB of Real Memory.

Virtual Memory, as I understand it, is what the application thinks it has. So, an application may have 100MB of Real Memory, but 1GB of Virtual Memory. That means that it is only using 100MB of RAM (which is the primary concern) but then has 900MB of space from the hard drive that it can call upon.

I think i got that right.
 
I've run into the same exact issue. Even after force quitting ichatagent and reopening ichat, the leak is still there... it just keeps on chewing memory. What version of OSX are you running? I didn't notice this until 10.5.1 but it may have also been on 10.5.0.
 
I have the same issue

Just noticed it today actually. I have been seeing Safari eat up between 500-900MB of Real Memory, so I have been watching memory and just noticed today that iChatAgent is using 960.MB real/1.77GB Virtual. Safari has a similar issue, and between the two of them right now, they are 960MB/618MB respectively.

I think both of these apps have a memory leak.

If I shut them down and restart they are well below 100MB real memory. In fact, iChatAgent after a restart is 4.4MB. Over time, they both creep back up.

OSX 10.5
iMac Intel 2.4 Core 2 Duo
4GB memory
 
Safari uses up about 300 for me. It is my biggest memory hog, unless I'm running PS. LastFM uses a disturbing amount of info for such a little program as well, at about 66-70.
 
For me iChatAgent is only using 4.15 MB of Real Memory and 729 MB Virtual Memory. Safari is my biggest and is at 134 MB and 955 MB Virtual.

snverhallen
 
Mine too

If i return from several hours of not using my Mac, iChat Agent will be using 200MB or more of real memory. I've posted a screenshot. Safari seems fine as I have several tabs open, but, as you can see, iChat is not even running. It's just that little menu bar icon that's keeping me signed on to AIM.
 

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Any luck?

ichatagent is using 487 MB of real mem for me. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
 
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