Mac OS X "Task Manager"

[TrumanApple]

In windows, you can press Control + Alt + Delete to bring up a task manager that says exactly what programs are hogging what portion of your RAM. I was wondering how i could do the same in OS X tiger. I have a rev A 1.42ghz mini with 1gb of ram and average around 250-300 in free ram... that means that i am using like 750 mbs or so of ram constantly. I want to know where this is going. For instance, right now i have safari, mail, adium, and finder open and have 300 mb of free ram, meaning 724 used or so. Where is this RAM going.

PS: i coudlnt be happier with the performance of this machine, but would never reccommend anyone running under 1gb (all users that is).

 

[stridey]

In windows, you can press Control + Alt + Delete to bring up a task manager that says exactly what programs are hogging what portion of your RAM. I was wondering how i could do the same in OS X tiger. I have a rev A 1.42ghz mini with 1gb of ram and average around 250-300 in free ram... that means that i am using like 750 mbs or so of ram constantly. I want to know where this is going. For instance, right now i have safari, mail, adium, and finder open and have 300 mb of free ram, meaning 724 used or so. Where is this RAM going.

PS: i coudlnt be happier with the performance of this machine, but would never reccommend anyone running under 1gb (all users that is).

/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app is what you want.

 

[eva01]

Lets look at it this way. Why would you want unused RAM? what is the point in having all this RAM if your computer never uses it? OS X does a very good job at using all its RAM no matter how many programs. You can have 4 programs open and use the same amount of RAM if 8 programs were open. Unused RAM is just wasteful.

Activity Monitor shows where your RAM is and that is located in the Utilities folder of the Applications folder

 

[greatdevourer]

For the quick thing (like in pre 2000 Pro systems), press 'cmd option esc'. For the full thing (like in 2000 and XP), go to Apps:Utils:Activity Monitor

 

[abhishekit]

I have a rev A 1.42ghz mini with 1gb of ram and average around 250-300 in free ram... that means that i am using like 750 mbs or so of ram constantly.

I guess, one more thing to keep in mind is total ram-free ram != used ram.
total ram=active ram+inactive ram+free ram.
And I think you can only qualify active ram as 'used ram'.

cheers

 

[wPod]

Activity Monitor is good. But it is actually a processor hog. it easily eats up 5-10% of proccessing power. which i think is a complete waste. check out the SysStat widget:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/sysstat.html

i like it and it works well. and all you have to do is hit F12 (or whatever your dashboard hot-key is) and its there! plus it tells you a lot more than just RAM usage.

 

[TrumanApple]

Also, i know there is a way to trace a ping... like through locations... how do i do that?

 

[yellow]

traceroute in the terminal, or via "Network Utility" for the non-Guified-challenged.

 

[YoYoMac]

Activity Monitor is good. But it is actually a processor hog. it easily eats up 5-10% of proccessing power. which i think is a complete waste. check out the SysStat widget:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/sysstat.html

i like it and it works well. and all you have to do is hit F12 (or whatever your dashboard hot-key is) and its there! plus it tells you a lot more than just RAM usage.

Thanks for that link

 

[DJY]

SysStat widget is great!
The two Aussie guys behind this widget and a heap of other great widgets, are always working behind the scenes to constantly improve their work as well!

I also heard that they are planning a major upgrade in the not too distant future!