13 Fixes For Your Computer Is Low On Memory Warning

What does “Your computer is low on memory” mean on a Mac?

“You have Low Memory” Mac virus is a potentially unwanted application (PUA), a part of the adware/scareware category that displays misleading warning messages. Programs like this display pop-ups, alerts, and other forms of promotional content to force the user to purchase such products or services. 

Users are lured into giving permission to the application that displays the pop-up to control their browsers and the data they store on them.

PUAs that display the said message have been spotted by cyber security experts, including, but not limited to:

• BeAware
• ScreenCapture.app
• ScreenSaver.app
• Spaces.app
• MacSecurityPlus

As the pop-up page states, the computer has a low amount of RAM, and it is recommended that the user closes some opened applications to free memory. 

Due to the pop-up hiding another window, the “Close” button from the first window also contributes to the consent option for the next pop-up. The result is that users click “Close” and the hidden button is clicked unintentionally as well. 

A disguised pop-up is a system window through which a rogue application requests potentially harmful capabilities or actions. For example, the app might request permission to control the browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Safari, etc.) in this deceptive manner. The app behind this pop-up can then attempt to access files and data stored in the browser, and exploit it in various ways once the permission is granted.

Additionally, users who attempt to uninstall the application displaying the message receive the message “Your computer is low on memory”. To avoid this pop-up, please remove the selected app right away if it appears.

How do I manually remove the “Your computer is low on memory” virus in Mac?

Almost all rogue applications are hidden deep within the system and do not appear in any list of installed software. Since there are numerous steps and programs that are being used to remove this malware, the process may appear confusing. The instructions are written so that anyone will be able to easily understand and follow them to remove malware.

It is very important that you follow the steps properly.

• Get rid of malicious profiles on your Mac

• Open the System Preferences on your Mac
• Navigate to the Profiles icon within the System Preferences window.
• Choose any suspicious profile you wish to remove using the Profile icon, and then click the – (minus) button to remove the profile.
• Remove any unfamiliar activity from your system

• Select Utilities from the Go menu in the Finder bar on your Mac
• Double-click the Activity Monitor icon on the Utilities screen.
• Check the Activity Monitor for any processes that look suspicious, such as MacSecurityPlus, Spaces, ScreenCapture, ScreenSaver, and BeAware. Focus on entries on the list that require a lot of resources in order to narrow down your search.
• You should rely on your own judgement when reviewing suspicious activity. If you see anything suspicious, click the Stop icon in the upper left-hand corner.
• Select the Force Quit option when a follow-up dialog appears asking if you are sure you want to stop the troublemaking process.
• Get rid of malicious apps on your Mac

• On your dock, click the Finder application.
• Click on “Applications” in the left pane of the Finder.
• The “Applications” screen will display a list of all the apps installed on your device. Once you’ve located the malicious app, right-click it, and click “Move to Trash”.
• Afterwards use “Empty Trash” to delete the contents of the Trash, including the program you just deleted.
• Verify and remove any malicious files

• The first step is to enable viewing of hidden directories by browsing to “/Users/Test/Library/Application Support”.
• Keep an eye out for suspicious files, anything you don’t remember downloading or that doesn’t sound like a genuine program. Make sure you move any malicious files to the Trash.
• In the Finder, click the Go menu icon again and select Go to Folder. The Command-Shift-G shortcut can also be used.
• Select /Library/LaunchAgents from the folder search dialog and click Go.
• Look for suspicious-looking items and drag any files or folders that don’t belong on the list to the Trash.
• Follow the same steps as above at the following location,

• ~/Library/LaunchAgents
• /Library/Application Support
• /Library/LaunchDaemons
• Remove malicious extensions from Safari, Chrome, or Firefox

• Open Safari browser, from the menu bar, select Safari, and click Preferences.
• Select Extensions within the preferences window, then select any suspicious extensions you have installed and click Uninstall.
• Launch Mozilla Firefox. Click the Open Menu (three horizontal lines) button in the top right corner of the screen.
• Open the Add-ons menu.
• If you find any suspicious add-ons installed, click the Remove button next to it/them.
• In Google Chrome, click the Chrome menu button (three horizontal lines) located in the top-right corner of the browser window. Choose More Tools from the dropdown menu and then click Extensions.
• The Extensions window allows you to find any installed suspicious extensions and discard them.
• Please note that most extensions are not necessary for normal browser operation, so you can safely uninstall them.
• Resetting your browser can help you resolve browser redirects and unwanted advertisements.

Here’s how to fix Low on Memory warning in Windows

A Windows message that states “Your computer has low memory” indicates that some apps are using too much space. Basically, it means that for some reason, your Windows resources are being drained. Although the pop-up window saying Your computer is low on memory isn’t a virus, one can cause it.

Whenever this occurs, all of the open programs on your Windows can start malfunctioning. There may be a problem with saving open work.

Fortunately, there are several ways we can resolve this issue. Usually, a simple reboot or system restart can do the trick. But if your issue persists, I hope that the following troubleshooting steps will be of assistance.

Solutions For Your Computer Is Low On Memory Warning

1. Disable Programs that consume too much memory
2. Disable Startup Programs
3. Manually increase Virtual Memory
4. Upgrade RAM
5. Update Windows to the Latest Version
6. Check and Repair Disk Errors
7. Run System CleanUp to Remove Junk and Temporary Files
8. Remove recently installed software
9. Use Windows Troubleshooter
10. Repair any error in your registry
11. Run a full system scan
12. Correct system errors
13. Disable Windows Memory Warnings

1. Disable Programs that consume too much memory

The easiest and fastest way to fix this issue is to stop programs that are consuming too much memory while your computer is running. When you press “Ctrl + Alt + Del” at the same time, you will bring up Task Manager.

If you open the Task Manager, you will see a list of all the open and running programs and their memory usage. 

Select the programs that are using a lot of memory and CPU usage then select End Task to close the selected programs or apps. You can also do the same with various processes by going to the processes tab. 

When you close these apps and processes, the memory allocated to them will be freed up. Freeing up this memory will allow your computer to run more efficiently. Within minutes, you will notice a change in the computer’s behavior.

2. Disable Startup Programs

It is possible that the computer is low on memory if there are many startup programs. Rather than enabling these programs, it is advisable to disable them here.

• Open the Task Manager.
• Go to the Startup tab.

• Under the Startup tab, right-click on a program to choose Disable.

If it fails to fix the low memory error in Windows just go to the next way.

3. Manually increase Virtual Memory

You can also increase virtual memory to resolve the low memory issue. Due to the lack of apps for this specific purpose, you’ll have to do it manually.

• Enter advanced system settings in the search of Windows and click on the first result. You can also press the Windows key + R key on your keyboard to add the Run dialog box, enter sysdm.cpl and hit OK to open the System Properties window.

• Under the Performance section, select the Advanced tab and click Settings.

• In the new window, click the Advanced tab again and click Change from the Virtual Memory panel.

• Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”.

• Click on one drive and then select Custom size. There is also a need to change the initial size (MB) and the maximum size (MB) in these two sections. 

• You should set sizes that are larger than the recommended size.
• Finally, click OK to save the changes.

4. Upgrade RAM

You can upgrade your RAM if you don’t have a lot of RAM and have a computer with low memory problems often. A RAM upgrade can help your Windows computer run faster and cause fewer system freezes or hangs.

It is generally recommended that the majority of you have at least 8GB of RAM. It’s a bit of a sweet spot. Gamers or those who need to run a lot of larger programs should have 12-16 GB.

Before installing new RAM, it’s a good idea to gauge how much RAM your computer can carry. It depends on the version of Windows and the motherboard. Furthermore, you must find out what type of RAM your computer can use.

All these things are important to consider, otherwise, your new memory won’t work with your computer. Once this is done, you can open the computer case and install the new memory.

Note: If you’re not a technical person, you may want to leave this to the professionals. A computer expert can assist you.

5. Update Windows to the Latest Version

Ensure that your Windows OS is up to date. In case you forgot, Microsoft constantly releases Windows updates to improve the system’s stability and fix various problems.

You can access the Windows Update section by typing update in the search box. This method works for all versions of Windows. Install the updates that are available through Windows Update.

Alternatively,

Go to “Settings”. To see if a new version of Windows has been released, click “Update & security” and click the “Check for updates” button under the Update status.

Install the update and restart your computer afterward, if there is one.

6. Check and Repair Disk Errors

Command Prompt allows you to perform a disk check.

• Start Command Prompt as administrator and type the command chkdsk C: /f followed by Enter. Your partition letter should replace C.

chkdsk displays a warning that it needs to fix the file, but it does not fix any errors if you do not specify the /f parameter.

chkdsk C: /f detects and repairs logical problems affecting your drive. Run the chkdsk C: /r parameter as well to repair physical issues.

7. Run System CleanUp to Remove Junk and Temporary Files

By deleting junk and temporary files and folders, you can also fix the “Your computer is low on memory” issue. Using a free PC disk cleaning tool will help you make it work seamlessly.

In addition to scanning your computer for inactive files that hog disk space, the software allows you to remove useless large files, system junk files, and invalid entries on your Windows OS. The system cleaning process will then be initiated.

8. Remove recently installed software

Try uninstalling any recently installed new software to fix the problem if you weren’t experiencing the problem before.

• Click on Start, then type Control Panel. Click Uninstall on the recently added program(s).

• Restart your computer, and check if the issue is resolved.

9. Use Windows Troubleshooter

Your Computer is low on memory error messages that can appear when a program or other third-party application does not function properly. If this is the case, you can run Windows Troubleshooter and perform system maintenance.

• To start troubleshooting, click on the Start button and type Troubleshooting into the search box.
• In the Troubleshooting window, click View All (located on the left panel) and then click System Maintenance.
• Tap on Next and wait while your system runs the troubleshooting steps.

You can also use Windows 10‘s built-in troubleshooting tool to solve the issue.

Open settings and choose Update and Security.

There is a Troubleshooting option here, which will usually list any errors in the system. 

You may also click on Additional Troubleshooter to get a more advanced list of other troubleshooters to scan for malware, software or memory issues.

10. Repair any error in your registry

You may also receive the Your computer is low on memory popup when your system files, such as registry files, are corrupted. Using the built-in System File Checker in Microsoft’s operating system is a good method to check for system file corruption. The utility will scan and verify the integrity of all protected system files and repairs those that have problems.

• In the Search box, type cmd.
• Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator.
• Now type the sfc /scannow command, and press Enter.

• Wait for the scanning process to complete and then restart your computer. 

If corrupted system files cause the computer to have low memory, the problem will be solved.  

11. Run a full system scan

You might receive the Your Computer is low on memory alert when malicious files are installed. In this case, you only need a strong antivirus program and an antimalware tool. 

Perform a full scan of your system to make sure that your computer is free from malware. You can use built-in antivirus in Windows or a third-party antimalware program to scan.

12. Correct system errors

Usually, system errors are caused by hidden, unnecessary program leftovers, junk files left over after program uninstallation, old registry keys, etc. These can sometimes cause the “Your computer is low on memory” error message to appear. 

You can either eliminate these manually or with the help of third-party software to free disk space and reduce memory usage.

13. Disable Windows Memory Warnings

For systems with RAM less than 4GB, this method is not recommended as a solution to the “Your computer is low on memory” error message.

In order to do this, we need to stop DLL files radardt.dll and radarrs.dll from being loaded by Diagnostics.

By pressing Windows Key + R, type “Regedit” and hit enter, the Registry Editor will open.

Navigate to and open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Click on the System folder.

Under System, click Current Control Set.

WDI is located under the Control folder, so click on that.

After that, you should find and delete the following registry keys in the DiagnosticModules folder.

{5EE64AFB-398D-4edb-AF71-3B830219ABF7}

{45DE1EA9-10BC-4f96-9B21-4B6B83DBF476}

{C0F51D84-11B9-4e74-B083-99F11BA2DB0A}

Please restart your computer once you’ve completed this process. 

This will fix your computer and no longer be any low-memory error message.

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