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You can quickly check the memory on your Mac if you think it's running low.
- You can check the memory on a Mac computer in its Activity Monitor.
- The memory pressure graph will let you check your memory. In basic terms, if the graph appears green, you have a lot of memory left; if it appears red, your memory is low. Yellow means it's somewhere in the middle.
- Regardless of your memory pressure, you should backup your Mac to iCloud or an external hard drive on a regular basis to save storage and keep your memory fresh.
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Computers are extremely powerful machines, allowing you to tap into the vastness of the internet and create everything from documents to videos, and more.
But you only have so much room to work with, and at a certain point, you're going to have to get clear out space on your Mac to make room for more.
You should backup your Mac computer on a regular basis, and adding a cloud-based storage (or an external harddrive) to that routine is a great way to ensure that you're not using too much of your memory, which can slow you down.
Checking your current memory usage is a good first step to figure out if and when you need to back up.
Here's how to find out how much memory your Mac is currently using:
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How to check the memory on a Mac
1. Open your Finder, located in the dock at the bottom of your screen.
2. On the left sidebar, select "Applications" and then scroll down and open the "Utilities" folder.
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Click on the Utilities folder.
3. Double click on "Activity Monitor."
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Click on the Activity Monitor.
4. Toggle over to the "Memory" section, located toward the top of the Activity Monitor window.
5. Look at the bottom of the window to see your current memory usage information.
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Scroll down to find your Memory Pressure.
The color of the "memory pressure" graph will give you an idea about how much of your available memory you're using.
Green indicates that you have memory available, while red means that your memory is depleted and macOS is using your startup drive for memory (in this case, Apple recommends you quit apps or install more RAM). Yellow indicates memory is available, but your Mac is beginning to run memory-management processes.
Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:
How to reset a Mac computer to its factory default settings
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How to backup your Mac computer using Time Machine or iCloud
How to backup an iPhone to iCloud, your computer, or an external hard drive
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