How to Clear RAM on Mac

Last Updated: March 29, 2019 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to clear the RAM in macOS without having to do a hard reset. Using the "purge" command can help speed up your sluggish Mac by removing unneeded cached data from its memory.

Steps

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Open Finder

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. It’s on the Dock, you’ll usually find at the bottom of the screen.
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It’s in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

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A list of app icons will appear.
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It’s the black computer screen icon with a white prompt at its top-left corner.
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5
Type sudo purge at the prompt. This is the command that will clear the RAM and disk caches. ^{[1]
X
Research source}
- This will not delete any of your personal data.
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A password prompt will appear.
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The RAM and disk caches are now cleared.

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It won't let me type in my password, so I hit enter and it says that my profile is not a part of the sudoers file. What do I do?

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Sudo is the top administrative level on a Linux-based system such as a Mac. Typing in your password should not be running sudo. The sudoers file is a record of which users are allowed to run sudo, and all administrators should be on this list. I would recommend contacting Apple support, as this could be evidence of malware trying to gain administrative privileges.

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I typed in my password 3 times incorrectly, and it won't let me do anything. What should I do?

hope

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Shut it down and do it again, or restart the whole thing.

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When I go to Terminal and do a sudo purge, it doesn't let me type in my password to continue. What can I do?

Nuclearblowout

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Make sure you are in the Admin user. The terminal for older Macs may not let you use the terminal in an account besides the Admin one.

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How to Clear RAM on Mac

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