Is Monterey burning your memory away? Here are two reproducible memory leaks which could explain that, plus two more than might.
Activity Monitor
How this memory leak probably occurs, which apps it affects, and what you can do to avoid it completely.
What’s the difference between an app and kernel memory leak? How would you notice one, and how to investigate it, and (sometimes) work around the problem.
Your brand new M1 Mac is now unboxed. What next? Here’s a brief guide for anyone new to M1 Macs, which should spare you time and effort.
Using Activity Monitor and command tools to assess performance of a content caching server, and diagnosing problems from the log.
What you can learn about the processes running on your Mac, its processor cores, even the files which an app has open.
Your Mac has slowed to a crawl, with spinning beachballs and a juddery interface. You open Activity Monitor and read this.
Your Mac goes all sluggish, you open Activity Monitor, and there at the top of the CPU list is kernel_task, taking 100% or more. Why?
How to get all sorts of useful information about a running app or process from LaunchServices: and introduction to using lsappinfo.
What should you do with a Mac whose fans keeping coming on full blast, with high CPU loads from kernel_task, and sluggish performance?
The Eclectic Light Company 