If you’re continuously using the Mac without regular clean ups then it may eat up space on your hard drive and slow down it. Here is the quick guide on how to clean up your Mac in five steps.
Step 1- Delete the Large Unused Apps
Most of the users have the unused applications that are large and occupy the considerable storage on your Mac. In order to clean up the Mac, make a note that you need the MacOS Sierra or later version to have the cleaning feature working. The earlier versions of Mac lack the storage management tool. Make sure you take the full backup before deleting the apps from the Mac. Follow the below-mentioned process to clean up the Mac having unused applications.
1. Choose the ‘About this Mac’ by going to the Apple menu.
2. Choose the storage tab and click on manage.
3. Select the Applications from the extreme left corner of the screen.
4. Choose the size pressing the drop-down button to have the apps from largest to smallest.
5. You can also check here the apps with the last access.
6. Find the list of apps that you no longer require and click the X button.
7. The prompting window will come where you have to select the remove button tab.
Step 2- Clean the Cache
The prime reason for the slowing down of your Mac is the cache that accumulates over the period of time. Caches are temporary files that improve the speed of the data when reloaded again. These caches can be library cache, app cache, browser cache, system cache and many more. If you’re the continuous user of the system then you should know that it is important to clean up the cache regularly as it gets accumulated with time. Simply deleting them won’t be a permanent solution as there are left over which builds over the passage of time. Follow the below-mentioned process to clean up the cache completely
- From the dock, select the Finder icon.
- Click to the Go menu which you can find in the upper left corner
- Select ‘Go to Folder’
- Get the list of caches by typing ~/Library/Caches
- Lastly, right-click the folder that you wish to delete and send it to the trash.
Step 3- Uninstall Unused Applications
This is one of the most important steps of the Mac cleanup guide. The main space that gets consumed on the Mac is with the applications. You should at least delete the apps that are unused. Well, if you think that sending the apps to the trash can delete them completely then you’re absolutely wrong as there are many left over that occupy the space in the memory. In order to clean them up completely, you should navigate through the below folders and delete them.
- Crashes are located in ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/
- App preferences are located in ~/Library/Preferences/
- Support Caches can be found in /Library/Caches/ and ~/Library/Caches
- App states are found in ~/Library/Saved Application State/
- Application files are found in ~/Library/Caches.
- Binary and dock icons are found in /Applications/
- Plugins can be found in ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/
- The library can be located in ~/Library/
Step 4 – Clean up Apps Consuming More Power
There are some apps that consume more power while running. You should use the activity monitor to see the power that the apps are using. In fact, you will be able to see the five details namely CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network. In order to clean up the Mac, you should select the ‘-‘ button and remove the apps that you think is occupying more power and they are unused too.
Step 5- Remove the Large and Old Files
This is one of the most important ways of cleaning up the Mac. You can perform this easily and quickly by using the Finder. Open the new window in the Finder. You will be able to see the search box in the top right corner of the screen. Press the asterisk in the search box. Add the ‘+’ icon which you will find below the search box. Apply the filter#1 for the size of the file. Next up, apply the filter #2 for the ‘is greater than’. Enter the size say 20 GB. You can also select the GB or MB option in the third column. When you apply these filters then you will able to see the results matching your criteria. You should simply delete the large and old files from the list. It is also important to delete the old files when you have its updated version as it occupies the unnecessary space on your Mac.
These are the important steps which you should follow to clean up your Mac and have superpower performance for your Mac.
