How to clean your MacBook of unnecessary files manually. How to clear memory on a Mac by deleting the Other section
Computers Mac have never been distinguished by large capacity, only if we are not talking about top models Mac mini and iMac. Therefore, filling the free space occurs quite quickly, taking into account using iTunes and iPhoto, which often make you forget to delete duplicate content from your computer. Over time, after the disk gradually fills up, a message will pop up on the screen that all free space has already been taken, which means there is nothing to do, you need to clean it. We offer you methods that can precede a serious cleanup.
Programs like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Photoshop or Spotify create a lot of additional temporary files during their work, which are automatically deleted after finishing work. If you do not exit the application for a long time, the number of files constantly grows, clogging up your computer's memory. To avoid this, you need to restart applications separately and the entire computer from time to time - this will also help maintain system stability and avoid freezes during operation.
2. Clear the “Downloads” folder
Few people pay attention to this folder called “Downloads”, because it is intended only for downloading pirated content from the Internet. Due to frequent clutter, it is in this folder that a lot of documents and files are collected, which eat up free space in the computer’s memory. By sorting by size, you can see exactly how much space each file takes up and remove those that are too large.
3. Reboot and update the system
Often, while working, our computer also leaves a lot of unnecessary elements in memory that take up a lot of space. free space on the computer. When you reboot, they are all deleted from the computer's memory, clearing space. You should never hesitate to update your system, since updates may bring the same files, but they will take up less space. In addition, updates will help optimize the space used.
4. Empty the trash
No matter how trivial it may sound, emptying the trash can free up tens of GB on your computer. When you delete files in OS X, they are sent to the Recycle Bin, where you can return them. Because of this “pardoning” of files, they practically do not change their size when they get into the trash. After a month, the recycle bin can take up tens of GB of free space. Pressing the “Clear” button will take one second, and the results will be instantaneous.
To efficiently clean up space on your computer, developers create individual applications. Among them, it is worth noting the application of Ukrainian developers Clean My Mac which can be purchased at Mac App Store. It not only deletes files from the computer, but also searches the entire disk for hidden files, unnecessary objects and obsolete elements. When you remove an application, Clean My Mac will completely uninstall it, carefully checking to see if there are any directories left. In other words, Clean My Mac is a computer cleaner.
One more good app is OmniDiskSweeper. The application scans HDD and shows how much space each one takes up separate element, and where it is located. The program is an excellent tool for cleaning up disk space.
A cache is a special place where temporary files are stored for quick access to them. For example, web browsers (Safari, Chrome and others) use cache memory to fast loading frequently visited pages. Programs also use their own cache to speed up work.
What difficulties can arise due to the cache? Firstly, even after you uninstall the program, the cached files remain on same place. Their total volume can reach several gigabytes! Just imagine how much hard drive space you can free up if you regularly clean your computer of these files. Secondly, sometimes the application cache is damaged, which entails a number of other problems: the program may not start, work slowly or incorrectly, or reboot on its own. Deleting cache files may help resolve these issues.
Movavi Mac Cleaner will do a great job of clearing the cache on Mac OS - simple and convenient program to remove any unnecessary files and programs on your computer. To learn how to clear the cache on a Mac, download Mac Cleaner and follow the simple instructions below.
1. Install the program
Open installation file and follow the instructions on your computer screen.
2. Assess the health of your Mac
Launch Mac Cleaner and wait while the program calculates the number of unnecessary files on your computer.
3. Delete cache and other unnecessary files
Most quick way get rid of the cache - use the auto-clear function. Just click Start cleaning, and the program will safely clear the cache, system log and recycle bin.
To clear the cache manually, open the desired tab in the section System cleaning depending on what type of cache you want to clear ( User cache or System cache). In each of the tabs you can select separate files and folders to be deleted. You can also specify the cache type in the tab General by moving the switches User cache And System cache V required positions, and select files and folders to delete by clicking Details opposite each switch. To clear the cache, click Start cleaning.
One of the reasons is insufficient free space on the hard drive. In this article we will share tips with which you can free up space on your hard drive. Mac drive.
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Remove disk images
For many Mac users, in folder Downloads located a large number of disk images with programs that were needed only for installing programs, but now just take up disk space. To get rid of disk images once and for all, open the folder Downloads V Finder. Then enter the phrase "disk image" in the search field. Now you can immediately delete all .dmg and .iso files that are taking up space on your hard drive.
Removing email attachments
If you are using standard application Mail in OS X, then when viewing attached files, the system saves them in separate folder on your hard drive. After several months of working with mail client, the folder size can grow to several GB.
The easiest way to find this folder is using . In the search box, enter "Mail Downloads".
If this method does not work, then use the function Finder- go to the folder Shift+Cmd+G. Enter in the field:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail
Clearing the cache
We often hear advice that you need to clear the cache if you have any problems with your browser. However, OS X stores a large number of cache files, and not only related to the browser. You can find all the cache files in the ~/Library/Caches folder. You can also use special program Cocktail is the most convenient utility for deleting cache files and more.
The free version has a limit of 10 launches, later you can buy a license for $20.
Remove unnecessary program files
If you, like me, often install new applications to try out and then delete them, then you probably know that files associated with them still remain on the system. To easily delete these files, use free program AppTrap.
AppTrap constantly working in background, and is activated only when you delete an application to the trash. At the same time, in the window AppTrap The files associated with this program will appear. You can leave them or also add them to your cart.
Although latest models Apple computers equipped with terabyte hard drives, users are constantly surprised to discover that the hard drive is filled to capacity with data. In addition, today ultra-fast ones are gaining popularity, but are not yet very spacious. SSD drives. Even a very modest iTunes or iPhoto library can fill almost the entire 64- or 128-GB disk. The publication DeepApple, with reference to the Macworld article, publishes 7 simple tips How to free up space on your Mac hard drive. Please note: before using these instructions, we recommend creating a backup copy of your information in Time Machine.
Every time you view photos or documents sent to you on email, Mail saves these files in the Mail Downloads folder. If you are not taking a large amount mail attachments, this folder will remain practically empty, but if you regularly exchange files via email, it will “grow fat” quite quickly. It won't take us much time and effort to fix this. Just call context menu Finder, select the “Go To Folder” item in it and type ~/Library/Mail Downloads, and clean out all the accumulated junk. At the same time, there is a chance that the network downloads folder takes up a fair amount of megabytes, or even gigabytes. Look there, save everything you need, and erase the rest with a clear conscience.
Tip 2: Delete unused copies of movies and videos.
It often happens that you, for example, download a new movie or the next season of a TV series, compress it into MP4 format, upload it to your iPhone, watch it on the road, but the full-size original still lives on your hard drive. It is extremely rare that you then review the same episodes on big computer, so after compressing films to fit the format mobile device– Remove heavy originals.
Tip 3: Subscribe to iTunes service Match.
As a rule, the music collection only grows over time, because who knows, maybe in six months or a year we will again want to listen to Avril Lavigne or System of a Down, which have not been played for 2 years. At the same time, we come across new interesting artists, our favorite bands release new albums - and the iTunes library grows like a snowball. When used, we can free up a decent amount of gigabytes from our disk, and at the same time be able to access our music compositions and “stream” them directly to our Mac or iPhone connected to the same account.
Tip 4: Take advantage cloud service data storage.
If you use the Dropbox service, then you know that even in free version this service cloud storage data provides 2 gigabytes of space, which means you can free up exactly the same amount on your hard drive. To do this, you can use the “Selective Sync” function, which allows you to delete from hard drive content sent to the cloud. To do this, go to the Preferences –> Advanced menu and specify the required folders.
If you have some kind of personal dislike for - there are dozens of other similar services at your service, the most popular of them are,.
Tip 5: Delete old iPhone, iPod and iPad backups.
If you regularly update the firmware and often sync your iPhone with iTunes, then the application creates dozens of backup copies of your device, and they often eat up a significant number of gigabytes of disk space. To find old backups, launch iTunes, select the Settings menu item and click on the Devices icon. Here you will see a list of all the backups that iTunes managed to make while working with your gadget. If you are sure that you do not need them, feel free to delete them.
There is one more thing related to your portable device, which often eats up a lot of free gigabytes. Yes, these are downloaded software update files. iTunes downloads them, but does not delete them after use, wasting your money. disk space. Removing them can free up a significant number of gigabytes, and if you need them again, iTunes will download them from the servers again Apple updates. So, go to ~/Library/iTunes/, and look there iPhone folder Software Updates, iPad Software Updates, and iPod Software Updates. Feel free to delete them and enjoy another portion of free gigabytes.
Tip 6: Use DaisyDisk to determine the most large files on Mac.
The biggest space eaters on your hard drive are files and folders that you forgot about, or that have grown without your knowledge, like the folder with backup copies iOS devices. There are a huge number of utilities that allow you to find such candidates for removal. Our choice is the DaisyDisk utility. This program allows you to scan connected drives and displays a sector-by-sector diagram of the file system. The “thicker” the folder, the larger the corresponding sector. This way you can see at a glance where to dig for large files.
Tip 7: Get into local network dedicated storage.
One of the most simple ways save free space on a Mac disk - this means creating a dedicated network drive, and storing heavy files not locally, but in home network. To put it simply, a 1-4 terabyte drive is connected to the local network, and your computer connects to it via WiFi. Using Time Capsule Data transfer speed will be up to 18 megabytes per second. As a rule, on similar drives store “heavy” files - movies, iTunes library, installation disk images, etc. Well, and any other data that you don’t need on the road.
Remember how fast your Mac was when you first bought it? How did it load instantly and open websites and apps smoothly? Over time, your Mac becomes full various applications, system updates, documents, photographs and many other files that cause a slowdown effect. If you want to make your Mac as fast as it was when you first took it out of the box, we've got some helpful tips for you.
1. Clear the startup list
Most of the applications you install are automatically added to the startup list, and every time you turn on or restart your Mac, the system is forced to waste resources to launch all these applications and services. As long as there are few of them, they do not have a significant impact on performance, but sooner or later this moment comes.
Fortunately, in OS X it is very convenient to control and regulate all this “economy”:
- Opening system settings and go to the section Users and groups.
- Choose yours account in the list on the left and open the tab Login objects.
- We carefully review the list and leave only those applications that you really need immediately after starting the system. We mercilessly remove all the rest from there by highlighting and pressing the button – .
2. Update to the latest version of OS X
Your Mac should update itself, but it's a good idea to make sure your computer is running the latest OS. This can be easily checked with using Mac App Store. Just open the application and go to the tab Updates. The icon will show the quantity available updates, which you can download both together and individually. For the future, it would be a good idea to check and enable the function automatic download and installing updates in the section App Store system settings.
3. Putting the disk in order
One of the best ways system performance prevention is to clean your hard drive from various files that you no longer need. The category of such files includes all kinds of logs, caches, temporary files, extensions, duplicate files and much, much more. To find and remove this file garbage, you can resort to special applications or use Disk Utility.
- Let's launch Disk Utility and select your hard drive in the menu on the left
- Go to the tab First aid and press the button Check, and then To correct.
- The system will start scanning and correct errors if any are found.
After that, check your home folder and other folders on the disk, looking for cache or temporary files that you no longer need. If you don’t want to delve into the depths of the file system, it’s better to use a specialized utility.
4. Checking for gluttonous processes
If you notice a drop in performance while working on your Mac, using System Monitor you can easily determine which application is eating up all your resources.
- Opening System monitoring from folder Programs - Utilities.
- Switching between tabs CPU And Memory and browsing running processes, we find applications that consume excessive amounts of resources.
- If you find a process consuming more than 90% (not a root process), feel free to terminate it using the button Complete.
5. Delete unused localization files
Every Mac has a ton of unused language files. Usually we use Russian and English, but the rest of the localizations that developers supply their applications with remain “dead weight” on the hard drive. You can remove them manually (a very tedious process) or use some special application. For example, the same CleanMyMac can do this and when cleaning, it always scans, among other “garbage” file system, including the presence of unused language files.
6. Clean the desktop
Some users prefer to store files and application shortcuts on the desktop, considering it very convenient. Not really. Because the system has to handle all of these connections over time, this approach to storing and organizing your workspace can negatively impact system performance and responsiveness. Therefore, remove all unused icons and move documents and files to appropriate folders. Better yet, check out our guide to achieving desk zen.
7. Disable widgets
Widgets are miniature applications located on a specially designated desktop. You can add as many different widgets as you like, such as a virtual aquarium, an interactive calendar or a convenient weather informer. While some of them perform useful tasks and help you, many simply consume resources, thereby slowing down system performance. Therefore, audit your Dashboard and disable or delete all unnecessary widgets that you do not use - this will free up memory and increase system responsiveness.
All of the above tips are more relevant for owners of old Macs or machines with insufficient capacity random access memory. The slowdown effect on newer computers will be almost unnoticeable or noticeable even at the most advanced stages (monitoring tools). However, in any case, prevention and putting things in order have never bothered anyone. ;)