Clearing memory on a MacBook. Welcome to the Mac Optimization Series
With this review-instruction we we continue the series of publications, dedicated to the fight for free space on your Mac. Last time we removed “duplicates” of files, and today we will clear the system of accumulated “garbage”.
Using a Mac, we constantly record, copy, and delete something. We install new programs, services and services. And now, there comes a time when one or another application is no longer needed, or the space simply runs out (this is especially true for owners of a MacBook with a 128 GB drive). What are we doing? That's right - select the required file, folder or program, drag it to the trash and empty its contents. That's it, the memory is freed.
Have you ever wondered whether files are completely deleted from your system? Doesn't it remain hidden files after removal? For many, the answers to these questions are no longer a secret. After deleting files or programs, a number of “residual” files remain on the system, which over time taking up more and more space on a hard drive or SSD drive.
Traditional retreat. You can easily solve the problem of lack of space: buy external storage or create an account in any of a dozen popular cloud services. But carrying the disk itself with you, or monitoring the operation of network “crutches” is not the easiest or most convenient task. First, we recommend cleaning up. local memory, and then think about the external one.
You can use the “standard” method - manually scrupulously analyze the contents of directories in order to search for “tails” remote programs, files or folders. But why? Today we will tell you how you can do this easily and naturally, in just two clicks. The program will help us with this Clean My Mac 3 from MacPaw, Inc.
First I would like to say a few words about why Clean My Mac 3 no on Mac App Store. The fact is that the application has quite advanced functions, such as clearing the system cache, logs, cleaning language packs and localization files. This is what prevents him from getting into MAS.
Installation
To get started you will need to download installation file and open it. Next, you need to drag the application into the Applications folder and run.
Immediately after this, a small icon in the form of an iMac with a “janitor” will appear in the status bar, by clicking on which you can see the status of the drives, the load random access memory and baskets. When you hover over the RAM and Recycle Bin shortcuts, a “clear” button appears. With its help, you can free up RAM or storage space occupied by deleted files.
To launch the program, you can click on the “Show Clean My Mac 3” button or by clicking on the corresponding shortcut in Launchpad. When you first start the application, you will be prompted to purchase a license or enter an existing key. By clicking on the "later" button you will activate trial period during which you can evaluate all the capabilities of the program and remove 500 MB of “garbage”. Once the limit is used up, you will not be able to delete found files.
Interface
The application interface is designed in pleasant colors and is intuitive. To start the cleaning procedure, you just need to select “Smart cleaning” or another module, which is located in the menu on the left and press the “start” button.
On the right top corner there is a mode icon “ monitoring" Clicking on it takes us to a page with detailed information about the current state of the system, namely: data on the drive, size and load of RAM, frequency and usage (in %) of the processor. Information about the model of your Mac and the amount of space cleared while using the program is also displayed.
Settings
Before you start searching and removing “garbage”, it is advisable configure the application to suit your needs. For this purpose in top menu OS X, click on the name of the program and select the “settings” menu section.
And in the window that opens, change required parameters. You can select the modules that will participate in Smart Cleaning or configure the application launch schedule. It is also possible to configure notifications when values that are critical for you are reached free space on the drive or adding exceptions.
Removing "garbage"
After we have configured the application for ourselves, it’s time to start cleaning. Our choice fell on "smart cleaning". To activate it, select the appropriate mode in the left menu and press the “start” button.
After these two simple steps, the process of searching for objects to delete begins. And in the window that opens you can see the progress.
In the settings, we specified 5 groups of files that will participate in “smart cleaning”.
1. System. Removes "service garbage":
- outdated cache;
- old magazines;
- unnecessary executable files;
- unused language files;
- corrupted program data.
2. Mail:
- deletes locally stored attachments;
- deletes recoverable downloads in Mail.
3. iTunes. Removes unnecessary data:
- old backups;
- outdated software update files;
- Copies of programs;
- incomplete downloads.
4. Basket.
Everything is clear here, all the contents of the recycle bin are deleted.
5. Other files.
These include large files (from 50 MB) in size, which long time didn't open. Before marking them for deletion, Clean My Mac will offer to review them and mark those that are unnecessary. The data is sorted by size, you can, for example, select files larger than 5 GB or from 500 MB to 1 GB.
After you have marked unnecessary files, click “clear” and the removal procedure starts. The first time you do this, you will need to enter the administrator password.
The application will ask you to close the programs whose data it is going to clean. Conveniently, this can be done directly from the pop-up window.
Once the procedure is complete, Clean My Mac notifies of successful completion and displays the amount of freed disk space. Including overall progress since the start of using the application. You can immediately brag about the result to your friends via Twitter or Facebook.
Additional features
In addition to the main function - “cleaning up junk”, the application has additional features, which will speed up your Mac.
1. Uninstaller.
Completely removes installed Mac applications, including system settings and auxiliary files that often remain on the system after normal deletion.
2. Service.
You've been dumping for a long time DNS cache? Do you know that it is because of him that some sites may not open or, in general, can the network “slow down”? Clean My Mac 3 will help you fix this, you just need to run the appropriate procedure.
Or, for example, the “speed up Mail” script. With its help, the application rebuilds the Mail program database, thereby improving search performance and speed.
You can also recreate the launch services databases and the photos will begin to open again in standard application"View Pictures" and music in iTunes.
3. Privacy.
Using this utility, you can permanently clear your browsing history in browsers, Skype data and iMessage.
4. Extensions.
Here you can disable or remove extensions, widgets, plugins and other junk installed on your Mac. It's actually quite interesting to see how many "useful" add-ons have access to Contacts or Safari.
5. Shredder.
Last accessible utility is the good old shredder. With its help you can permanently remove necessary files in just two clicks. You can even delete items that are currently in use in the Finder without causing any subsequent errors.
In conclusion, we can say that MacPaw succeeded in creating real worthwhile program . For a visual comparison, we will demonstrate the results of scanning unnecessary files using the SimpleCleaner application.
When you download several movies or TV series and then delete them after watching, you may wonder where the free space on your Mac’s disk went?
That is, even after deleting files, disk space may not be freed up. The same thing can happen not when deleting files, but when moving them to external drive.
A very pressing problem for people working with graphics. When working with video, for example, the cache can store both 10 and 25 GB - this is not the limit, it all depends on the volume of source materials. When working with 3D software, the numbers are slightly smaller.
Now you can think about it: if every program on a computer makes notes for itself, how much volume can they take from hard drive. And if you add to this the files in the trash, outdated backups Time Machine, files that are copied by iTunes into my documents, Browser caches (Safari, Chrome, Yandex, etc.) - the number is not small.
Do you still have questions: Where does the disk space go? I think now you have another question, how to clean it all up!
Clearing the disk of temporary files and program caches
Emptying the Trash
In some cases, a message may appear stating that it is impossible to delete files, this is due to the fact that the files, even when moved to the trash, continue to be used by programs such as Bittorent, Skype, etc.
Solved by turning off running third party programs or reboot if these programs are not installed in your startup!
Complete everything running applications using a key combination cmd+Q.
By the way, there is also a convenient keyboard shortcut for emptying the trash can.
When you're in the Finder, just tap Shift + Option + Command + Delete and the basket will be cleared immediately without confirmation.
To empty the trash with a pop-up confirmation window, click: Shift + Command + Delete
Although I think you have already done this, so let's move on to more interesting actions.
Clearing Browser Cache
If you spend a lot of time on the Internet and have never cleared your browser cache and cookies, then they can take up quite a lot of space on your hard drive. Cleaning in different types browsers is the same type, but has slight differences!
Safari. In the left corner (next to the apple) click on safari and select clear history, the important point is to select “All history” in the next window.
Chrome and Yandex. Similar situation. In the right corner, click on the button with dots - history - history - clear history. We select everything except the saved passwords for all time and clean it.
It's the same in other browsers...
To clear the cache from other programs, such a simple method is not always available.
- We use the utility to clear the cache and temporary files. For example CCleaner, it will clear all temporary information for you.
- Open the window Finder and using a combination Shift+cmd+G go to ~/Library/Caches directory, select all files and folders with cmd+A and move everything to Cart. If prompted, enter your password.
- Once again using the keyboard shortcut Shift+cmd+G, now go to the /Library/Caches folder. Do the same thing - delete all files and folders.
Afterwards we empty the trash and reboot!
Continue to free up free space on your Mac drive
On Mac laptops, starting with OS X Lion (10.7), if you had Time Machine enabled, the function of creating file system snapshots, also called local backups, should have been enabled along with it. The purpose of this function is to supplement the backup copies of Time Machine when the external drive or Time Capsule, on which you configured to store backups, is not connected.
Actually quite useful feature, it should be noted, because if you delete something really important, but it’s not on the Time Machine disk, you can get very upset.
On the other hand, when you are not aware of such care for your files, and after deleting files, the disk space remains occupied, then you can also begin to get nervous and have trouble sleeping.
According to the Apple support site, when there is free space left on the disk:
- less than 20%, then Time Machine starts deleting snapshots, starting with the oldest;
- less than 10% or less than 5 GB, then Time Machine deletes all local backups except the most recent (new) one and stops creating snapshots.
The easiest way to find out if your free space is taken up by these local backups is to use the About This Mac utility.
- Select About This Mac from apple menu (in the upper left corner).
- In the window that appears, click on the “More Info” button.
- Open the “Storage” tab.
Archives (Backups) are those same local backups.
Deleting local backups
If you need free space here and now, then this can be easily done by running and executing the following command there:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
After which you will need to enter the administrator password. This command will disable the creation of local snapshots and delete those already created.
I myself like to make backups, and this has helped me out several times, so I would advise you to then turn on the function of creating local copies back:
sudo tmutil enablelocal
To create an instant backup of the current system state, run the following command:
Utilities for finding large files
If you haven’t turned on Time Machine, and even after disabling the creation of instant snapshots, you still don’t have enough free space, and you don’t know who took it all, then search utilities can come in very handy large files and directories that take up the most space...
Computers Mac have never been distinguished by great capacity, only if we are not talking about top-end Mac models 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, which take up a lot of 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 from the 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.
It's common practice for macOS to use part of the user's hard drive for day-to-day operations. Your web browser is constantly downloading new data, which it then stores for faster loading times in future sessions. Applications such as video editors and iTunes also store a cache of exported files and album art.
In contact with
However, you might be surprised at how much hard drive space you can recover by deleting unnecessary files if you know where to look for them. At the same time, such manipulations with disk space must be carried out with caution.
Below we will describe in detail how and why to clear the cache on macOS. In addition, we will look at several applications that can make this process easier.
What is cache and why delete it?
The cache is basically temporary files created by operating system and the applications used. For example, these can be temporary files, such as images and HTML documents created by a web browser, messenger clients (Vkontakte, Twitter, Viber, Skype, etc.).
If the user edits a lot of photos and videos, he may notice that the editing program also saves temporary data that is placed on the hard drive. In addition, video editors with the function of displaying applied effects during editing do not always delete such files upon completion of work.
The cache of most applications is too small to pay attention to. System components such as Spotlight, Contacts, and Maps create relatively small caches that won't free up much hard drive space even if you remove them.
One thing worth noting here important point: There is no need to delete caches. If you do not urgently need to free up space on your hard drive, and at the same time you constantly use a lot of different applications and files, it is better to leave the cache to increase speed Mac work. Additionally, many apps clear their cache themselves or have an option to manually clear them.
Delete cache button in the Tweetbot application:
Cache delete button in the VK Messenger application:
However, besides the desire to free up space, there may be other reasons for deleting caches, in particular:
- Fixing problems with web pages loading outdated data.
- Deleting personal data stored on websites and applications.
- Force deletion of outdated cached information in an application.
Important! backup your files first.
It is recommended that you regularly back up files on your Mac, either using Apple's Time Machine app or using a third-party tool or online services. Reserve copy. When you start to put things in order in your Library folder, there is always a risk of breaking something important.
Although most applications are not usually stored critically important information in the cache, it is quite possible that deleting a file will lead to unwanted data loss and problems with the program. Having recently made backup copy, you can easily restore cache folders if something goes wrong.
Clearing the cache in Safari is very simple:
1. Launch Safari browser and go to the menu bar along the path "Safari" → "Settings".
2. Open a tab "Extras" and check the box next to the item "Show Develop menu in menu bar".
3. Close the window "Settings", then select menu "Development" in the menu bar.
4. In the menu "Development" select " Clear caches".
Note: This method somewhat more radical than that available through "Safari" → "Story" → "Clear the history". However, clearing the cache in development mode does not delete personal information, except for the one that is stored in temporary files (history, bookmarks, folder "Downloads" etc. will not be deleted).
Clear Mac System Cache
To clear your account cache, do the following:
1. Launch Finder, then click "Transition" → "Go to folder" in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
2. Enter the line ~/Libraries/Caches in the field that appears and click OK.
3. Select the files and folders you want to delete and drag them to the Trash.
4. Restore free space by clicking right click mouse on the basket on Dock and selecting "Empty trash".
If you want to delete caches associated with another user account, you need to go to the cache directory given user. This can be done by changing the folder location in the second step to /Users/Username/Libraries/Caches- replacing "Username" the name of the corresponding user account.
In order to clean system caches that are shared by multiple accounts, go to /System/Libraries/Caches.
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”:
- Open 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 RAM. 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. ;)