Mac Maintenance Tips & Tricks

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Here are the steps you can take to declutter your Mac, possibly get it running faster and make it feel like new again. These instructions assume you have the latest Mac operating system, macOS Sierra. If you don't, we recommend upgrading. Otherwise, you won't be running the most efficient, secure version of the operating system, and our tutorial may not make sense. For most machines from and later, the upgrade is free. OS updates often happen automatically, but you can double-check if you're unsure. Next, go ahead and restart your computer.

Many minor glitches or performance issues can be cured with a simple restart. A fresh boot means you'll have the most accurate experience of how your Mac performs. From there, you might notice that the booting up process is sluggish. If so, that's the perfect place to start.

Slow startup might be the first thing you notice as your computer starts to age. It's often caused by apps that launch automatically when you turn the computer on. After years of using your computer, you may have inadvertently accumulated quite a few of these auto-starting apps.

4 Simple Mac Maintenance Tips

It's easy to change or remove them. Depending on how many users you have, you may need to repeat the following steps several times. Click the "Login Items" tab. Once you're there, you'll see a list of items that open automatically once you log in. If you wish, you can simply hide these items, but that won't do much to boost your slow start-up speeds.

Restart your computer

Instead, select each item you want to remove, and then click the minus - sign at the bottom of the window. Eliminating unneeded items combats your sluggish starts. In most cases, clearing hard drive space does not actually make your computer run faster. However, it's an essential part of Mac maintenance if your machine is approaching the limits of its internal storage. It's also a good idea from an organizational standpoint. There's no point in sugarcoating it: Search-and-destroy is a chore.

However, there are strategies and built-in OS tools that help streamline the process. If you're doing things the manual way, removing unnecessary apps can be an efficient way to start clearing up hard drive space on your Mac.

2) Keep your Mac Software Updated

Unlike Windows machines, Macs don't have a built-in "Uninstall" function that removes associated files along with core app files. When you're removing apps via the Finder, check through the app folders to see if there is an associated Uninstaller feature. If there is one, use it. Following the Uninstaller's instructions will probably remove the app as thoroughly as possible. If there's no uninstaller, just click and drag the application to the Trash. Once you empty the Trash, the app becomes permanently deleted. With the drag-to-trash method, there is a chance that some of the app's accessory files cache or other data may not be deleted.

For the most part, these files are nothing to worry about — they are often small and hidden in a system folder you'll never notice.

But they can add up, and since they serve no purpose, you may prefer eliminating them. Different apps store data in different ways, so there is no one-size-fits all manual solution. The first option is "Store in iCloud", but unless you have a rock-solid understanding of the way your iCloud works or you've already made up your mind to purchase additional iCloud storage space we suggest avoiding this option. It frees up space on your local device, but you only get up to 5 GB of free storage in the iCloud.

It's very easy to fill it up with photos, music and more, especially if you have more than one Apple device. Apple would just love for you to purchase more, but there are other options that won't cost you. The next option, "Optimize Storage", deals with iTunes video content.

There's also an "Empty Trash Automatically" setting, which removes items from the Trash read: This mild convenience is up to user preference: I prefer to give my files a personal once-over before I bid them a permanent farewell. Lastly, you'll see the "Reduce Clutter" option with a "Review Files" button. When you review files, you'll see a file browser that looks a lot like the Finder, but with a more helpful view for purging purposes. It searches and displays relevant files from all your folders, not just one folder at a time.

There are tabs for Large Files, Downloads, and a File Browser, so you can jump right to the relevant category. Deleting unnecessary large files is an efficient way to make space, and the Downloads folder is a common catch-all for irrelevant files like installers and temporary items. Move any documents you want to keep, then empty the folder. Duplicate files are a common issue. Unfortunately, there aren't too many free alternatives to the old-fashioned way: Keeping your eyes peeled as you weed them out one by one.

These space-demanding apps have their own in-app content and trash cans. If you're doing a major cleanup, don't forget to address these content libraries. Open iTunes, then click the "Songs" tab in the library. Don't forget that your files and folders are not truly deleted — and won't free up any space — until you empty the Trash. If you're maxing out your internal storage, a few bouts of focused deletion only go so far.

Move your files to the cloud or an external storage device, or you'll keep facing the same problem. Old work or school projects and photo collections are prime candidates for off-device storage. If you're used to Windows machines and their built-in defragmentation tools, don't fret that they're missing from your Mac.

Macs and PCs store files differently, and defragmentation is generally a non-issue in the Apple ecosystem. Be sure to run Verify Disk not only on the drive itself physical drive name , but also the boot partition Macintosh HD. Keeping your Mac software up to date is vital. Believe it or not, having a lot of files on the desktop will actually slow down a Mac. The slowdown is less noticeable on the newest and beefiest Macs, but nonetheless it still happens.

Performing regular backups is essential Mac maintenance. Not only will you be able to quickly recover from potential disasters, but keeping your files backed up is just good practice. By far the simplest back up solution for Macs is Time Machine.

4 Simple Mac Maintenance Tips

Do you have any other maintenance tricks that you use for your Mac? Anything we missed that you consider a mandatory step for maintaining your Mac and OS X install? Let us know in the comments. Subscribe to the OSXDaily newsletter to get more of our great Apple tips, tricks, and important news delivered to your inbox! Enter your email address below:. Repairing Disk Permissions can resolve application behavioral issues making it not totally useless, but it is by far the most overprescribed help tip thrown at Mac users.

This will do various maintenance tasks like rotating the large logs appending to large fragmented system log is much slower, slowing down almost everything on your computer etc.

Upgrade your operating system

All macs running For Windows ccleaner is great and I highly recommend it. For Mac OS however it is not really needed. If you have backups why would you cares if your drive fails?

The best philosophy is good back ups, and when things fails they will! Because most backup processes are deficient.

At that time, being able to go back to a known good archive, is essential. Proactive disk maintenance is the best way of avoiding a time consuming recovery effort. This will keep an eye on the SMART status of your drive and notify you if it takes a sudden turn for the worse. Also, consider getting a dedicated maintenance app, such as Onyx, Cocktail or Lion Cache Cleaner, to run housekeeping tasks that can otherwise be missed. Is AJ now updated? AJ is Lion compatible. I use it a lot for work.

LikeBe the first to like […]. The tips about disk repair found so many problems incorrect volume size, overlapping date writes That my whole disk had to be formatted. Luckily my time machine worked! Also as a note, after restoring my backup, I feel like the full re-format was also an improvement to my system. These days advice regarding keeping the software up to date has been bad. Apple has failed to deliver updates that don cause more issues at least with Lion.

1) Run Disk Utility

Yes, I do believe in all the methods mentioned above to maintain the Mac performance. Thanks for the tips. Disk utility is the best tool to resolve disk related issues. I have used one more tool Stellar Drive ToolBox. Volume Repair utility of this tool helps you to resolve Disk related problems in Mac. Here are a few super simple tips to follow to keep a Mac in tip-top shape.

Having regular backups is one of the most important parts of a maintenance routine and should never be overlooked for any computer, Mac or otherwise.

How to clean up your Mac

I want to be able to choose whether to download. How can I do this? I often reopen attachments in email so I get multiple copies. You talk about keeping the desktop clean. I then create one folder on my desktop and drag all those files into it. Do I still have 10, files on my desktop, or just one folder? I like your point about getting in the habit of backing up your computer regularly. Mail will not be published required.

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