Use the Storage Tools in macOS High Sierra The latest version of macOS Sierra has a new tool to help you clean the junk out of your Mac — just go to the menu and choose “About This Mac” and then flip over to the Storage tab. Once you are there, you can go through the new settings and enable the ones that make sense to you. No.5 Free Mac cleaner: Dr. Cleaner – Free memory, disk, system cleaner. Cleaner is one free Mac cleaning app to offer Memory Optimization, Disk Cleaning and System Monitoring to keep your Mac optimized for the best performance. Smart and accurate selection for duplicates scan and remove on Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later.
Click on the Storage tab. Allow your system to complete calculating the breakdown of your disk’s storage. You are now presented with a horizontal bar graph that displays the amount of storage currently in use on your hard drive. The graph is broken into segments that represent various types of storage such as Apps, Documents, Photos, and Other. Price: $29.95 per system per year. Device Compatibility: MacOS 10.13, MacOS 10.12, Mac OS X 10.11, 10.10, 10.9, 10.8, 10.7. Cleaner One Pro. Cleaner One Pro is designed to free up valuable space and de-clutter disk storage in just one click. You can use this advanced Mac cleaner software to speed up system performance significantly. Omni Remover 3 is a feature-packed Mac cleanup software app designed to erase more than 20 different kinds of macOS system junk files, including app leftovers, iTunes files, unused cache files, redundant language files, and broken preferences.
Storage space is cheap these days. Unless you’re a Mac user. Sooner or later you’ll get a notification saying that “Your disk space is critically low”. When that happens your first instinct should be to go throught the installed apps and delete all the apps that you didn’t use in, let’s say, at least 2-3 weeks. App detox is always a good idea, phone included, even if you’re not low on space. Next take a look at your downloads folder. Usually there’s a bunch of stuff over there that you don’t need anymore. Like .dmg files.
But you can also get quite a bit of space back if you delete cache and logs files, as well as email and iMessages attachments. Especially if run on the same Mac for a few years now and you’ve never wiped it clean to start fresh.
You can easily delete those files manually, if you know where to look ( usually in ~/Library/ ), but sometimes it’s nice to have an app that automates this process. One of those apps is Clean-Me. Free and open source.
Before we get started you should know that cache and log files are created on your computer for a reson. Cache files allow a program to start faster and run certain tasks faster. If you delete them, next time you’ll open that program it needs to recreate the cache file. It’s safe to delete them. Just don’t freak out if next time you open a program, it will start a bit slower than usual.
Also if your log files are huge, that usually indicates that a program or even your system spits out errors and maybe you should investigate before deleting.
To install Clean-Me, open your terminal and install it via Homebrew with brew install --cask clean-me
Now all you have to do is open Clean-Me, click Analyze, turn On what you want to delete and click Clean. It’s that simple. The app will have a light theme or dark theme based on your macOS settings.
You can also click on the folder icon next to each option to go to the exact path and see what files are going to be deleted and if you’re unsure of what any of the options will delete just hover your mouse cursor over the On/Off slider and you’ll get a pop-up with the option’s description.
Over time, your Mac probably accumulates a lot of cruft. Old applications you no longer use, data you have no use for, a desktop full of icons (only four of which you actually ever use)…you know what I mean. With so many people working from home lately, the problem has only gotten worse.
Now is as good a time as any to tidy up your Mac, freeing up storage space and probably CPU cycles and RAM in the process. Here are a few tips to make quick work of your Mac “spring cleaning.”
Optimize Storage
Open the Storage Management app, either by using Spotlight (Command-space) or by clicking the Apple logo in the upper left of the menu bar, choosing About This Mac, clicking the Storage tab, then Manage.
In the Recommendations tab you’ll see a number of useful options, like Store in iCloud and Empty Trash Automatically. The Optimize Storage solution will get rid of things like old TV shows you’ve already watched and old email attachments when you’re low on storage space.
Take a look at your Applications and Documents
While you’re in the Storage Management app, click on the Applications tab in the left column. You can see all your installed applications here and sort them by size, easily deleting apps you haven’t used in ages.
Then, click on Documents in the left tab. There are several sections here, like Large Files and Unsupported Apps, that are worth perusing. Big library files (for apps like Lightroom or Final Cut Pro) are likely to show up here, and you might not want to mess with them. But you may have old large files and documents, or apps that no longer even work on your version of macOS, that you can safely remove.
Get your desktop under control
If your desktop is littered with icons, you should probably tidy things up a bit. Right-click (two-finger tap on a trackpad) any open space and choose Clean Up to get things arranged neatly, or Clean Up By to sort them as well. Consider the Use Stacks feature to automatically stack-up files of the same type into a single icon. Just click on that icon to open the stack. This can really tidy up your desktop!
Try DaisyDisk
Power users that really want to clean out their Mac’s storage may want to check out a third party app like DaisyDisk ($9.99). It’s a simple and clear way to see everything on your Mac, or any other attached storage device or drive. It can do things like dig into the mysterious “Other” category and help you clear out what you don’t need.
Macos System Extensions
It may seem unnecessary to pay money for an app that just helps you delete stuff from your Mac’s storage, but there’s a lot of value in disk analyzers like this. It can really be eye-opening to see exactly what’s filling up your Mac’s SSD.