Has your Mac started to slow down on you? If so, you might be wondering what you can do to keep your Mac in tip-top shape. That’s why we’re here with a few tricks of the trade, helping you breathe life back into your Mac and help it run smoother than ever before. Keeping your computer tidy and free from bulk is essential, and we’re here with the details on how.
Table of Contents
External Hard Drives and USBs
Before deleting and cleaning things out, it could be a good idea to invest in an external hard drive or USB. You may want to hold onto some files, keeping them in case you need them. Instead of keeping them on your computer, you could transfer them over to a USB. This measure will free up space and help your Mac running like a well-oiled machine.
Ditch Big Files
We are all guilty of downloading things that we don’t need. Somehow, we wind up forgetting about them, leaving them to collect virtual dust in our Mac’s storage. Though it might not do anything at first, when downloads pile up, they start to get in the way of performance, causing your computer to slow down. That’s why you should ditch files (especially massive ones) that you no longer need. With a Mac, it’s easy. All you have to do is click and delete, freeing up space so that your computer has room to play.
Wipe out Your Desktop
One thing that many Mac users don’t know is that Desktop is actually a folder. That’s why every once in a while, you need to clean it out. Get rid of all of those files that you no longer need, deleting them or storing them onto a hard drive. When sorting through your files on your Desktop, you can put them in order by size, date, or alphabetically, cleaning them up and clearing them out any way you see fit.
Throw out the Downloads
A lot of times, we forget about things that we download. They wind up all piling up in the downloads folder, never to be opened or looked at again. All of this junk slows down your Mac, making it run slower than it used to. So, take a walk around your downloads folder and clean out anything that you don’t need or won’t use. Keep a strict rule in mind while cleaning, deleting anything you haven’t opened in 6 months. Trust us; you don’t need it!
Get Rid of Attachments
If you’re always getting emails, you might want to take a look at your attachments folder. That’s because we don’t always remember attachments, and they too start to collect virtual dust. Most of the time, your computer automatically saves attachments, tucking them into the Mail Downloads folder and putting them out of sight. Just because they’re out of sight doesn’t mean that should be out of mind, as they will start to slow up your Mac. Open up the folder and get rid of all those attachments from the boss; we promise they won’t know!
Sort Caches
If you’re typically on the web, your Mac is probably filled with caches. As you browse, your computer stores these caches, using them as a way to help you surf without interruption. You can clear caches manually or use a program to help you out. As you clear out your cache, you’ll notice that a lot of free space appears, helping your computer wake up from its lazy state of being and get back to work as it used to when you first bought it.
Do Away with Duplicates
Another thing that might slip past you are duplicate files. Sometimes, we download things and wind up storing them in different places. While surfing the web, we download things that spread out into different locations on our computers. Either way, there is no need to have more than one of each file, as it just crowds up your storage space anyway. So, go through and look for duplicate files, deleting those that you don’t need.
Routine Cleaning
Though keeping your Mac free from bulk seems simple, a lot of times, we skip it. Just like all other cleaning tasks, it’s something that has to be done. So, get on a schedule and clean out your computer often, giving it some free space to breathe. You’ll notice that with more space, your Mac will run better and work faster, helping you go through all of your daily tasks.
