12 surprisingly quick ways to clean up your Mac

Quick question: when was the last time you cleaned up your Mac? Some people may be surprised to learn that a MacBook needs a regular cleanup to work smoothly and without a flaw. Daunting as it may sound, the process is not that complicated, and you can make your Mac tidier in 12 quick steps. Keep on reading to learn the best ways to clean up Mac on the inside by removing unneeded stuff and on the outside by physically cleaning it. 

What takes up space on your Mac

Have you ever wondered what clogs up your Mac the most? These are different files and data, and they can be classified into the following groups: large and old files, system junk, app leftovers, old backups, photos junk, trash bins, and mail attachments. By the way, they are mentioned in order from the most space-consuming ones to the least hungry storage eaters.

How to clean & optimize your Mac

If you have never performed an automatic or manual system cleaning — it means that your Mac has been collecting unnecessary files and clutter for years. You can quickly clean up your Mac with these easy steps. For your convenience, we provide them based on their potential effectiveness, starting with the most effective ones. However, if you want to perform a full clean, make sure to follow all of the steps we mention here. 

1. Uninstall apps you don’t use

The applications you’ve installed on your Mac take up space, of course. And over time, when your Mac becomes full of different apps, it may start running slowly. How to clean MacBook? In the first place, you need to remove the apps you no longer use or need. To do this, right-click on the app you want to remove and choose Move to Trash/Bin.

You may be surprised to find out that sending an app to Trash/Bin will not uninstall it completely because the app leftovers still remain on your Mac, taking up a lot of storage. So, if you want to be a responsible Mac user, you need to uninstall applications the right way. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to uninstall apps on a Mac.

2. Delete large and old files

It has always been a rule of thumb among computer geeks that you should keep a minimum of 15-20% of free space on your main hard drive. This is just a rough estimation, but the more free space you have, the faster your Mac works. A computer magazine once performed a test on this, which concluded that the difference in speed could reach as much as 35%. If you work with heavy graphics or video rendering, even more free space is recommended.

How to have more free space? Delete large and old files.

It can be totally manual and require you to find them one by one. But there is a second way — you just need to make two clicks, and CleanMyMac will do the job for you:

1. Download CleanMyMac for free.
2. Open the app.
3. Go to My Clutter and click Scan > Review All Files > Large & Old Files.
4. Select what to clean, and then click Remove.

That’s it! You can also check Similar Images, Duplicates, and Downloads to delete even more unnecessary stuff.

3. Empty the Trash

Even though you’ve deleted the files, they reside in your Trash bin, taking up a lot of storage on your Mac. They are just waiting to be removed completely. If you want your precious hard drive space back, you need to empty the Trash/Bin.

Here’s how to clean your MacBook from the trash:

1. Click and hold the Trash/Bin icon in the Dock.
2. Click Empty Trash.

4. Optimize your storage

Apple has already thought about the clutter that can be generated on Macs and provided a possible solution. Here’s how to reduce clutter on your Mac:

1. Go to System Settings.
2. Click General and then Storage. Here, you can see how much free space is left on your computer.

Here are also some recommendations for saving space on your Mac. These are known as built-in Optimize Storage tool. You can choose to Store in iCloud to transfer your data to the cloud or Optimize Storage to remove large media files.

Also, you can remove unneeded files from here. Just click the info icon next to any category (Applications, Trash/Bin, Documents, etc.), and you’ll see the list of files or apps stored. Select an item and click Delete to remove it and optimize space. Look through other recommendations and make the necessary changes to use your Mac’s space more efficiently.

5. Clean up cache

You’ve probably heard “remove your cache” as a web browser troubleshooting tip. In fact, your Mac stores a lot of information in files called caches, allowing fast access to that data and reducing the need to get it from the original source again. Unfortunately, those files take up a lot of space on your Mac, and instead of speeding things up, they slow your computer down. Therefore, if you want to give your system a boost, clean your Mac from the cache files.

There are two ways to do that: you can delete them manually or use a MacBook cleaner like CleanMyMac to do the job for you. If you decide to clean up the cache manually, check out a comprehensive guide on how to clear cache on a Mac. Here, you’ll find steps to delete different types of cache files: system cache, user cache (including app cache), and browser cache. 

If you want to get rid of cache the easy way, use CleanMyMac: 

1. Open the app (if you haven’t downloaded it yet, here is the link to the free version). 
2. Navigate to Cleanup in the sidebar and click Scan.
3. Now, click Clean. Or you may click Review to choose what will be deleted from your Mac. 

That’s all it takes to get rid of cache. Note that the app is notarized by Apple, which means that it is absolutely safe to use. Also, it is a smart cleaner, meaning that no vital files will be removed. 

6. Delete unneeded Downloads 

Do you also download things and never get rid of them? Then, your Downloads folder probably needs a good old sort-out. If you’re too scared to face that enormous pile of files, here’s a quick trick: sort all your downloaded items by the date added. Then, scroll till the end of the folder, and you’ll see the dusty files that have been there for a while. Command-click to highlight multiple files and send them to the Trash.

7. Remove old backups

Having your files backed up is a wonderful thing. But over time, your Mac becomes overloaded with old backups that take gigabytes of storage on your hard drive. That’s why you should consider removing the old iOS backups you no longer need.

Each backup remains stored on your computer. To delete the old backups, you need to do the following:

1. Choose the Apple menu and then select System Settings.
2. Go to General and click Storage.
3. Click the “i” icon next to iOS Files. 

   

4. Select the backup you want to remove and click Delete.
5. Click Done to close the window.

That’s it! The backup files are gone from your Mac forever.

8. Delete old DMGs

Disk images (DMGs) often take up valuable space on your Mac. Here’s how to perform a Mac cleanup and get rid of those files:

1. Open the Finder and type “.dmg” in the search bar.
2. Then delete all files that have .dmg extensions. Don’t forget to remove them from Trash/Bin as well.

   

CleanMyMac allows you to locate and delete DMGs quickly. With its Applications module, you can remove unused disk images with a single click of a button. Just open the app and run a scan. Now, click Manage My Applications > Leftovers > Installers. Select DMGs for deletion and click Remove.

9. Wipe out language files

Unused language localizations take up about 1 GB of storage space. Mac applications come with language files for every language they support. It allows starting using the app in that language immediately. Cool, right? Not always. Just ask yourself: when was the last time you used the app in Bengali or Korean? If you don’t speak those languages, such files just waste space on your Mac. You need to remove the unnecessary language files and clean MacBook from that clutter.

How to delete the language files? Go to Finder > Applications, then right-click the app which language files you want to remove and choose Show Package Contents. Open the Resources folder and then find folders ending with “.lproj.” Every folder contains language files for one particular language. Note that for every app, you should manually find and select the files to remove. 

10. Clear System Data storage

Another significant space hogger is System Data storage. You may have noticed this mysterious category when you went to System Settings > General > Storage to check how much space you had on your computer. If you haven’t, consider doing it now and clearing it out as a final step in cleaning up your MacBook.

System Data storage contains application leftovers, temporary files, cache, disk images, Time Machine backups and snapshots, browser extensions, and other similar files. But how do you clean it? You’ll have to browse system folders:

1. Open a new Finder window and press Command+Shift+G.
2. Paste each of the following paths and press Return:
   /Library
/System
~/Library
~/System

Go through subfolders and delete files. Be sure to double-check what you send to the Trash and never delete folders themselves. If you’re not sure what a specific file is responsible for, it is better to keep it.

For more ways to clear System Data Storage on Mac, check out this handy guide.

11. Wipe your keyboard

Now, it’s time to physically clean your Mac. First, wipe your Mac’s keyboard. As you use your keyboard daily, it quickly gets dirty. Moreover, all those crumbs may live under the keys forever!

If you were wondering how to clean Mac’s keyboard, there are no special rules here. You can try blowing the dust and other particles out of your keyboard once in a while. Disinfecting wipes and alcohol-based sprays may also prove useful. Just choose the piece of fabric and wipe the keys gently to make them clean and shiny.

12. Clean your screen

Also, do not forget about cleaning the screen. It may seem spotless, but it’s rarely the case. So, take some time to clean it — all you need is any soft tissue and distilled water. Make sure that you spray water on the fabric, not the screen, and wipe it gently. That’s it.

If you’re in the mood for some major cleaning, here’s our article on how to clean other Mac accessories.

You’re done. If you feel that following all these steps is a lot of work, let a Mac cleaner app do it for you. To choose a utility that best suits your needs, check out this article on best Mac cleaner software.

Happy cleaning!