Mac is known for its feature of requiring very less maintenance for its cleaning. It stands tall on the expectation to a certain extent but beyond that, even a Mac needs a cleaning session which prevents the junk files from hiding the important files and folders. The junk files appear more and more on the Mac by the time you keep using. These junk files require an urgent cleaning as it may drag your Mac slowly.
There is a free trial version available on the Mac App Store, but it restricts the app to only remove files up to a maximum of 500MB - and in the middle of deleting files it will demand you pay.
Though most of the junk files show up on the Mac with the use of internet, because of the trouble caused by these junk files to the system, it becomes very important to clean out these junk files from Mac. We have few tips that may help an operating system like Mac OS X to clean junk files from the Mac system and to have a neat and clean Mac OS X environment.
1.Clean up Mac cache
Mac stores a lot of information in files called caches, allowing the fast access to the data and reducing the need to get it from the original source again. However, those files take up a lot of space on your Mac. If you want to give your system a boost, we suggest you clean the cache files from your Mac.
To clear your user cache, do the following:
1. Open a Finder window and select 'Go to Folder' in the Go menu.
2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and hit enter to proceed to this folder.
3. Optional step: You can highlight and copy everything to a different folder just in case something goes wrong.
4. Go into each of the folders and clean out everything.
Note: We recommend that you remove the insides of these folders, but not the folders themselves.
Now, repeat the same steps above, but substitute…
~/Library/Caches with… /Library/Caches
Mac Clean Up After Deleted Apps Chrome
2. Uninstall apps you don't use
As you install more and more apps on your Mac, they are definitely taking up lots of your space. And they will get bigger size as you are using them. Because they will generate the cache, system logs files, update files, etc. Your Mac will start running slowly. So how do you clean up and uninstall these apps from Your MacBook? Just remove them from your Mac completely! However, some users choose to just drag them to the trash bin considering it has been uninstalled. No! They are not at all. By doing this, you can't remove the files they generated as mentioned above. If you are a not a geek, we don't suggest you try to remove the files by yourself as you may get your Mac messed up.
3. Remove the unused language data from the apps
We know that many Mac apps come with a language database which offering different languages. And this database takes up a lot of space of your Mac disk. However, for most of the users, they usually use just one of the languages which is their mother tongue. By removing other language data, it will save lots of space. Here is how to do it manually:
1: Go to applications and find the app which you want to remove the language data, here we take the OmniGraffle as an example
2: Click to choose show package content
3: Under the Resource folder, any files ending up with '.lproj' are the language data. You may choose to delete the unwanted.
4. Empty your Mac trash bin
After you delete the files, they still reside in your Trash bin taking up a lot of storage on your Mac. Since they are useless, why don't you remove them from Mac completely instead of keeping them in your trash bin (technically speaking, they are in your hard disk)?
Here's how you can empty your trash to save more space:
a. Click and hold on the Trash bin icon in the Dock.
b. Select Empty Trash from a popup that appears.
5. Find and delete large and old files
If you want to know where your disk space went, then you probably need to clean up the large and old files on your Mac. You have to go each folder to find which the large and old files are and then decide to delete them or not. But after you delete them, it will definitely give your more hard disk space. You may visit this article to know more about How to Find and Clean Up Mac Large & Old Files.
6. Using a professional cleaning app
By doing those steps above manually, it takes lots of time and effort to do before you can have a total cleaned up Mac. And more importantly, it might not be easy for you to get the Mac cleaned up fully if you are not a computer geek. Why not use a Mac cleaning app to get all of those done? Published by IObit, world's top system utility and security software provider since 2004, MacBooster, as a one-stop Mac maintenance tool, is definitely your best choice. It is pretty easy to use and cleans up over 20 types of junk files on Mac with just one click. Here is how you can do it with MacBooster:
1: Download MacBooster and open it
2: Go to the System Junk module and start to scan
3: Choose to clean up the junk files after scanning
This module helps you take care of the unneeded items generated by your system and applications. After you choose System Junk on the left panel to scan, you will be presented with a visual result showing how much space is occupied by different file types. You can either click the Clean button to remove those files or click the Details button to check the details as below:
20 types of junk files generated by your Mac will take up most of your Mac space. You will suffer 'insufficient space' a lot especially if you are using smaller SSD hard disks. So let MacBooster to clean up all of the 20 types of junk files list below:
Application Junk Files - Some junk files are automatically generated while the application is being used. They can be removed without a second thought.
Mac Software Installer - The install packages of Mac apps will be of no use once installed. They can be removed to free up more space.
Language Files - Many applications on the Mac contains a large number of language files. To remove unused language files can free up more disk space.
System Log Files - The activity of the system applications and services is stored constantly, however numerous logs will drag your Mac down.
System Cache Files - System applications always generate a lot of cache files, which may slow down your Mac’s overall performance.
Broken Login Items - In some cases, after an application or a service is removed, a broken link may still exist among the Login items. Removing broken links will save more resources on your Mac.
Mail Attachments - Too many old mail attachments make your email system burdensome. Removing the downloaded attachments can free up more space.
Leftovers - Some remnants may still left on your Mac even after the related applications are deleted. They are good-for-nothing.
Trash Cleanup - It helps you empty Trash folders of Mac’s internal and external volumes for better performance.
iOS Photo Cache - After you sync photos by any iOS devices, there must be some photo caches left on your Mac, which just consume your space.
User Downloads - Some downloaded files may become useless. You can remove them if you confirm you don’t need them anymore.
iOS Software Updates - The updates may become useless after you complete the updates. You can remove them to regain space.
Xcode Derived Data - For developers, there may be tons of intermediate build information and project index generated by Xcode. Cleaning up them can help you to free up some space.
iTunes Backups - iTunes backups will become outdated as the data on your device is changing constantly. You can easily clean up iTunes backups if you confirm they are outdated.
iOS Applications - iTunes backups the downloaded apps on Mac. Removing the backup files from iTunes won’t affect your device.
iTunes Broken Downloads - For many reasons, your Mac may store some incomplete iTunes download data. Deleting these data won't cause any problems.
iTunes Cache - iTunes music album artworks may take up gigabytes of space, and your Mac may get stuck with a growing number of artwork cache files. Removing the artwork cache files can free up more space.
Application Old Updates - Updates of the third party apps will not be deleted automatically after updated. Removing the outdated application updates can free up space for your Mac.
Xcode iOS Log - If Xcode is used to develop iOS apps, a significant amount of log files will be generated in the development process. Those Xcode iOS Log files can be removed to speed up your project.
Mac Localization Files - Your Mac's operating system comes with dozens of language files, most of which you'll never use. Deleting unneeded language files can help to save valuable disk space on your Mac.
So here are all of the tips we shared to clean up Mac junk files. No matter you clean them manually or use MacBooster 7 to do your favor, keeping your Mac neat and clean is important as you are using it most of the time.
However, it's important to know that deleting junk files only once is usually not enough. This Mac machine needs to be 'lubricated' once in a while so it can work smoothly in a long run. MacBooster can always be a help and ready to go. What's more, it comes with other useful functions, like Virus & Malware Scan, Startup optimization, Duplicate finder, Photo sweeper, etc. You can always use it to get your Mac tide and safe. So there you have it, a complete Mac cleaning tool to keep your favorite Mac in perfect shape. Just try it now and give your Mac a total cleanup.
Check out more useful tips:
Mac Clean Up After Deleted Apps Completely
Whether you’re trying to clear up hard drive space or you just want to get rid of an unused app, uninstalling software is a fairly routine task.
Luckily for Mac users, the uninstallation process is a lot simpler on macOS than it is on other platforms. In fact, it’s literally drag-and-drop simple. There’s no “Uninstall Programs” menu in Control Panel like there is in Windows.
Having said that, there are a couple of ways you can actually go about uninstalling apps. Here’s what you need to know.
Uninstall Mac Apps Via Finder
The traditional method for uninstalling apps is to use Finder. If you’re running a particularly old version of macOS (or OS X), this is the method you’ll use.
- Open a Finder window.
- Click on the Applications folder.
- Select the app you want to uninstall.
- Right-click the application.
- In the menu that pops up, click on Move to Trash.
Alternatively, you can simply drag the application directly to the Trash icon. (It’ll be in the bottom-right corner of the Mac taskbar. You may need to hover over the bottom of the display to get it to show.)
Once the app is sent to Trash, there is one more step you’ll need to take to completely rid your computer of it.
This is also the last time to reinstall an app you’ve recently deleted if you changed your mind. Just drag an app from Trash back to the Applications folder. Or right-click on the app in the Trash folder and click Put Back.
But to permanently delete apps from your computer, simply right-click the Trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the menu bar. Then, click on Empty Trash. Depending on how much data is in your Trash can, this could take a moment.
Uninstall Mac Apps from Launchpad
The last method is incredibly simple, but OS X Lion and newer versions of the Mac operating system have an easier method.
First, you’ll need to open Launchpad. There are two ways to go about this.
- Click the Launchpad icon in the taskbar. It’s shaped like a gray rocket, or six squares.
- Alternatively, you can use a Multi-Touch gesture. Simply pinch your thumb and three fingers together to display Launchpad.
From here, the process is similar to iOS.
- Click and hold the icon of the app you’d like to uninstall.
- Wait until the app icon begins to jiggle.
- When it does, click the circular black X icon that appears next to it.
- You’ll be a prompt asking you to confirm. Click on Delete.
It’s worth noting that the Launchpad method won’t work on every app. Typically, it’ll only show up on apps that you’ve downloaded from the Mac App Store.
Similarly, unlike iOS, you won’t be able to delete native macOS applications like Safari, Mail or Photos.
Using an Uninstaller for Mac Apps
While these methods will cover the vast majority of apps you interact with on a daily basis, there is another method for certain applications.
Although uncommon, some apps will have their own dedicated uninstallers. This is especially true for app suites like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud.
Basically, these app suites come with an uninstaller app because they tend to install other software or support apps. If you install Photoshop on your Mac, for example, Adobe might install a suite of other apps like Adobe Bridge or Adobe Content Viewer along with it.
To do away with an app suite, you can either hunt down each individual app and delete them separately. Or, you can use the uninstaller app that came with the suite.
Generally, it’s recommended that you use the uninstaller. The official uninstall process will typically clean up app data and other miscellaneous files that might otherwise be left behind.
How to Clean Up Leftover Files
Though this isn’t true across the board, some apps will “leave behind” random bits of data or other files. For the most part, there’s really no harm in this. But these leftover files can take up a bit of space on your drive.
If you’re particularly space-conscious, you might want to go through the process of cleaning them up.
The quickest way to do so is to use a third-party utility app that will automatically locate and delete that leftover data, preference files and caches. An app like AppCleaner is a great choice.
Use AppCleaner to Clean Up Files
AppCleaner is free and incredibly simple to use. Once you download and install it, follow these steps before you uninstall the actual app.
- Open AppCleaner.
- Drag an application to the AppCleaner window.
- It’ll scan and find all associated files.
- Be sure to “check” the files and folders that you want AppCleaner to delete.
- Click the Remove button.
- You’ll usually need to login with an administrator account to authenticate.
Once you do, AppCleaner will move the app and its associated files to the Trash.
AppCleaner also has a “SmartDelete” option that’s located in its Preferences menu. This will save you from having to checkmark each file or folder before AppCleaner removes them.
As with the other methods explained above, you’ll need to empty the Trash before the apps (and their files) are actually deleted from your hard drive.
Manually Clean Up Leftover Files
If you don’t want to use a third-party option, you’ll need to dig around and find those files yourself. It’s not the hardest thing to do, but it requires a bit of know-how.
You will find these leftover bits of data in your Library folder. Here’s how to get to it.
- Open a Finder window.
- Click on the Go menu in the top menu bar.
- Hold down the Option key.
- You’ll see a new folder pop up titled Library.
- Click on Library.
From here, it’s just a matter of searching out the individual leftover files. They might include application support files, preference files, and caches.
In the Library folder:
- Application support files will be located in the Application Support
- Preference files will be located in the Preferences
- Caches will be located in the Caches
Click on any of the above folders. Then, locate a subfolder named after the app you’ve uninstalled. Occasionally, the folder will be named after the app developer, rather than the app.
You can either delete the individual files within that subfolder, or just delete the subfolder itself.
Overview