Just like any day-to-day item, your Mac needs a good cleaning once in a while. Getting rid of all the unnecessary files will help your Mac return to its factory excellence and speed up to match your needs. However, you might find yourself clueless as to where to start your Mac clean up: what can be deleted and what should be left on drive? Don’t worry. You might be a little bit lost right now but, as usual, we have some bulletproof tips and tools to help you clean your Mac and speed it up.
4 steps to Mac cleanup
For Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 users, you start by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard. Then, type in Downloads and press Enter. This will open the Downloads folder. Once you open the folder, highlight the files to clear by using the mouse or by pressing Ctrl and A. Then, press Delete to clear your Download files. 22 hours ago Why does a game downloaded on a Mac show up on my MacBook Air and can I delete it without causing a problem on the original Mac? Click to expand. Take a look at your App Store settings to see if automatic downloads are enabled. Open the Launchpad. If you installed apps from your Mac's App Store, you can delete them from the Launchpad. To open Launchpad, click the Launchpad icon on the Dock which is usually at the bottom of the screen. If you are using Big Sur, you can see Launchpad icon as nine small squares. In older version of macOS, you will find the Launchpad. Clear Out Temporary Files. Your Mac’s hard drive probably has temporary files you don’t need. These files often take up disk space for no good reason. Mac OS X tries to automatically remove temporary files, but a dedicated application will likely find more files to clean up. Download on Mac App Store - details - Clear Disk is an app to quickly clean up a Mac - delete downlo.
The good news is that in four (or even less) steps you can get a cleaner Mac and boost your Mac’s performance.
If your Mac is out of storage space or starts running slow, you’re up for a cleaning game. And you don’t have to do it alone. We’ve prepared the smartest memory-boosting hacks and practices to speed of your Mac safely. Time for an easy Mac cleanup!
How To Delete Downloaded Files On Mac
Clean up your Mac’s Desktop
This might seem like an obvious step to take, but you’d be surprised how many Mac users believe the Desktop is the perfect place to store files and docs, handy and always on tap. However, that’s a rookie mistake. Fortunately, you can fix it. That’s why you should clean your Mac starting from the Desktop before you go any deeper. Be honest, can you even see your desktop background clearly now or is it obscured because of the icon-riddled mess?
The fact is, that the Finder treats any folder or file on your desktop as a window. A couple of items on the desktop cause no problem, but if the clutter persists, your Finder will soon slow down and get on your nerves. So better sort it all out to separate folders and let us quickly take you to number two.
Free up your Mac’s hard drive
When it comes to storage, there are items you know about (like your photos and videos) and many hidden entities (like cache files, logs, and app junk). These deep-seated junk files may start off small, but over time they will begin to weigh your Mac down.
Tip: According to one test conducted by MacWorld, nearly full hard drives perform 17.5% slower than the cleaner ones. That’s why it’s so important to refresh your hard drive every now and then. Your system will convert the newly-released free space into virtual memory to ensure your apps are running smoothly. Otherwise, if you’re low on space, your Mac will slow down.
One folder you should regularly clean up for a faster Mac is the Downloads folder. This is where junk piles up little by little, resulting in a total mess. For a complete Mac clean up, make sure to also ditch any unnecessary widgets or apps. Wait, but you think you might need them one day? Truth is, if you haven’t used them so far, you won’t use them in the future. So gather all your courage and hit Delete.
If your Mac is still running slow, then it could be due to old hardware. A new SSD or more RAM is the easiest way to boost your hardware performance without having to spend too much.
How do I know what to delete?
What’s really annoying is that some massive folders on your Mac remain invisible. Each app or website visit leaves behind its own archive of data, which keeps growing over time. To hack this, you can use CleanMyMac X app by MacPaw. It uncovers large redundant files you can delete. And this application is notarized by Apple.
broken downloads
remains of old apps
outdated cache
It found 5.81 GB on our computer, but it may detect even more on your Mac.
Take control of startup and login items
When your Mac boots up, the macOS will launch various startup items. Some you do need, but nearly half of them can be safely switched off. Otherwise, they’ll sit in the background using up your system resources and slowing your Mac down.
To remove startup and login items manually, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups and click on your username. Next up, click on “Login Items” and select all the apps you don’t need running at startup. Then click the “-” button below and you’re done. By disabling the startup programs, you’ll have a speedier Mac next time you boot up.
Repair disk permissions
Disk permissions act like doorkeepers preventing third-party apps from meddling with your system. But disk permissions can get broken, which limits your Mac ability to find the right files.
If you’re on El Capitan or older OS X versions, you can repair disk permissions using the following command in the Terminal window:
sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --verify --standard-pkgs /
It will now check the validity of your disk permissions. If you get anything saying “permissions differ”, then you can fix it with this command:
sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs -- volume /
If you are a mere mortal, uneasy with using Terminal, a Mac cleaning utility like CleanMyMac X, can do a better, risk-free job. A single click in Maintenance > Repair Disk Permissions solves it without fuss. With your disk permissions fixed and verified you can enjoy a smoother overall Mac experience.
The free version of this tool is available for download here.
Once you’ve finished to clean up your Mac, make sure to reboot your machine for a fresh start.
Delete System Junk and browser cache
System Junk can account for significant amount of disk space. It’s a broad term that describes temporary files created by your OS itself and all your apps. Since we mostly use our Macs to go online, the internet-related junk takes up the most space.
How to clean up your browser cache:
For Safari, click Develop in the top menu
Then, click Empty caches
For Chrome, click the “hamburger” icon in the top right corner
Then click More tools > Clear browsing data
Find hidden files on your drive
You probably know that a lot of files are purposely made invisible on your Mac. Not necessarily with bad intentions. Such files could be crucial system components and thus protected from accidental deletion. Quite often, however, you’ll encounter remains of old apps, invisible adware, and extensions.
There is a shortcut key combination to reveal the unseen files.
Go to your Documents, or any other directory
Click Shift +Command + Period key
Do you see any grayed out files? Check what these files are and delete them if they look suspicious.
Remove old backups (and Time Machine backups)
There are several layers of backups built in your macOS. Local Time Machine snapshots, iOS, and iCloud backups, etc. If we’re talking about a clean Mac, that’s free from old baggage, you should look into removing them too.
Here is how to remove local Time Machine backups (a.k.a snapshots)
Click Launchpad and type in Time Machine
Your backups will be broken by locations, like Desktop. You can use arrows to the right to navigate between past states of that location.
Now, click on the gear icon in the menu above.
Select “Delete All Backups” in the menu.
Delete the iCloud backups stored on your Mac
Open System Preferences > iCloud.
Click Manage... at the bottom the pane.
Look through the list of iCloud backups in the sidebar.
iCloud photos will probably occupy the most space. If you’re ready to say goodbye to them, click Delete.
Build the map of your storage
Any computer is ultimately a tree of folders. What if you could draw the map of all folders you have on your Mac and see how large these folders are?
Apparently, there is an ultra simple way to do it. Some applications like Daisy Disk or CleanMyMac will build such “folder tree” for you and it’s really fascinating to look at.
For example, this is the Space Lens tool from CleanMyMac X:
Download Free Version
The blue bubbles stand represent my folders big and small. You can dive into each folder exploring your drive in a completely new way, much more informative than using the Finder. You can find your long lost folders and locate your biggest space wasters.
To use this tool, download the app (see the button above)
Click the Space Lens tab in the sidebar
Clean your Mac the smart way, all the way
If you’ve been following the steps above (and read some extra tips), you are fully equipped to clean up your Mac. Because you don’t need to be a bearded IT guy to do it. Let alone spend extra cash to improve your Mac’s performance. Simply cleaning your system as steps above suggest or using a dedicated app like CleanMyMac will help you out. By the way. CleanMyMac is free to download, so give it a try. And see your Mac’s capabilities now, when it it’s not weighed down by junk.
How to remove downloads from my Macbook Pro? I have installed the apps, but do not want the installation package to take up my Mac storage.
Apple Mac gains lots of users for its clean interface and smooth running. However, like Windows computer or desktop, one thing Mac also suffers from is that everyday's downloads of music, videos, apps, etc. have taken up the space and can also slow down your Mac.
In this post, we will share you 3 ways to delete downloads from your Mac directly, empty download folders from your Safari, Chrome and Firefox, and clean up your Mac downloads with the Mac cleaners.
Delete Downloads on Mac
Part 1. How to clean up Mac downloads permanently and securely
The above ways will help you delete downloads from your Mac manually. However, if you think it a little complicated, you can use the Mac Cleaner to help you delete downloads on Mac automatically. It can helps you delete everything in the folder, including videos, music, files, apps, etc. Moreover, it deletes downloads permanently with recovery.
Step 1. Run Mac Cleaner
Download Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner and launch it. Check the system status of your Mac.
Step 2. Scan download folder
Click the section you want to scan in the left sidebar, Here we can choose 'Privacy'. Click the 'Scan' button to scan your Mac download history.
'Uninstaller' enables you to delete download apps from your Mac.
Step 3. Delete downloads on Mac
When the scanning done, you can click 'Review' button to review the scan results. Checkmark the items that you want to delete, and click 'Clean' button to start to delete downloads from your Mac.
Note: You can hit 'Re-scan' to scan your Mac computer again to get a deep downloads deletion.
Part 2. How to delete downloads from Mac directly
Once you download the files or apps to your Mac, then you can find the downloads and delete them manually by yourself. You should note that this way is available for Mac OS X 10.2 or above.
Step 1Find and click 'Finder'.
Step 2Press the hotkeys 'command + Shift +G' to go to the pop-up of 'Go to Folder' and then type in '~/' and click 'Go'.
Step 3Click 'Downloads' from the left sidebar, and view the detailed downloads in the right window. Find a download or downloads that you want to download, right click it with your mouse, and click 'Move to Trash'. Then go to your Trash, to empty the trash.
Part 3. How to delete downloaded programs on Mac from Safari/Chrome/Firefox
Commonly, most downloads are from your browser on Mac, so in this method, we will share the way to delete downloads from Safari, Chrome and Firefox on your Mac. This method will be available for your iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, etc.
Clean up the downloads from Safari
Safari, as the default browser, brings many downloads to your Mac without doubt. Follow the steps as below to delete download history from Safari.
Step 1Run Safari browser, and click 'History' in the menu bar on the top side of your screen.
How To Clear Downloads On Macbook
Step 2Select on 'Clear History' > 'All history' from the drop-down as the time range you wish > 'Clear History' to clear up all download history from your Safari.
Remove download history from Chrome
Chrome is also the browser used widely by many of you. So downloads from Chrome will be not less. Take the steps as the following to delete the downloads on Mac from Chrome.
Step 1Launch the Chrome browser on your Mac.
Step 2Click 'History' in the menu bar > 'Show Full History' > 'Clear browsing data…' > Select 'the beginning of time…' for the time period you wish to erase > Check the deleting content to select 'Cache images and files' > 'Clear browsing data' to delete the downloaded pictures and other files on your Mac.
Empty the download folder from Firefox
Firefox, similar to Chrome, is also popular among users. Check the solution below to empty the downloaded apps or files from Firefox on Mac.
Step 1Run Firefox on your Mac.
Step 2Click 'History' in the menu bar > 'Clear Recent History…' > Select 'Everything' as the time range to clean > Click on the 'Details' arrow to checkmark the 'Browsing & Download History' box > Click on 'Clear Now'.
Here you also delete the download history from your Mac. For more details to delete history from Mac, visit here.
How To Clear Downloads On Macbook Pro
Way 3. How to clean up Mac downloads permanently and securely
The above ways will help you delete downloads from your Mac manually. However, if you think it a little complicated, you can use the Mac Cleaner to help you delete downloads on Mac automatically. It can helps you delete everything in the folder, including videos, music, files, apps, games like Fortnite, etc. Moreover, it deletes downloads permanently with recovery.
Step 1. Run Mac Cleaner
Download Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner and launch it. Check the system status of your Mac.
Step 2. Scan download folder
Click the section you want to scan in the left sidebar, Here we can choose 'Privacy'. Click the 'Scan' button to scan your Mac download history.
'Uninstaller' enables you to delete download apps from your Mac.
Step 3. Delete downloads on Mac
When the scanning done, you can click 'Review' button to review the scan results. Checkmark the items that you want to delete, and click 'Clean' button to start to delete downloads from your Mac.
Note: You can hit 'Re-scan' to scan your Mac computer again to get a deep downloads deletion.
How To Clear Downloads On Mac Book
Conclusion
Here are 3 ways to delete downloads on Mac. You can use the first and second method to remove downloads from Mac manually. Moreover, you can use the last recommended way to clean up downloads on Mac permanently and securely. Last reminder is that you had better backup Mac before deleting everything to avoid any regret.
What do you think of this post?
How To Clear Downloads On Macbook
Excellent
Rating: 4.8 / 5 (based on 165 ratings)
June 04, 2019 15:55 / Updated by Louisa White to Mac Cleanup
- Best Phone Cleaner Apps for Android
Phone are full of junk files, and want to delete the unwanted downloads? Use the phone cleaners here.
- How to Delete Google History
If you want to protect your Google history from being disclosed to others, then you had better delete Google history now.
- How to Clear Search Cookies from Safari Chrome Firefox on Mac
Do not want others know your search cookies on Mac? Just clear all the cookies on Mac right now.