If your Mac acts like it needs a nap every afternoon, when you are at the height of multitasking, there is an easy way to see which of your open applications is using the most system resources. Step 2: Identify and eradicate offending apps Uncheck the apps you don't need at startup. Go to System Preferences, then to Users & Groups and then click on the Login Items tab to see a list of the apps that open when you boot your Mac. Many applications by default open automatically at startup. If your Mac is slow to boot up, the problem may be it simply has too many applications to open that it can't load the OS in a timely fashion.

For Macs, it's easy: grab an external drive and run Time Machine. If your Mac struggles to keep pace from time to time, the following are some ways you can clean and speed it up.īefore you engage in any maintenance, it's always a good idea to back up your data. I see the spinning beach ball more than I care to. Sure, the amount of garbage I've put on it since purchase can't match the amount of crap I found in my attic and basement, but it is slowing down some. I wanted to continue our cleaning momentum so I turned to my MacBook Pro. Now our attic isn't as overwhelming, and our basement is less creepy. We celebrated each run to the dump as we literally lightened our load. The left panel of the program shows the folder and file sizes in a familiar File Explorer-like display, while the right side displays a pie chart for visualizing each folder's disk usage.ĭisktective is relatively user-friendly, but it's hindered by a few key limitations: the export-to-HTML feature doesn't produce a very easy-to-read file, you can't delete or open folders or files from within the program, and the size units are static, meaning they're all either in bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes (whatever you choose).My wife and I recently cleaned out our attic and basement, throwing out and donating six years' worth of accumulated clutter.

You can choose any folder on any hard drive that's plugged in, including removable ones, as well as the entire hard drives. Unable to delete files directly from the program.Īn update hasn't been released since 2010.ĭisktective is portable and takes up less than 1 MB of disk space, so you can carry it with you on a flash drive.Įach time it opens, you're asked what directory to scan.

Clean disk on mac