/Mac Cleaner /How to Clear Application Cache on Mac?
Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue. If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Choose View Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. CleanMyMac is a powerful Mac cleaner, speed booster, and health guard, designed to help your Mac run at full throttle again. Remove large and old files, uninstall apps, and delete useless data that waste disk space.
I use a MacBook Pro and I’ve been buying new versions of it ever since it was released. This is because it is great for editing photos and videos which is my line of work. I bought the most powerful MacBook Pro available but I’m noticing that it’s kind of slowing down. They said I should clear application cache to speed my Mac up. How do I do this?
Cached. Here's how to clear the application cache on your Mac.
Article GuidePart 1. What Is Cache?Part 2. How to Clean up Application Cache Quickly?Part 3. How to Manually Clear The Application Cache? Part 4. Conclusion
People Also Read:How to Clear iPod Photo Cache on Mac OS X?2 Solutions to Delete Temporary Files.
Have you noticed that your Mac device is becoming too slow? Are you in the middle of a task and your Mac completely freezes out? Some people experience a very slow Mac device and this can be very frustrating. Although Mac devices are very powerful computers, they can sometimes slow down because of a variety of reasons. One reason for a slow Mac device is the use of too much memory. Another is full storage space. When there are a few spaces on your hard disk, this means there is less space allocated for performing tasks efficiently. And one of the biggest culprits of a fully occupied hard disk is the adding up of cache. So what is this cache and how does it affect your Mac device? How do you delete the cache to release some of the space?
Part 1. What Is Cache?
To give you a better user experience, cache files are put into storage by your system and its applications. Browser stores cache files too. The said cache files can be of various types such as images, documents, videos, etc. And they are stored in order for processes to speed up. One example would be the browser Safari. It downloads and saves images on a particular web page you visit and stores it as the cache. In this way, the next time you visit that specific page, you don’t have to re-download the images all over again. It makes the process faster. After some period of time, cache files increase in size significantly. Although cache files are actually temporary and they can be deleted, most people forget to actually remove them. That’s why cache files take up a significant part of your hard disk drive and it leads to the slowing of your Mac device.
Cache files include application cache, system cache, library cache, browser cache, and a whole lot more. Different types of operating systems store their cache in various different folders of the computer. However, the macOS puts cache files inside the cache location. The primary use of cache is to enhance the experience of the user. However, the build-up of these cache files can result in a full disk drive. They are relatively small in size. However, if it takes too long for you to delete these cache files they can grow considerably larger. When this happens, your system is left to use a little amount of space in order to operate. Thus, the smooth performance of your Mac device is affected.
To ensure that you regularly have a great user experience on your Mac device, it is important for you to remove cache often. The Mac device is relatively difficult to clean compared to others. This is because destination folders can be found under multiple folders and files. Thus, if you do not have the knowledge to use your Mac, you might be wondering how to clean the cache properly.
Part 2. How to Clean up Application Cache Quickly?
If you simply want to delete your files and stop worrying about deleting the wrong data, it is recommended for you to use a tool such as iMyMac’s Mac Cleaner. Here’s why:
01 - It gives you the capability to delete unimportant data on your Mac device. In this way, it speed up the performance of your Mac because files that clog it are removed.
02 - It provides you with the capability to preview the system status of your Mac devices. You can check a variety of statuses such as CPU, Disk, Memory, and other systems.
03 - It helps you to powerfully scan your entire device leaving no unnecessary file behind.
04 - The entire process of scanning your device and deleting unnecessary data can be done in a few simple clicks.
05 - It provides a display of different data. Plus, you can sort these files by date, time, size, etc. You can even preview the data before actually getting to delete them.
06 - You are in control of everything. You can choose which files to keep and which files to actually delete.
07 - It provides you with the entire tool for the first 500MB of data without having to pay for it. Thus, it comes with a free trial.
08 - You can use the tool first and try it out without having to pay for it.
09 - It gives you outstanding support through email. A one on one mode of support is also available. Here’s how to use it. Just follow the steps below:
Step 1. Download and Launch iMyMac-Cleaner on Your Mac
Download the tool from the official website of the software. Open the tool within your device. Press Master Scan. This can be found on the left side of the interface.
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Step 2. Scanning Junk File
Click the Scan button. Wait until the results are out. It will show the unnecessary files in a variety of categories.
Step 3. Review and Select Application Cache to Clean Up
Select a specific category. Preview the files in the category you selected. Select all or select some files you wish to delete. Press the Clean button. Wait until the entire cleanup process is finished.
Part 3. How to Manually Clear The Application Cache?
Some would opt to clean their cache themselves. There are different types of cache files. Each type of cache file is put into storage of multiple locations. There are different ways to clean them too. Here’s how to do each step-by-step:
Manual Deletion Of User Cache
This type of cache, the user cache, takes up the largest part in your disk drive. It is located in the User Cache Folder and is located at ~/Library/Caches. Here's how to delete them manually step-by-step:
Step 01 - Go to File folder.
Step 02 - Visit the Go menu.
Step 03 - Choose Go To Folder.
Step 04 - Type the following: ~/Library/Caches
Step 05 - Press Enter.
Step 06 - Visit every folder that is displayed and delete each and every file contained within it. It is recommended that you remove the contents of the folder and not delete the folder itself.
It is important to note that user caches contain important data. Some users stated that errors occurred in opening system applications and files after removing the user cache. Thus, it is important for you to create a backup in order to be able to restore it in case something happens. Below are the steps you can follow to create a backup:
Step 01 - Go to File folder.
Step 02 - Visit the Go menu.
Step 03 - Choose Go To Folder.
Step 04 - Type the following: ~/Library/Caches
Step 05 - Press Enter.
Step 06 - Select every file by pressing Ctrl + A.
Step 07 - Copy all of these files and folders.
Step 08 - Go back to the Library.
Step 09 - Create a new folder and label it User Cache.
Step 10 - Copy all the data you have selected before into this folder.
Manual Deletion of App Cache And System Cache
System cache is composed of files put into storage by system applications that are running in the background of your Mac operating system. App cache is composed of downloaded media files of applications that are there to make it operate faster. It is also composed of temporary download files, system thumbnails, etc.
Although these files are very useful for the app, they can take up a large amount of space and it is necessary to clean them up. In order to clean up App cache, you simply have to type out the ~/Library/Caches using the steps stated above. After which, you should find the folder with the app’s name within it. Delete all the files contained in this folder.
It is important to remember that it is not safe to clean app cache manually. Essential data are contained within the app cache folders. Thus, it is best to back up the data first before actually deleting it. You may simply delete the backup at one point in time when you think the deleted app cache is not causing harm to the app.
Flushing Out Mac’s DNS Cache
One type of your system cache, DNS Cache, are actually old cache entries that serve to translate domain names towards IP addresses.
When you clean your DNS cache regularly, you make sure that you have uninterrupted connection towards a variety of websites. There are different methods for cleaning your DNS cache for different versions of the Mac OS.
For Versions Previous To That Of OS X 10.10.0
Step 01 - Go to Spotlight.
Step 02 - Type Terminal in order to launch the Terminal.
Step 03 - Type the following: “sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder; say cache flushed”
Step 04 - Input your administrator password in order to finish the job.
For Versions OS X 10.10.0 And Higher
Step 01 - Go to Spotlight.
Step 02 - Type Terminal in order to launch the Terminal.
Step 03 - Type the following: 'sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache; sudo discoveryutil udnsflushcaches; say flushed'
Step 04 - Input your administrator password in order to finish the job.
Manually Cleaning Up Your Browser Cache
One of the most popular pastimes is surfing the net. Plus, it has become a major source of income for a lot of people. However, as you move from site to site and page to page, the activity you do all add up to the size of the browser cache. Browser cache consists of data from websites such as scripts, images, etc. This is to ensure that your browsing experience becomes faster. The next time you visit a site you have previously visited, some data is loaded from the browser cache instead of the Internet. When you clean your browser cache you are doing yourself two things. First, you’re freeing up more space on your hard disk drive (or solid state drive). Second, you’re protecting your privacy cause your browser history is wiped out. Plus, it even helps you avoid errors such as 402 and 502, among others. These errors are often the result of a corrupted browser cache. Each type of browser stores their cache differently. Thus, cleaning the cache takes different steps for different browsers. Chrome’s cache can be found in Settings. Safari stores it in Privacy. While Firefox stores it in History. These are the steps to help you delete the different cache on your browsers
How To Remove Cache On Chrome
Step 01 - Press the Options icon. This can be found in the Chrome browser’s top-right corner.
Step 02 - Select Settings.
Step 03 - On the left side menu, select More Tools.
Step 04 - Press Clear Browsing Data
Step 05 - Select the following options only: Cached images, caches files, browsing history.
Step 06 - Choose The Beginning Of Time
Step 07 - Press the button named Clear Browsing Data
How To Remove Cache On FireFox
Step 01 - Go to History menu.
Step 02 - Choose Clear Recent History.
Step 03 - Find the drop-down menu that contains the time range.
Step 04 - Select your desired time range. Or in order to remove all cache, choose Everything.
Step 05 - Press the down arrow next to the label Details.
Step 06 - Select Cache only.
Step 07 - Press Clear Now.
Step 08 - Exit the browser.
Step 09 - Reopen the browser.
How To Remove Cache On Safari
Step 01 - Go to the top menu.
Step 02 - Select Safari.
Step 03 - Press Preferences.
Step 04 - Select Advanced Tab.
Step 05 - Activate the showing of Develop menu within the menu bar.
Step 06 - Visit Develop located within the menu bar.
Step 07 - Select Empty Caches.
Step 08 - Close Safari.
Step 09 - Reopen Safari again.
It is also recommended for you to clean DNS cache in order to speed up the process of clearing up your cache. It is also suggested that you delete or empty the Trash after the cleanup process.
In order to delete Trash, hit Ctrl + Click upon the Trash icon. After which, choose Empty Trash. After these steps, you must also reboot your Mac device for a total overhaul. This results in the Mac device formulating new cache files.
Manually deleting junk files is a very time consuming tasks. Plus it is not that safe. Important files that are crucial to the system and its applications can be deleted. Plus, it takes up a lot of your effort as well. That’s why we recommend a tool for you to do this.
Part 4. Conclusion
Cache files are important in speeding up the performance of your Mac device. But they can’t be corrupted and they can take too much of your space. That’s why it is recommended for you to clean them up. You can do this manually or you can do this with a tool called iMyMac’s Mac Cleaner. The choice is up to you.
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What is taking up space on my Mac?
There comes a time in every computer's life when it is full of files and programs, slowing it down so much that its owner searches for an article such as this in order to cure it of these ailments (before it gets thrown out the window!).
Worry not, you're in the right place. This article will take you through 8 steps which will free up space on your Mac - removing unneeded files and clearing space for the stuff you actually need.
No matter if you're tech savvy or not, anyone can use these tips to breathe new life into their Mac.
To find out how much space is available on your Mac:
Open the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen).
Click 'About this Mac'.
Click 'Storage'.
This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.
The 8 sections below address the biggest culprits of space-hogging on your Mac and how to clean them up.
Jump straight to:
1. Mac OS Storage Management
The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.
If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…
As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.
Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:
Store in iCloud: Quickly store files (Documents, Photos and Messages) from your Mac in iCloud. When considering how to clear space on Mac, getting rid of files quickly springs to mind- However, if you need to keep the files, you can just move them to an external hard drive, or into iCloud!
Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically save space when it’s needed.
This is great as you’ll be able to access your files on any device using your Apple ID. However, if you have a large number of files, you’ll need to purchase more storage space than your allotted free amount (5GB)- obviously, depending on the amount of space you need, this can quickly become an expensive option.
Optimize Storage: For those who download and watch lots of movies and TV, this option can save you a lot of space and a lot of time. Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically remove such files (which can be HUGE depending on their length and quality) once you have watched them.
Empty Trash Automatically: Similar to the above, enabling this option allows the automatic removal of files, saving you time and space without having to keep on top of it manually. This will remove items in your Trash after 30 days of them being there. Be aware that once files have been removed from your Trash, you will not be able to retrieve them.
Side note: Many points in this article will advise the removal of unwanted files from your Mac. However, these files are not completely removed from your computer until you empty the Trash (the space is not regained until they are removed from Trash). You can manually empty it by clicking the Trash Can icon in your dock, then clicking 'Empty'.
Reduce Clutter: Find large and unused files on your Mac and delete them from your system. You’ll need to delete them manually, but it’s well worth it if you can remove files that you do not use.
Navigate to files that you don't need using the 'Large Files' or 'Downloads' sorters, then hit 'Delete..'. Note that this action will bypass sending the item to Trash, so it's permanent. If you're finding unwanted files using the 'File Browser' tab, you'll need to right-click > 'Move To Trash'.
2. Find Duplicate Files Mac
The quickest way to free up space on your Mac is to automatically remove files that you don’t need. Without realizing it, you can accumulate gigabytes worth of duplicate files and folders on your computer.
The problem is that it can take so much time to find and delete these duplicates that people do not bother to do it even if they want to.
Paper trading app mac os. Luckily, you can use an app like Duplicate Sweeper to do this for you.
Duplicate Sweeper: Easily scan your Mac for duplicate files and photos. You can then select and remove duplicates based on your preferences. In this way you can keep your newest version of files and remove all duplicates with a click of a button.
In the example below, I was able to remove over 6000 files with one-click. This freed up 2.3 GB of space on my MacBook. Imagine manually going through and comparing 6000 files without Duplicate Sweeper.. it would have taken forever!
For more information about Duplicate Sweeper, or to download the free trial:
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3. Unused Apps- Uninstall Programs on Mac
One of the biggest areas you should consider when looking at how to free up space on Mac is your Apps. Maybe unsurprisingly, apps on your Mac can be some of the largest files on your computer. Removing apps that you don’t use can free up a huge amount of space. Let’s list your apps by their files size:
Open Finder, then open the Applications section. Display the items as a list (using the button with 4 horizontal lines), then click the ‘Size’ header to reorder your applications by size. You can then work down the list and decide which applications you don’t use. Simply drag an application from the list into the Trash Can on your Dock to remove them.
Remember that you’ll need to empty your Trash Can to completely remove the applications from your Mac.
4. Clean up media and downloads
The quality of media like photo and video is constantly improving. Unfortunately, this usually means that the corresponding files are bigger than they used to be.
Clear Disk Mac App
For this reason, your saved media could be a great place to free up some of that precious storage on your Mac.
Open Finder and look through your Pictures, Movies and Music folders. If there is media there that you don't want, select it and move it to Trash to get rid of later. If you prefer to delete this media from the associated apps like Photos and iMovie, see how to empty their trash.
It is also recommended to check your Downloads file for unwanted files too.
This folder can receive copious amounts of files downloaded from multiple sources. Many of these files you may have only needed to read or use once.
You can get to your Downloads folder by opening a Finder window and clicking the 'Downloads' header.
Again, select whatever files you don't need, then right-click > Move to Trash/Bin.
Extra: Zipped / Archived files
If you receive a zipped file (with the .zip extension), opening it will unzip the file or folder and create the files in a non-zipped form.
This will create files that you can use, but it will not remove the (now unneeded) zip file. If you've already unzipped, you can delete the .zip file. Logitech presentation app.
On the flip side, you can use file archiving to compress files or folders that you don't use regularly.
Say you have a folder of documents that you only need to save for safekeeping; right-click the folder in Finder and click 'Compress [file/folder name]'. This will compress the files and create a .zip file.
Don't forget to delete the original, uncompressed folder in order to save the space!
5. Delete iTunes backups
Depending on the number of files, photos, messages etc that you have stored on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it’s backup on your Mac can be huge.
Keeping backups of your devices is a good idea. If something was to happen to your device, your data can be restored to it (or another device) using your backup. However, these backup files can be massive, and you may never need them! For this reason, consider backing up your devices to iCloud instead – freeing up space on your Mac.
To set your device to backup to iCloud, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup. To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Using bootcamp mac switch os. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.
How to delete backups on Mac - You can also delete the backups which you already have stored on your Mac. To do this, open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. If you don’t need the backups in the list, select and delete them!
Clear Disk App For Mac
Find out: where are iTunes backups stored?
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use iCloud for backing up your data, or if you only need certain data from your backups, you could use iBackup Extractor. This handy tool allows you to access and browse your backups, and extract any important photos, messages etc. that you need. You can save this data to your computer, then delete the backup from iTunes as seen above!
6. How to Delete Temporary Files on Mac
Some of the most common questions asked are 'how to clear cache on mac' and 'how to delete cookies on mac'. Well, let's answer those for you!
Temporary and cache are files that are stored locally in order to speed up processes. For example, images from a website that you visited can be cached, so that when you visit the page again, you don’t have to wait to download the images again, they are simply pulled in from the cache. That’s great for processes that you use regularly, but without care, your temporary and cached files can build up and eat away at your Mac’s performance.
Let’s see how to clear cache on mac – Open Finder > Go > hold ‘option’ and click ‘Library’ > Caches. Select and delete any cache files and folders that you don’t need to save space!
7. Taking out the Trash
Deleting files on your Mac usually only moves them to your Trash Can (or Bin).
This is great, because if you 'delete' something by accident, you can restore it to its original location - no harm done.
However, if you are culling files on your Mac to make space, you may wonder why you are not gaining storage after clicking delete.
To permanently delete files from the Mac, you'll need to empty your Trash Can. To do this, simply click the Trash Can (or Bin) icon in your Dock.
Here, you can review or restore files in your Trash/Bin.
To permanently delete all the files in your bin, click Empty. You'll be asked if you're sure, and to confirm the permanent deletion of the files.
Deleting files from Photos, iMovie and Mail apps..
Generally, you'll be able to use the steps above to permanently delete files. However, some apps have their own way to manage 'deleted' files.
As such, you'll need to empty trash cans in individual apps to ensure that files are fully deleted.
An example of this can be seen in the Photos app:
Click the 'Recently Deleted' header to access the trash in the Photos app.
After 'deleting' photos from the app, the files can remain in this section for up to 40 days before being automatically deleted.
If you are sure you'd like to permanently delete these photos, click 'Delete All' to remove them from your hard drive.
You can use similar steps to empty trash for other apps like iMovie and Mail.
8. Move files into external storage
The majority of the methods above cover how to delete unwanted files to gain space. But what you if want to keep your files?
If you need more space on your Mac, but deleting your files is not an option, you may want to consider investing in external storage.
You can purchase external storage drives pretty cheap nowadays.
The way this works is that you connect your external drive with your Mac via USB cable. The drive then pops up as a Location on your Mac:
You can then drag files from your Mac onto your external drive, or cut/paste them into specific folders on your drive.
Takeaways
These are the most effective steps to make the most of the available space on your Mac in our experience.
There's a lot of information above, but this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to clear space on your Mac. We hope that you now have the tools that you need to breathe new life into your Mac or MacBook.