I second this. Doing a clean install occasionally is totally worth the hassle. Years of glitches, corruption, malware and bloat are gone in a flash. One needs a solid plan though. Hardest part is reinstalling some of the apps, since in many cases dragging a copy of the saved app to the new Applications folder just won't cut it.
Sorry to veer slightly OT, back to 10.15.4
I have made quite a few posts here about doing a fresh, clean, "virgin" installation. I have also stated that it is never a good idea to keep
just applying the various updates, either within the same OS, or to a new one. As I mentioned above,
within the same Mac OS, I typically will apply the
Combo Updater. But I also will do a full installation of the Mac OS within the same version at least once. For example, when I was using Mojave, I did not start until V10.14.3, as one of my critical applications did not have a version ready for Mojave until shortly after the release of OS 10.14.3. I also did a clean, fresh, "virgin" installation of OS 10.14.6 when it was released.
With Catalina, once again I did not start until OS 10.15.3, again because a compatible version of Tech Tool Pro was not available until shortly before the release of V10.15.3. Normally I would just apply the Combo Updater for OS 10.15.4 to my OS 10.15.3 environment. But again, with it being quite a while since OS 10.15.3 was released, and with all the issues I am seeing folks have with just
updating to OS 10.15.4, I am going to do a fresh, clean, "virgin" installation.
Regarding a plan, for a
new version of the Mac OS, it is
critical that one insures that
all their third party applications are compatible with the new OS. For that reason, I typically cannot do an installation of the new OS until
at least the .2 version is released. I do use just about all third party software, and I have 6 of them that are
absolutely critical. One of them is Tech Tool Pro, and as I mentioned above, that one typically does not have a compatible version ready until at least the .2 or .3 version of the new Mac OS has been released. Also, an advantage of waiting is that Apple fixes a number of the bugs, glitches, etc., that were present in the earlier releases. And of course, there is typically nothing earth shattering that requires an installation of the new OS, especially with the initial and/or .1 versions.
As for files, folders, settings, applications, etc., that is where either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner have a
distinct advantage. As I have also mentioned numerous times, after doing a fresh, clean, "virgin" installation of the Mac OS, one is offered the opportunity to migrate/copy needed files, folders, settings, applications, etc. from a backup. Hence, that is why I make a SuperDuper! backup before I do a clean installation of the Mac OS. I can then choose that backup for the "area" I am migrating my "stuff" from. It has
always worked for me.
Finally, a couple of more things I adhere to:
1. I keep up to date with updates for the software I use. For example, a new version of Onyx for Catalina, V3.7.9, was released yesterday. I have already downloaded and installed it.
2. I make a concerted effort to keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean". As it is, I am doing disk cleanup just about every day. Most of it is permanently removing deleted EMails (I use Thunderbird as my EMail client, and it is easy to do). Also, once a week (typically on Saturdays) I run Onyx and Tech Tool Pro for disk cleanup, maintenance, and repairs. I then use SuperDuper! to make two backups for each of my Macs to 2 separate SSDs.
OK, sorry to ramble on, but maybe some folks will get something (or maybe a lot) from all that.
