Can I delete preferences folder?

[Neotyguy40]

Hey there, I was wondering if I could delete everything in the folder:

[USER]/Library/Preferences/

After about 4 years, it has accumulated with junk files for applications I don't use anymore. Could I delete all the contents in this folder and let my applications that I use rewrite themselves into it?

I really want to clean out my Mac's hardrive, and I am not sure whether it is safe or not to delete this.

 

[ElijahPost]

I'd be a bit careful. Some files can't be rewritten, but for the most part, it's no problem.

Just make sure you know what you are doing before you do it and you will have no problem. And worst case scenario, you would just have to reinstall that application.

 

[synth3tik]

I usually do it the hard way and delete the individual pref. files. Not as thorough as deleting the whole fold, however I know I am only getting rid of pref. files for apps I do not use, or no longer have.

 

[Neotyguy40]

Well even without cleaning that out, I still retrieved 39GB of space from deleting things I don't use anymore.

 

[ez4u2sa67]

Make a back up on your desktop then delete the folder. If a program is haveing problems you can put the old .plist back. Also try AppCleaner you can set it to watch the trash so when you delete programs the .plist will also get trashed automatically

 

[Neotyguy40]

Make a back up on your desktop then delete the folder. If a program is haveing problems you can put the old .plist back. Also try AppCleaner you can set it to watch the trash so when you delete programs the .plist will also get trashed automatically

That would have come in handy before I deleted the apps.

Any idea on how I can delete those prefs after the application?

 

[angelwatt]

Any idea on how I can delete those prefs after the application?

Go through one by one and delete the ones that have the name of an app that you don't use anymore. Most are pretty straight forward. If you delete an incorrect one, at worst you'll have to re-setup your preferences for that application. You'll only be gaining a couple MB at most though. Not really worth the effort in my opinion.