Cleaning up my MBP

[Eddiedv]

What software do you guys recommend to use if i want to give my MBP a "Tune up" as in deleting un necessary files, fixing registries and what not..

I downloaded mackeeper because thats what kind of software im looking for but it wanted me to buy it lol

 

[RossMc]

What software do you guys recommend to use if i want to give my MBP a "Tune up" as in deleting un necessary files, fixing registries and what not..

CleanMyMac

 

[GGJstudios]

What software do you guys recommend to use if i want to give my MBP a "Tune up" as in deleting un necessary files, fixing registries and what not..

There is no registry in Mac OS X. You really don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Most only remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space. It will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software.

If you want to maximize performance: Performance tips for Mac OS X

CleanMyMac

One app that I would not recommend, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere, is CleanMyMac. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it, especially since there are free alternatives that have better reputations, such as Onyx.

 

[Eddiedv]

Well im running out of hard drive space and i have a bunch of crap on this computer that needs to be deleted and sorted..

 

[GGJstudios]

Well im running out of hard drive space and i have a bunch of crap on this computer that needs to be deleted and sorted..

Many have successfully used Monolingual to remove unwanted languages and architectures to free up drive space, but even that will not make your Mac run faster.

Be aware that extreme caution should be exercised when using such apps, as deleting certain languages or architectures can create significant problems. At best, deleting these things may buy you 1-2GB of drive space, but will not improve your system's performance. If you're not certain about what you're doing, don't delete anything. The small drive space savings are not worth the risk of potential problems.

You're safest bet is to move user files to an external drive, perhaps split your iTunes library into two locations, if it's large, etc.

 

[Peter Franks]

If you want to maximize performance: Performance tips for Mac OS X

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

For notebook Macs, check your Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. For Settings for: Power Adapter and Battery, make sure Optimization is set to: Better Performance.

I don't have anything in there that mentions Optimization or Better Performance, what's that all about?

 

[GGJstudios]

For notebook Macs, check your Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. For Settings for: Power Adapter and Battery, make sure Optimization is set to: Better Performance.

I don't have anything in there that mentions Optimization or Better Performance, what's that all about?

That was available on earlier versions of Mac OS X or earlier Mac notebooks. You can skip it if it's not there.

 

[Peter Franks]

Ahh, OK.

thanks

 

[Elbert C]

Well im running out of hard drive space and i have a bunch of crap on this computer that needs to be deleted and sorted..

Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk

 

[Peter Franks]

Mildly OT....

This may sound like a fairly stupid question, but.... 'Securely delete trash' over writes and is harder to find but gets rid of space as the capacity will verify if you have a lot in there, but.. when you delete history in Safari, that must still stay on there, because it's not a secure delete, so where does that go to bloat up space, and is there not an equivalent for secure delete web history, cache/cookies etc, and I don't just mean the 'reset safari' which probably does very little in comparison to secure deletes. I read elsewhere that after you reset Safari you should secure delete trash, but that's rubbish because nothing goes in there from Safari

 

[Hermes Monster]

Buy an external hard drive? A 250GB HD can be bought for very little these days

 

[Mal]

Mildly OT....

This may sound like a fairly stupid question, but.... 'Securely delete trash' over writes and is harder to find but gets rid of space as the capacity will verify if you have a lot in there, but.. when you delete history in Safari, that must still stay on there, because it's not a secure delete, so where does that go to bloat up space, and is there not an equivalent for secure delete web history, cache/cookies etc, and I don't just mean the 'reset safari' which probably does very little in comparison to secure deletes. I read elsewhere that after you reset Safari you should secure delete trash, but that's rubbish because nothing goes in there from Safari

When you delete your Safari history, it's simply emptying the contents of the history.plist file in your Library. Nothing is put in the trash, because the file is modified, not deleted.

jW

 

[Peter Franks]

When you delete your Safari history, it's simply emptying the contents of the history.plist file in your Library. Nothing is put in the trash, because the file is modified, not deleted.

jW

Thanks Mal, But in the library, the folders still show the history in there, are you supposed to secure delete the files in there, what are the history index, history plist, local storage etc? Can you put them in the bin or not, Don't get that stuff

What's an external hard drive got to do with anything?

 

[Rowf]

As far as I'm aware secure delete just overwrites the deleted files on the hard-drive to prevent recovery.

The external hard-drive was probably suggested as a means of extra storage space.

Just add a bit more to this:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17314741#17314741

and CCleaner is now available for mac, I haven't tried it though and have no idea of it's effectiveness or any upsets that it might cause on a mac.

http://www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner

I use it on windows and it's o.k on there.

Rowf.

 

[Peter Franks]

As far as I'm aware secure delete just overwrites the deleted files on the hard-drive to prevent recovery.

The external hard-drive was probably suggested as a means of extra storage space.

Just add a bit more to this:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17314741#17314741

and CCleaner is now available for mac, I haven't tried it though and have no idea of it's effectiveness or any upsets that it might cause on a mac.

http://www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner

I use it on windows and it's o.k on there.

Rowf.

Thanks, I think the external was aimed at the OP.

I remember CC on Windows, but it doesn't truly delete from what I remember.

There's no secure delete for web cache and history though, I wonder how to remove that for bank details etc. It's no big deal but have to put in for repairs and although I do trust them, I don't want someone finding my bank stuff in a cache in Library, I have no idea what's safe and what isn't or how many other hidden caches are on here. Paranoid maybe but as I have no clue about the OS on a Mac, how safe is it if caches are open, I see a Safari one and a cache with loads I don't understand.