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macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 29, 2007
1,307
31
Pensacola, FL
My new iMac should be coming next week (woot). I'm planning on using Migration assistant to transfer my data and applications. It would be way too much work to reload all my applications from scratch, and hope that I can locate the registration keys for each of them.

I'd like some advice on removing old unwanted preference files from my current Mac, so my last backup is as clean as possible. I want to minimize transferring any "junk" to my new iMac. Is there a way to locate these unused preference files, or do any of you have a software utility you can recommend to do this?

Thanks for your help!
 
I'd like some advice on removing old unwanted preference files from my current Mac, so my last backup is as clean as possible. I want to minimize transferring any "junk" to my new iMac. Is there a way to locate these unused preference files, or do any of you have a software utility you can recommend to do this?
You can go directly to ~/Library/Preferences and look through the list, but .plists may not be the only "junk" left behind from deleted apps. If you can remember the names of apps you've deleted, you can use the following to clean up more than just preference files.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
 
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