moirakate

Q: What's the best way to clean up my Mac?

It's running slow, acting stupid, and there are a bunch of unknown things in Finder. But, my warantee is over, there are no in-store workshops about this, and "genius bar" appointments are only 15 minutes.

 

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iMac (24-inch Early 2009), OS X Server

Posted on Sep 26, 2014 2:48 PM

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Q: What's the best way to clean up my Mac?

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  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 26, 2014 2:51 PM in response to moirakate
    Level 8 (49,683 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2014 2:51 PM in response to moirakate

    If you have reason to believe your Mac is not performing as it should, please explain. Specific guidance can be provided but it would help if you would correlate that unexpected performance with certain activity, such as the time it takes to start up, to launch programs, to shut down, to load webpages, etc. Provide as much detail as you can.

     

    Attaching an EtreCheck report will preclude asking additional questions:

     


     

    Apple Support Communities contributor etresoft wrote a very useful app to quickly gather certain system information that may help point to a cause of this problem. Read about it here. It contains a link to download EtreCheck. Do not download it from anywhere else (such as may be found by following the results of an Internet search).

     

    Click Open - etresoft contributes to this forum frequently and can be considered a trustworthy developer.

     

    It will take a moment to run as it collects its data.

     

    Copy and paste its output in a reply.

     

    Do not be concerned about anything that says "Problem" or “failed” or anything else that may appear in red.

     

    EtreCheck was designed to remove any personal information (such as your computer's name and serial numbers) but if you see anything that looks like an email address or any other personal information that should not be divulged to others, please delete or obscure that information when you post the reply.

     

    When you are finished with EtreCheck, quit the program. It occupies very little space, and you can keep it or drag it to the Trash as you wish.


  • by moirakate,

    moirakate moirakate Sep 26, 2014 3:02 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 3:02 PM in response to John Galt

    I've looked up EtreCheck, as I want to be as helpful as possible, but didn't/don't know anything about it. I see it, understand what it's supposed to do, but I'm very conservative when it comes to running programs/apps/software that hasn't been very well recommended to me.

     

    Perhaps if I rephrase my question.

     

    I'm not looking for or expecting a diagnosis here, I'd just like to know what folks think about the best ways to get different sorts of service for your Mac are, if the traditional venues are not available.

     

    I've paid, for instance, back in the day, to have a PC "cleaned up and defragged" -- there were tech people who would do this for a price. Would anyone recommend such a thing for a Mac? That is -- I KNOW my computer is carrying lots of files and whateverelse computers pick up after 8 years of continuous use that can cause them to glitch and slow down. I'm looking for the community to give me some experience in terms of simple upkeep, I guess -- even not-so-simple-after-8-years upkeep.

     

    I could go through, I guess, and delete every single "file" I don't recognize, but that seems inexpedient at best.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 26, 2014 3:27 PM in response to moirakate
    Level 8 (49,683 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2014 3:27 PM in response to moirakate

    Understood. In that case I strongly encourage you to bring your Mac in for a diagnosis. There may be a fee, but sometimes there isn't, and if your Mac is running slow it's certainly justified because the reason may be an impending hard disk failure. It can be replaced for a cost that is not unreasonable.

     

    Genius Bar Reservations

     

    Be sure to back up your Mac prior to approaching the Genius Bar. To learn how to do that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac. You should be doing that anyway, even if your Mac is running perfectly. Also, Apple's frequent remedy is to erase your Mac and reinstall OS X. That's almost never required, but Apple will not examine specific files, settings, or programs in an effort to troubleshoot anything. It's too time-consuming. They should ask if you have a backup, but they might forget.

     

    That option is also available to you, if you so choose. If you want specific instructions ask.

     

    I've paid, for instance, back in the day, to have a PC "cleaned up and defragged" -- there were tech people who would do this for a price. Would anyone recommend such a thing for a Mac?


    No. There are few, if any, comparisons that can be made between a PC and a Mac. If you are interested in performing some cursory diagnosis, please determine if you experience the same problems in "Safe Mode":


    • Safe Mode or "Safe Boot" is a troubleshooting mode that bypasses all third party system extensions and loads only required system components. Read about it: Starting up in Safe Mode
    • You must disable FileVault before you can start your Mac in Safe Mode.
    • Starting your Mac in Safe Mode will take longer than usual, graphics will not render smoothly, audio is disabled on some Macs, and some programs (iTunes for example) may not work at all.
    • Merely starting your Mac in Safe Mode is not intended to resolve the problem, it's to observe its performance without certain additional components.
    • To end Safe Mode restart your Mac normally. Shutdown will take longer as well.

    Reply with your observations. There will be additional troubleshooting steps to follow.

  • by moirakate,

    moirakate moirakate Sep 26, 2014 3:51 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 3:51 PM in response to John Galt

    Wow. REALLY helpful, John. THANK YOU. As weird as this sounds, you've reminded me that I bought a 2TB external drive 6 months or so ago, specifically to do a back-up. I'm a writer, and _wilt_ at the thought of losing documents.

     

    Since you've been so helpful, I wonder if you'd try another couple of questions with me? -- Related, but I don't want to take up too much of your time. If you agree ! here's the first one: The progress on the back up I'm running right now says that it is backing up 986,280 "items." Now, I create lots of documents, but geez, even with photos and the rest of it, that seems like _a lot_ of "items." My question is this, though -- Is it possible that this number in itself is some sort of indication of the initial problem I thought/think I have? That is, I think there is a lot of _junk_ on my computer, and would have no way of knowing where it came from. But, the other day I went to search through "All My Files," for instance, and there are all these "things" on there that I couldn't recognize: hundreds of files of what look like different kinds, each of them strings of numbers, overlaid with a green circle with a check-mark in it. I THINK they have something to do with back-up files my Web designer sent me. But, Man, it makes searching for one of my own files almost impossible. AND, this is when it began to feel like everything was running really really slow.

     

    So -- short version: isn't it possible that a ton of junk files are on my computer, that the nearly 1M "items" on my computer (and which are now, being backed up), should just be _deleted_ in some way? Thanks again. And, I understand if you don't have time for any further questions.

  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Sep 26, 2014 4:09 PM in response to moirakate
    Level 8 (49,683 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2014 4:09 PM in response to moirakate

    A million or more separate items (files) is not at all unusual. A single iPhoto, for example, can account for several separate files, and there are hundreds of thousands of separate files for OS X alone.

     

    An initial Time Machine backup can take a long time. Expect a couple hours, at least, assuming it's connected directly to your Mac. Subsequent backups will only take a few minutes.

     

    After Time Machine finishes try the Safe Mode. Using a Mac in Safe Mode is a pain but you should be able to characterize a difference in operation from what you originally described.

     

    Everyone's needs are different but I don't find "All My Files" very useful. Organizing files on a Mac is what you make of it. A cursory description is here: Tips to keep your Mac in top form under Organize and name your files. Although it remains relevant, the fact it's been "archived" supports a suspicion that Apple will eventually deprecate the Finder entirely, leaving document management under the control of individual apps. That's a discussion for another day.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 26, 2014 8:34 PM in response to moirakate
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Sep 26, 2014 8:34 PM in response to moirakate

    Please describe the problem in as much relevant detail as possible. The better your description, the better the chance of a solution.

    For example, if the computer is slow, which specific actions are slow? Is it slow all the time, or only sometimes? When did it start to be slow? Did you change anything just before it started? Have you seen any alerts or error messages? Have you done anything to try to fix it? Most importantly, do you have a current backup of all data? If the answer to the last question is "no," back up now. Ask if you need guidance. Do nothing else until you have a backup.