Clean my Mac - RAM and hard drive storage

JamieSD11 wrote:

Context:

What I'm working with...(yes, my OS is out of date, more on that to follow)

This is Ok.

My best attempt at succinctly showing how/why my computer is running slowly (and why I get notifications to 'consider closing some web browswers' constantly, even when I don't have many windows/tabs open [I use Chrome, as you can see below]):

Chrome is a resource hog utilizing lots of memory, storage, and even CPU cycles. The more open windows & tabs you have with Chrome, the worse it is. You definitely want completely Quit the Chrome app until you get at least 20GB+ of Free space.

My question/request:•

re: issue #1, local storage: How do I find out what the 65.16GB of "Other" storage is? and then, how do I go about getting it off my device?

Usually there isn't anything you can do about "Other" storage as that is typically managed by macOS. If you have other macOS user accounts on this laptop, then "Other" may include them.

• re: issue #2, RAM: I've looked into the "Google Chrome Helper (renderer)" issue (in the second picture above), and learned that this may be due to the Chrome extensions that I have installed. I'm sure there are some that I can delete, but which ones?

Just turn off all Chrome extensions for now. Better yet just completely Quit the Chrome app until you get at least 20GB+ of Free storage space. "Chrome helper" is part of the Chrome browser and may not necessarily be an extension....very hard to say though. I know I have lots of "Vivaldi-helper" items and I don't use any extensions in my Vivaldi browser (also based on Chromium).

the Apple forums tell me that I should NOT install any third party cleanup app (like 'CleanMyMacX').

You wouldn't even be able to download them much less install them with just 94MB of Available storage.

Definitely avoid CMM and all other cleaning/optimizer apps, anti-virus apps, and third party security software since none of these types of apps are needed on a Mac. Plus these types of apps usually cause more problems than they solve since they run at very low levels within macOS where the slightest interference will greatly impact the OS.

Effective defenses against malware and other threats- Apple Community

• How do I get my memory back?

We can deal with this once you have at least 20GB+ of Free storage space.

Once you have at least 20GB+ of Free space, then we can focus on getting macOS Catalina running properly before you even make any attempt to upgrade to any later version of macOS. Upgrading macOS when you have system issues will just make things worse and harder to troubleshoot. First thing is to make sure you don't get locked out of being able to access the data on this internal SSD and to make sure you have a good backup of your data.

Do you have a backup of your data that is stored on the internal SSD?

You definitely need to immediately get the Free storage space value up to at least 20GB+ so that macOS has a chance of functioning. With just 93MB "Available", you run the risk of not being able to delete any items since APFS volumes must have some Free space in order to even delete items due to how the APFS file system works.

Make sure the Trash has been emptied (it is easy to overlook this sometimes).

Check to see if you have any APFS snapshots and at least delete the oldest one(s). See the following Apple article for instructions.....just make sure to click on the "Data" volume in Disk Utility or you may not see the "Show APFS snapshots" on the View menu on the menubar of Disk Utility (the Apple article neglects to specify this part):

View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Clear out your web browsers' cache.....there is an option either on one of the browsers' menus or located somewhere within the browsers' Settings/Preferences.

Until you get at least 20GB of Free storage space, you should completely close down all open apps. Use "File --> Quit" from each app's menu since clicking the red "close" button may leave some apps running.

Once you get at least 2GB to 5GB of Free storage space listed in Disk Utility.......ignore the "Available" space value since it is very misleading, you can try running OmniDiskSweeper which will show you where the largest files/folders are located. There may be some areas that OmniDiskSweeper won't be able to analyze due to privacy & security features in macOS.

Do you backup or sync any mobile devices like an iPhone or iPad? If so, then I believe those items are located somewhere within the hidden Library folder in your home user folder.

If you have any external media (USB hard drive or SSD, or even a network share....avoid using USB sticks since they are very unreliable), then I would copy the largest files from your home user folder to the external media. Once you confirm those files have been transferred, then you can delete them from the internal SSD. I advise against "moving" them since you can lose those files if the "moving" process is interrupted for any reason including encountering an error.

I really hope you have a good backup already since there is a chance you could lose access to these files if you completely run out of Free storage space on this boot drive.