If your Mac seems too slow, you can speed it up by deleting unused files and programs. Doing so is very easy, you just need to know the right tools
In the last few days, your Mac seems to be getting slower and slower. It takes a long time to turn on, it's slow to open incoming documents, and it often won't load when you try to play a video. The bad news is that it probably needs a cleanup, the good news is that it's super easy to do.
Before doing anything else we need to make sure our Mac is up to date. To check this we go to the App Store, then select the heading Updates. If there are new versions, install them. This will not only improve performance but also increase the cyber security of the device. Remember that this step is totally free. At this point, if we've updated our Mac to the latest version available but haven't seen significant improvements it's time to get ready to do a thorough cleaning of the computer.
Manual Cleaning
First we check the storage status, that is, the space still available on our hard drive. If we are at an all-time low, it means we need to start deleting something. The advice is to start with the oldest software. Those downloaded months ago and now unused. Let's check the list of installed programs and eliminate the unnecessary ones. We can also sort them by size and figure out which ones are clogging our memory the most. There are two ways to delete a program. The first one is to drag it to the Recycle Bin, an easy method but one that leaves some junk files on the device. The second is to use a dedicated software like App Cleaner (free) that deletes every file from our computer.
Cleaning apps
Once you've deleted old apps, it's likely that the space available to us has increased. However, if we want to clean up more thoroughly we need to check the old files that are saved and we don't need them anymore. On macOS Sierra, just use the storage management tool to figure out what to delete or not. If we don't have the latest version of Apple's operating system we can always turn to special software. For example DaisyDisck, which costs about 10 euros but does its job perfectly. The program scans the system, finds the largest files and allows you to delete them directly from its interface.
Optimize the system
At this point our computer will have resumed functioning almost correctly. If we want to proceed with a further step, however, we can optimize the system. That is, remove all the cache files, history and all the junk that has accumulated over time and is slowing down the system. To do this we can use the program Onyx. To carry out a cleanup you just have to click on Automation, leaving the rest alone. And then click on Run to start the process. An even easier app to use is CCleaner.
Delete unnecessary files
Now all that's left to do is to finish it all off by cleaning out the small cramped spaces on our computer. For example, let's empty the Recycle Bin. It may seem trivial, but many people tend to accumulate a lot of files in this section. We constantly clean up the Downloads folder and we also clean up the desktop avoiding leaving scattered files. We check the programs that start when the device starts: if they are too many it is normal that the Mac is slow in the start-up phase.