How to Clean and Organize Mac

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The longer you use anything (including your Mac), the more confusing it may become. One solution is to upgrade to a new machine, but a more economical move is to make you already work better. To help your computer feel almost like new, or at least cleaner, messier, we've put this guide together with technical and useful applications that helped us maintain a more civilized computer. I've been using these tips since I first released this guide in 2021 and they help my 2018 MacBook Air run (almost) like the brand new MacBook Air.

How to clean your Mac's screen and body

While there are many products specifically designed to help you clean your computer, I found the easiest way to work the most – this is one that Apple recommends. First, you need to do some water in the spray bottle and on a clean microfiber cloth. You can use regular water or distilled water; the latter has the advantage of keeping the residue on your Mac, especially on the display, is much less likely. You can buy distilled water at the grocery store or make your own with some simple cookware. Either way, it's more affordable than a dedicated cleaning solution. If you don't own any microfiber cloth yet, Amazon sells a 24-piece package that is reasonably priced at $11.

Another product I found that can make the job easier is the Giottos Rocket blower. I can't say enough good things about this gadget. It saves you from buying expensive and wasted compressed air.

As for the process of cleaning your Mac, the most important tip to remember is to start with a clean cloth (this is part of the reason we recommend buying them in bulk). You will save yourself time and frustration. First turn off the computer and unplug it. If you purchased a rocket blower, use it immediately to remove any dust. If not, take a dry microfiber cloth and cross over the computer. Pay special attention around the keys, especially if you have an older Mac with a butterfly keyboard.

Next, use water to suppress one side of the cleaning cloth. Never spray any liquid directly on your computer. You will have more control over this and you will avoid putting any moisture into the interior of your Mac. I always clean the display first since the last thing I wanted to do is to create more work for myself by transferring dirt from the rest of my computer to the screen.

The final step is to polish and polish the computer with the dry side of the cloth. Stay gentle here because you don't want to scratch the screen or any other part. That's it. Your Mac should look clean again.

How to organize a hard disk

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One of the hardest parts of cleaning your Mac hard drive is knowing where to start. After all, most of us have applications on our computers and we don't even remember installing them first. The good news is that MacOS comes with a tool to help you solve this exact problem.

Navigate to System Settings > General > Storage. Here you will find a tool that divides storage into a wide range of categories like “Apps”, “Documents”, “Music”, “Photoes”. Double-click an item in the list (such as an application) to see the last time you used the application and how much space it takes. You can delete the application from the same window.

The application section is especially useful because you can see the last time you use the program, and the operating system no longer supports it, or it is outdated due to recent releases.

You don't need me to tell you to uninstall programs you don't use, but what you probably don't know is that there is a better way to delete them besides simply dragging them into the trash. A free program called AppCleaner will help you track these files and folders will be left behind if you just want to delete the app.

After you delete any applications you do not need, move to the documentation section. This name is a bit misleading here, because you will find not only text files and Excel spreadsheets. In this case, the document turned out to be the terminology of various files of the tool, including files that take up a lot of space. You can also safely delete all DMGS (DISC image files) of all DMGs (with extension .DMG) of the related application that has been installed. The rest of the storage space is self-explanatory. The only other thing I'm going to mention is that if you've been using your iPhone for a while, there's a good chance you'll be storing an old iOS backup on your computer. You can also safely delete these.

Tips and tips for keeping a tidy desktop and finder

Let's start with the menu bar. Technically, it may not be part of the desktop, but a neat person can go a long way to make everything else seem cluttered. My advice is to download an app called Bartender. At first glance, this is a simple program that allows you to hide unwanted menu bar items behind a three-dot icon. But the advantage of bartenders is that you get a lot of customization options. For example, you can set up a trigger that will automatically hide the battery status icon from hidden when the computer is not connected to a power outlet.

When we are on the theme of the menu bar, it takes a second to navigate to the system set up > General > Log in to the project And view all applications that are launched when starting the system. You can speed up the system by cutting this list to programs you use frequently.

When it comes to the desktop itself, there is less best advice. Nothing makes your computer look more like a mess than a busy desktop. Folders and stacks can help, but for most people, I suspect part of the problem is that they use desktops as a way to quickly and easily find files that are important to them.

If you have ever tried to find a specific file or folder on your computer, try using the tagging feature of your Mac. First open the Finder settings menu (Order + ,,,,,) and click Label Tab. You can use the default default device provided by MacOS or make it yourself. Drag the favorites area at the bottom of the window that you think you will normally use. This will make them easy to access when you want to use. To attach a tag to a file or folder, click it when holding the CTRL key and select the desired tag from the drop-down menu. You can also mark files when using this file in your application. Remember that you can apply multiple tags to a single file or folder, or even to an application.

What makes tags so useful in MacOS is that they can appear in the sidebar of the Finder window and can be searched directly with Finder or with Siri. As long as you have a system for organizing files, even a simple one, you will find it easier to track them. As an example, I like to apply the Engadget tag to any file related to my work. If this is critical, I want to quickly find a “important” tag.

One tool that can help enhance your discoverer experience is Alfred. Actually, this is a more powerful version of Apple's spotlight feature. Among other things, you can use Alfred to quickly find and launch applications. There are some learning curves, but once you get it, Alfred will change the way you use your Mac.

How to organize windows and labels

If you use both MacOS and Windows 10, you will know that Apple's operating system won't come with the best window management tools. You can click and hold the green full screen button to lay the window on the left or right side of the screen, but that's about it, and the feature never feels as precise as its Windows counterpart.

My suggestion is to download an application that copies the snapshot feature of Windows 10. You have several competing options that offer more or less the same functionality. My first choice is a $5 program called Magnet. If you want a free alternative, check out the rectangle. Another option is BetterSnaptool, which offers more functionality than magnets, but without the cleanest interface. These three applications provide you with a way to configure the window, not the ones obtained through built-in tools in MacOS. They also provide shortcut support, which means you can quickly set up windows and start working.

This article originally appeared on Engadget