System cleanup in one click

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1. Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button. In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, select Disk Cleanup. If prompted, select the drive that you want to clean up, and then select OK. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box in the Description section, select Clean up system files.
2. RELATED: 10 Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac Hard Drive As on any computer, freeing up disk space can also speed things up if you have a very small amount of disk space. To check, click the Apple menu, select “About This Mac,” and look under the “Storage” heading.
3. The bigger the files you can delete, the more space you can free up—so let's go hunting. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the menu bar and choose About This Mac. If that overview.

Few things are as frustrating as your Mac telling you it has run out of memory when you’re trying to be productive. But it’s even frustrating when you’ve ignored the problem for quite some time and your Mac’s limitations simply won’t let you put a solution on hold any longer.

• How to get rid of low memory notifications

Usually, a popup warning isn’t the first sign that something is amiss. You may have noticed that your Mac isn’t running as fast as it used to, with the fan louder than normal as if it’s struggling to carry a heavy load up a hill.

Although Macs are wonderful computers, like any other, they have limitations. Thankfully, there is plenty you can do to resolve this problem and get your Mac operating smoothly again.

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How to Fix Your System Application Memory

Mac memory usage is often occupied by apps, even browsers like Safari or Google Chrome. In the most dire circumstances, your Mac will toss a warning at you: “your system has run out of application memory.”

Don't despair – it's solvable. The first thing to note is this is a natural issue; your Mac has a limited amount of RAM. Though more expensive Macs have more RAM, even they can butt against limitations when too many applications are running.

It may also be an app that is hogging all of your resources. This is especially true of older applications which haven’t been optimized for modern computer architecture. Websites may also be a culprit. Let’s discuss all these possibilities step by step.

How to check RAM usage on Mac

To check your RAM use on any Mac, take the following steps:

1. Open Activity Monitor from your list of applications. You can do this in Mac’s control center, via the Finder in your Dock, or by pressing ⌘ + Space and typing Activity Monitor in the Spotlight.
2. Toggle to the Memory pane in the Activity Monitor window

As you see in the above screenshot, Activity Monitor shows you all of your processes, sub-processes, and how much memory each is taking up. The most pertinent portion of the window is the bottom, where it shows you the total memory usage, and how it’s affecting your Mac.

A better way to monitor your Mac’s memory use is with iStat Menus. After installing the app, it makes a home in your Mac’s menu bar, and monitors just about everything, including memory, CPU, GPU, disks, and network usage.

You can choose which systems you’d like to monitor in the app itself. Only the items you’re monitoring will have an icon in your menu bar. A simple click on the menu bar icon surfaces a drop-down menu of how your Mac is performing at the time, and hovering over each graphic brings up a larger menu to inspect.

How to check CPU usage on Mac

Checking CPU use on your Mac is similar to the steps above for checking memory use. For Activity Monitor, you'd make sure to highlight the CPU section of the window. This will show you all the processes using your Mac's CPU at the time.

Similarly, iStat Menus has a CPU & GPU toggle just above the memory section. Activating that will add a CPU and GPU monitor to your Mac menu bar, which has the same interactivity as the memory icon and menu shown above.

But what creates CPU-hogging problems overall and how do they lead to slow Mac performance?

Every Mac has a processor which handles the computing of any task, from opening an app to editing photos. Processors differ in power (expressed in GHz) and efficiency (generally, newer processors are more efficient).

For example, a 9th Generation 2.2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor means that it has two i7 chips, each of which is able to process data at up to 2.2 GHz, and its the 9th iteration of that processor overall.

However, regardless of the power of your processor, if you throw too many tasks at it, it will start to slow because it’s trying to process too much information at once (try opening 100 Google Chrome tabs), creating a bottleneck. That’s why you can have applications not responding. So you need to do something about it.

App Tamer is perhaps the most powerful smart CPU manager out there. Not only does it show the exact CPU percentage and battery impact each process is taking from your Mac, it lets you create simple rules to prevent certain processes from hogging too much CPU.

To tame any app, just click on it in App Tamer (located in the menu bar), select “Slow down this app if it uses more than” and specify the exact CPU percentage.

How to free up memory on Mac

Knowing how to clear memory on Mac is important, especially if you have a Mac with limited resources. One option is using Activity Monitor:

1. Open Activity Monitor on your Mac
2. Select an app using a lot of memory
3. Click the stop icon in the top bar

This is straightforward, but there's a better way. CleanMyMac X has an automated CPU and memory monitors built-in, which can give you a real-time view of memory usage in your Mac's menu bar. It also has a really quick and easy way to free up memory without digging through Activity Monitor and manually shutting down apps.

All you have to do is click the CleanMyMac X icon, select Free Up in the memory pane, and the app takes care of the rest! Oftentimes, it doesn't even shut apps down.

This is a quick fix, but CleanMyMac X takes it a step further in the app itself. Under the app's Maintenance section is an option to Free Up RAM, which helps you clear RAM on Mac. Once you've got this option selected, simply select Run at the bottom of the window, and CleanMyMac X will do a thorough scrubbing of your Mac's RAM, and clear unused files out of the way.

How to get rid of low memory notifications

Most apps are pretty good about how they use your Mac's resources. Having too many open or running in the background can severely limit what your Mac can handle, and is often why a Mac overheats or slows down.

Below we list a few tips to reduce high memory usage manually if you're experiencing unique warnings or issues.

Fix kernel_task, a high CPU usage bug

You may have noticed through Activity Monitor something called kernel_task absorbing a large amount of processing power. One of the functions of kernel_task is to help manage CPU temperature; you may find that your Mac fan is loud and always on, even if the device isn't hot to the touch.

That's because kernel_task usually performs this way when one or more applications are trying to use too much CPU. Unfortunately, one of the potential downsides is a Mac can overheat to such an extent that internal systems are damaged, sometimes irreparably.

Working through the following steps in this article is one way to avoid similar problems. If none of this work and kernel_task is still absorbing a high percentage of your CPU, then one or more of the following could be the cause:

• Cooling system inefficiency
• A failed or disconnected temperature sensor
• Another hardware issue, including a worn out batter
• Your System Management Controller needs a rest

If you're experiencing severe issues, Apple recommends a system management controller (SMC) reset. It's essentially a hard reset for your Mac, and should help your RAM and other hardware components start from scratch. Keep in mind you won't lose any data in this process.

Reduce memory usage in Finder

One common culprit for RAM issues is Finder, your Mac's file manager. If iStat Menus or Activity Monitor has highlighted Finder as using hundreds of MBs of RAM, there is an easy solution: change the default display for a new Finder window so it doesn't show All My Files:

1. Click on the Finder icon in the Dock and click on the Finder menu, then select Preferences
2. Click on General. Under 'New Finder windows show', click the dropdown menu and choose any option except All My Files
3. Close Preferences, press Alt-Control, and click on the Finder icon in the Dock. Click Relaunch

Finder will now relaunch with new windows opening at the option you selected in step two.

Improve Chrome's Task Manager

Chrome is a popular browser, but it's a resource hog! Chrome uses a GPU Process as standard, which means it speeds up the loading of web pages, which can be great except at times when your computer is struggling with insufficient RAM.

Here's how to make it better:

1. Open Chrome on your Mac
2. On the right side of the Chrome window, select the three-dot menu
3. Select More tools
4. Select Task Manager
5. Select a Chrome process you'd like to kill
6. Select End Process at the bottom right of the window

Here's another way to reduce Chrome's use of your Mac's memory:

1. Open Chrome on your Mac
2. On the right side of the Chrome window, select the three-dot menu
3. Select Settings
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Advanced
5. Scroll down to System, and toggle 'Use hardware acceleration when available' off

This will affect how Chrome runs on your Mac, and your experience won't be as smooth. You can also remove unused or unwanted Chrome extensions to help it use less resources on your Mac.

Get CMM X to free up space

Install CleanMyMac X and streamline the entire process of memory management on Mac. Clever memory usage control done for you.

Clean up other browsers

In every browser you use regularly, there are always going to be extensions and popups that take up space and use RAM. You can manage each one manually or use a tool such as CleanMyMac X to identify and delete them.

In the CleanMyMac X app is a section titled Extensions, which lists each extension you have for your browser or browsers. All you have to do is view the list of extensions, select the ones you no longer want, and remove them. It's really that simple!

Disable login items

Login items, browser extensions, and preference panes, such as Flash, are another common source of memory usage. Most of us have several installed that we rarely use, but which hog memory and reduce performance.

One way to do this is through System Preferences:

1. From your Mac menu bar, select System Preferences
2. Select Users & Groups
3. Select Login Items
4. Deselect items you no longer want active at login

Another way, one that is even quicker, is to employ CleanMyMac to identify and cleanup login items:

1. Open CleanMyMac X
2. Under Speed, select Optimization
3. Select Login Items

You can remove all login items, or select the ones you'd like to remove individually on the right side of the window.

Disable desktop widgets

Older Macs running a version of macOS older than Catalina can disable widgets. Desktop widgets can provide a useful shortcut to apps you need to access fairly often. But they can take up processing memory that is slowing your whole Mac down. One way to close them completely is in System Preferences.

Go to Mission Control ➙ switch off the Dashboard

Declutter your desktop

Apple's built-in decluttering tool is handy for many. All you have to do on your cluttered desktop is right-click, then select Use Stacks. This places all of your desktop files into folders unique to their filetype, like Screenshots and Images.

A better way is to use Spotless, an app that gives you far more control over how your Mac is organized. It has several triggers for automated cleanup of files on your desktop, placing them wherever you see fit. It's particularly useful for power users who produce several files daily, but don't want to take the time to place each in a respective folder.

You can also select many files on your Mac desktop, and tell Spotless to tidy them up. You always have full control!

Schedule regular cleanups

Constant use of your Mac, or leaving it on all the time, will slow it down over time. Shutting it down and restarting is a traditional way of 'cleaning up' a computer.

We also like CleanMyMac X's scheduled cleanup feature. Telling the app when you'd like to perform a thorough cleaning up of your Mac's system is a method many prefer to shutting down and restarting often. It has the upshot of removing files and folders you no longer use, and cleaning up tasks that are slowing your Mac down behind the scenes. A simple shutdown may not do this.

Keeping your Mac in tip-top shape is critical. While we'd all like to think computers are brilliant little devices that can handle anything, they need some care, too.

All of the apps mentioned in this article help with taking care of your Mac, and protecting your investment. Best of all they're each free as part of a seven day trial of Setapp. Give it a try today!

Apple's Mac computers are known for being fast and user-friendly, which makes it easy to stock your Mac hard drive full of photos, music, videos, documents and random files. While Macs don't have a reputation for crashing, they do have a reputation for getting sluggish when overloaded. To clean the Apple Mac hard drive is indeed necessary. There are some tips to clean up your Mac.

Tips to clean up your Mac

How To Clean Your Mac Computer

Empty your Trash

The most basic thing is to empty your Trash regularly. Unless you're unsure of whether you may need a deleted file later, there's no reason to have a Trash brimming with files. But this is not the only trash you need to empty. Empty the trash in iPhoto, iMovie, and Mail too.

Clean Up Mac Hard Drive

Remove applications you don't use

Your Apple Mac comes with a lot of commercial applications on a trial basis (like Microsoft Office, FileMaker etc.). If you know that you're not going to use those applications, clean up them! Open your Applications folder (with command-shift-A in Finder), drag unused applications to the Trash and then empty the Trash.

Remove disk images from downloaded files

Whenever you download applications to install, delete the disk image (.dmg) files.

How To Speed Up My Macbook Pro

Clean web browser caches

To improve performance, all web browsers store downloaded pages and files in a cache so that they can reuse those files (instead of re-downloading them) if you visit those same pages again. Cleaning the cache could provide some free space. Although cleaning the cache for security reasons is a good thing, it reflects very poorly on your disk space management skills if you have to do it to save space! Cleaning the browser cache can be done in your web browser's Preferences window (command-,).

Remove disk space hogs

Delete data that you don't need, or move them to an external hard disk, CDs or DVDs.

Run maintenance utilities

Free system maintenance utilities like EaseUS CleanGenius can help clean up Mac temporary files, system caches and logs. This should also be considered more as a maintenance task than a disk space saving the task. EaseUS CleanGenius is a powerful and easy-to-use cleanup software for Apple Mac users, making your Apple Mac system run faster and free up hard drive space by cleaning up the System Caches, User Caches, System Logs, User Logs, User Downloads, Trash, and Safari Internet Cache, etc. CleanGenius allows enjoying smooth & better system performance with such vital features as Clean up System junk, Clean Caches, Free Space Monitor, Quick Browse Device Files, and so on. All the operations are done within minutes and with less system resource being occupied during the whole process. With EaseUS CleanGenius, you can manage routine tasks and keep your Mac clean, efficient in the simplest way.

Highlighted features of EaseUS CleanGenius

Clean up Mac fast: You can free more space on your Mac disk keeping your Mac healthy at all times. With a simple click from the utility, all junk files (System Caches, User Caches, System Logs, User Logs, User Downloads, Trash, Safari Internet Cache and more) will be removed in just a matter of seconds.

Monitor disk space: It will show you the disk space available and will alert you in advance if the disk space is already running low. You can clean or move files to free up disk space to ensure that your Mac is running smoothly.

Disk Ejector: Using this one will allow you to eject the mounted drives, such as external storage disks, CD and DVD disks, SuperDrive, network storage and disk images.

Browser Plug-ins Cleanup: Support to clean up and remove browsers such as Safari, Chrome or Firefox plugins, cache, and cookies. Your browsing histories, bookmarks and downloaded files won't be cleaned.

Disk Cleanup On Mac

Mac Uninstaller: 'Uninstall Applications' safely and completely remove applications and their components, preferences, log files, etc. Select an application, just one click, the application and its additional components will be removed.

Duplicates Finder: Duplicate files have the identical contents and waste the precious disk space. CleanGenius can easily find and remove duplicate files to reclaim the wasted disk space.

Disk Usage: Visualize the size of your files & folders and remove the unwanted large files to free up more disk space.

Free Memory: When the free memory of your Mac is insufficient, you can easily use CleanGenius to free memory and speed up your Mac for better performance.

How To Clean Up My Mac

Set Login Items: Unneeded applications may auto run every time when you start Mac. This will reduce your Mac performance. If you don't want an application to start every time you launch your Mac, just open CleanGenius and disable the startup items you find annoying.