Keep your Mac healthy
Examine your apps and remove anything you don’t need
In the previous section, we explored ways to optimise file storage on your Mac by increasing the amount of free space available.
This included reviewing which apps are set to start up when you first log in to the macOS desktop.
There are applications which are available both from the Mac App Store and the internet at large which claim to automate the process of speeding up your Mac. Some of these simply automatically search for large files to delete and free up your caches, which we already did in the previous section.
People who make malware often prey on people’s insecurities by disguising malicious apps that pretend to clean up your Mac but instead bog it down with junk. Even reputable apps, such as virus scanners, will sometimes cripple your machine with multiple ‘threat detection’ warnings about harmless files.
In view of the above, we do not recommend any third-party software to fix a slow Mac. You should examine the apps you already have installed to make sure that they’re necessary – too many applications running at once is a common cause of poor system performance.
Back to safe mode
You cannot remove an application while it’s running so, as in the previous section, make sure you start up your Mac in safe mode. If you’re unsure if your Mac is still in safe mode, check System Information.
Removing an app doesn’t necessarily remove all related files. For instance, removing GarageBand will not delete the sound library. This said, make sure to run a Time Machine backup before proceeding further in case you accidentally remove something of importance. Open your Mac’s Applications folder. Carefully read through the list of apps. In general, the system will not let you delete any apps which are built in, such as Safari, but you can remove third-party ones.
Remove an application by clicking on it once to select it, then choosing File > Move to Trash. You should do this for any apps you don’t recognise, or no longer use. You will be asked to enter your Administrator password when removing apps. Simply type it in, then press Return. When removing an app, head over to System Preferences to see if it has an entry there. If so, ≈- click and choose Remove <name> Preference Pane.
Watch out in particular for multiple applications that do the same thing. Some inexperienced users believe, for instance, that installing two antivirus apps makes you twice as safe. In reality, this offers no extra security and, in fact, can make your Mac go haywire as