How to clear Mac cache

If in recent times your Mac does not seem to be performing as well as it used to be, it is most likely because a pile of temporary files have accumulated on the hard disk of the computer which, in addition to occupying precious space that could be exploited in all otherwise they negatively affect the performance of your multimedia workstation. Therefore, knowing how to clear Mac cache can be useful in order to be able to cope with a situation such as the one in question.

How do you say? Don’t believe me because your friends say Macs don’t need maintenance? Well, know that you are wrong! Of course, compared to Windows PCs, Macs generally require a lower degree of attention from the user to ensure that software and hardware work flawlessly but this does not imply that the computers of the bitten apple are perfect and therefore do not need a minimum cleaning and maintenance operations.

Having clarified this, if you are interested in finding out what it is necessary to do in order to clear the Mac cache, I invite you to sit comfortably in front of your computer, take a few minutes of free time and concentrate on the information I am about to give you. I am sure that in the end you will be able to tell yourself more than satisfied. Let it bet?

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to Clear Mac Cache Manually
• Mac cache clearing programs

Preliminary information

Before explaining how to clear Mac cache, however, I want you to understand exactly what we are talking about. The term cache indicates, in infrmatics, a small memory area which has the purpose of speeding up the execution of programs since inside it temporarily resides a set of data that will presumably be exploited in the immediate future. The cache, therefore, represents a sort of “shortcut” to access specific information more easily and quickly. It is therefore something very useful but which in the long run, and especially as its size increases, can lead to slowdowns and errors.

Having clarified this, if you want to clear the Mac cache you have two different alternatives at your disposal. The first consists in emptying the Mac cache “manually”  and then acting by you on the folders in which the cache files are stored, the second involves the use of specific third-party tools. The final result is practically identical but if you prefer to avoid having to juggle the intricacies of macOS most likely the choice to use third-party tools is the most appropriate. In any case, the decision is up to you.

How to Clear Mac Cache Manually

If it is your intention to clear the Mac cache but you prefer not to use a third-party tool, you can manually delete the folders and files referring to the temporary items stored on your computer. To do this, the first operation you need to perform is to click anywhere on the desktop and click on the Go attached item in the upper left part of the menu bar. Next select  Computer from the menu that is shown to you.

Now click on the name of the hard disk on which macOS is installed (for example  Macintosh HD ), double-click on the System folder, open the Library folder and then locate and open the Caches folder, select all the files inside and drag them to Trash icon attached to the  Dock. Please, drag only the files to Trash and not the Caches folder as well!

Now presses again on the Go item attached to the menu bar, press and continue to hold down the alt key on the keyboard and select the Library item from the menu that is shown to you.

Now locate and open the Caches folder, select all the files inside it and drag them to the Trash icon attached to the Dock. Please, also in this case drag only the files to Trash and not the Caches folder!

Now bring the mouse cursor to the Trash icon attached to the Dock, click on it with the right mouse button and choose the  Empty Trash item from the menu that is shown to you to correctly complete the manual procedure by which to empty Mac cache.

Then restart the computer by pressing on the bitten apple located in the upper left part of the menu bar and click on the item  Restart …  attached to the menu that is shown to you. When the computer restarts, check that everything is back performing as it once was.

If, rather than emptying the Mac cache of the entire system, you are interested in acting specifically on Safari, the web browser available “standard” on macOS, proceed as follows. First of all, press the left mouse button on the Safari icon that is attached to the Dock. If you can’t find the Safari icon in the Dock, you can launch the web browser using  Spotlight. To do this, click on the magnifying glass icon located in the upper right part of the menu bar, type safari in the search field that is shown on the screen and then click on the first result displayed, the one below. the voice  The best.

Now that you see the Safari window, check that Development is present in the menu bar of your web browser. If the item Development is present in the menu bar you can go directly to reading the next paragraph, otherwise click on  Preferences … , press the  Advanced tab attached to the new window displayed, put a checkmark next to the item  Show Development menu in the menu bar and finally close the Safari preferences window.

Now click on the Development item on the browser menu bar and then press the item  Empty the cache attached to the menu that is shown to you.

Then wait a few moments for the procedure to be started and completed, then try to access the Internet sites you usually visit in order to make sure that the difficulties previously encountered no longer occur.

Mac cache clearing programs

If you prefer to empty the cache of Mac using an application capable of convenience and guide you in deleting unnecessary files on the disk, I strongly recommend you try  CleanMyMac X.

In case you have never heard of it, CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one solution that allows you to free up space on your Mac and optimize macOS in various ways. It also includes a protection system that detects and eliminates Mac malware and fixes any settings that could expose the operating system to cyber threats. Everything can be used in just a few clicks, through a very intuitive interface completely translated into Italian.

CleanMyMac X is compatible with all popular versions of macOS and can be downloaded for free in a version that allows you to free up to 500MB of data. The full version of the application, which does not provide for any limitations, can be purchased with prices starting from € 29.95, or it can be obtained by subscribing to Setapp: a service from MacPaw (the manufacturer of CleanMyMac X) that for $ 9.99 / month (after a 7-day free trial) it gives you access to a huge catalog of paid macOS applications without having to pay for individual licenses. Furthermore, with a small addition to the monthly fee, it is also possible to include numerous apps for iOS and iPadOS in the subscription.

To download CleanMyMac X for free, connect to the official website of the program and click on the download button you see in the center of the page. Next, open the .dmg package you just got, drag the CleanMyMac X icon into the macOS Applications folder and launch the program. At this point, respond affirmatively to all the security warnings that are proposed to you, accept the privacy conditions and Terms of Service and follow the initial presentation of the program.

You are now ready to clear your Mac’s cache and optimize your system in just a few clicks. Before proceeding, however, given that caution is never too much and that computer maintenance programs should always be used with some caution, I recommend that you make a backup of your Mac with Time Machine. Done? Well.

Now you can take action and choose whether to run a full scan of the Mac with CleanMyMac X, in order to locate unnecessary files to delete, find out any security issues to fix and know the settings to optimize the operating system’s performance, or go to the search of only cache files to be deleted.

In the first case, click on the Scan button in the main CleanMyMac X window and wait for the scan result; then press the Start button to apply all the recommended changes. Alternatively, click on the items related to Cleaning ‌, Protection and Speed and manually choose the operations to be performed.

To proceed with only clearing the cache, click on the System item in the CleanMyMac X sidebar and press the Scan button. At the end of the check, choose whether to automatically delete all the cache and other unnecessary files found by the program, by pressing the Clean button, or whether to check the elements and select only those you want to delete (eg. User cache file and system ), then confirming everything with the Clean button at the bottom.

Please note: to clean the cache, you will need to allow CleanMyMac X full disk access via the appropriate box in System Preferences (you will be shown all the relevant information on the screen).

See how simple it was? Well. All the other functions of CleanMyMac X are equally intuitive, and you will find them all listed in the sidebar of the program: in addition to the aforementioned tools dedicated to Cleaning, Protection and Speed, you can find the functions dedicated to Applications (to uninstall them without leaving “orphaned files ”On the disk and update them) and those dedicated to Files (to find“ heavy ”and“ unused ”files and delete any element safely).

CleanMyMac X also includes an anti-malware and an assistant for the optimization of macOS that are active in real time and constantly monitor the system: if you want to disable them, go to the CleanMyMac X> Preferences menu (top left); in the window that opens, then move to the tabs related to Protection and Menu and disable the boxes dedicated to malware monitoring, background threats and/or the CleanMyMac X menu.

Finally, I would like to point out that on macOS 11 Big Sur and later it is also possible to add a CleanMyMac X widget to the Mac notification center: to do this, just click on the Choose widget button in the aforementioned menu. For more details, read my guide with all the information on how CleanMyMac X works.

 

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