How to clean and organize your Mac

• Inevitably, the more you use something — your Mac included — the more dirty and cluttered it’s likely to become
• At that point, you can buy a new machine, but the more economical move is to make what you have already work better
• To help your computer feel new, or at least a little cleaner and less chaotic, we put together this guide with techniques and useful apps that have helped us maintain a more organized computer

Inevitably, the more you use something — your Mac included — the more dirty and cluttered it’s likely to become. At that point, you can buy a new machine, but the more economical move is to make what you have already work better. To help your computer feel new, or at least a little cleaner and less chaotic, we put together this guide with techniques and useful apps that have helped us maintain a more organized computer. I’ve been using these tips since before I first published this guide in 2021, and they’ve helped keep my 2018 <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?

k=<a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?

k=macbook+How+to+clean+and+organize+your+Mac&tag=None" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored" target="_blank" class="affiliate-link" data-platform="amazon">macbook+Air+How+to+clean+and+organize+your+Mac&tag=None" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored" target="_blank" class="affiliate-link" data-platform="amazon">MacBook Air looking and running (almost) like brand new. How to clean your Mac’s screen and body While there are many products out there from manufacturers claiming their one does it best, my advice is to keep things simple. It’s also the one . To start, you will need some water in a spray bottle and a clean microfiber cloth. You can use regular water from the tap but I've found distilled water works best; it’s far less likely to leave residue behind on your Mac, particularly on the display. You can buy distilled water at a grocery store or make it yourself with . Either way, it’s more affordable than dedicated cleaning solutions. If you don’t already own any microfiber towels, Amazon sells you can get for about $10. One other product I would recommend is a . I can’t say enough good things about this little tool. It will save you from buying expensive and wasteful cans of compressed air. As for the actual process of cleaning your Mac, remember to start with a clean cloth (that’s part of the reason we recommend buying them in bulk). You’ll save yourself time and frustration this way. Begin by turning off your computer and unplugging it. If you bought a Rocket Blower, use it now to remove any dust. If not, take a dry microfiber cloth and go over your computer. Take special care around the keys, particularly if you own an older Mac with a butterfly keyboard. Next, dampen one side of your cleaning cloth with water. Never spray any liquid directly on your computer. You’ll have more control this way and you’ll avoid getting any moisture into your Mac’s internals. I always clean the display first since the last thing I want to do is create more work for myself by transfer<a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?

k=ring+How+to+clean+and+organize+your+Mac&tag=None" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored" target="_blank" class="affiliate-link" data-platform="amazon">ring dirt from some other part of my computer to the screen. The last step is to buff and polish your computer with the dry side of the cloth. Be gentle here as you don’t want to scratch the screen or any other part of. That’s it. Your Mac should be looking clean again. How to organize your hard drive Igor Bonifacic / Engadget One of the trickiest parts of cleaning your Mac’s hard drive is knowing where to start; most of us have apps on our computers we don’t even remember installing in the first place. Thankfully, macOS comes with a tool to help you with that exact issue. Navigate to System Settings > General > Storage . Here you’ll find a tool that separates your storage into broad categories like "Applications," "Documents," "Music," "Photos" and so on. Either double-click on an item in the list or click the circled i icon to see the last time you used an app and how much space it’s taking up. You can delete the apps from the same window. The applications section is particularly helpful since you can see the last time you used a program, as well as if it’s no longer supported by the operating system or if it’s outdated thanks to a more recent release. You don’t need me to tell you to uninstall programs you don’t use, but what you might not know is that there’s a better way to erase them than simply dragging them to the trash can. A free program called will help you track down any files and folders that would get left behind if you were just to delete an application. Igor Bonifacic / Engadget After deleting any apps you don’t need, move to the Documents section. The name is somewhat misleading here since you’ll find more than just text files and Keynote spreadsheets. In this case, documents turns out to be the tool’s catch-all term for a variety of files, including ones that take up a large amount of space. You can also safely delete any DMGs (disc image files with the extension .dmg) for which you’ve installed the related app. The other sections in the storage space are self-explanatory. The only other thing I’ll mention is if you’ve been using an iPhone for a while, there’s a good chance you’ll have old iOS backups stored on your computer. You can safely delete those, too. Tips and tricks for keeping a neat Desktop and Finder Igor Bonifacic Let’s start with the menu bar. It may not technically be part of the desktop, but a tidy one can go a long way toward making everything else look less cluttered. My recommendation here is to download an app called . At first glance, it’s a simple program allowing you to hide unwanted menu bar items behind a three-dots icon, but the strength of Bartender is that you get a lot of customization options. For example, you can set a trigger that will automatically move the battery status icon out from hiding when your computer isn’t connected to a power outlet. While we’re on the subject of the menu bar, take a second to navigate to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and look at all the apps that launch when you boot up your system. You can speed up your system by paring down this list to only the programs you use frequently. When it comes to the desktop itself, less is more. Nothing will make your computer look like a cluttered mess more than a busy desktop. Folders and stacks can help, but for most people, I suspect part of the problem is they use their desktop as a way to quickly and easily find files that are important to them. If you’ve ever struggled to find a specific file or folder on your computer, try using your Mac’s tagging capabilities instead. Start by opening the Finder Settings menu ( Command + , ) and click the Tags tab. You can use the default ones provided by macOS or make your own. Drag the ones you think you’ll use most often to the favorites areas at the bottom of the preferences window. This will make it so that they’re easily accessible when you want to use them. To append a tag to a file or folder, click on it while holding the ctrl key and select the one you want from the dropdown menu. You can also tag a file while working on it within an app. Keep in mind you can apply multiple tags to a single file or folder, and you can even apply them to applications. Igor Bonifacic / Engadget What makes tags so useful in macOS is that they can appear in the sidebar of the Finder window, and are easily searchable either directly with Finder or using Siri. As long as you have a system for organizing your files, even a simple one, you’ll find it easier to keep track of them. As one example, I like to apply an Engadget tag to any files related to my work. I’ll add an “Important” tag if it’s something that’s critical and I want to find quickly. One tool that can help supercharge your Finder experience is . It’s effectively a more powerful version of Apple’s Spotlight feature. Among other things, you can use Alfred to find and launch apps quickly. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but once you get a hang of it, Alfred will change how you use your Mac for the better. How to organize your windows and tabs Igor Bonifacic / Engadget If you’ve used both macOS and Windows 10, you’ll know that Apple’s operating system doesn’t come with the best window management tools. You can click and hold on the green full-screen button to tile a window to either the left or right side of your screen, but that’s about it and the feature has always felt less precise than its Windows counterpart. My suggestion is to download an app that replicates Windows 10’s snapping feature. You have several competing options that more or less offer the same functionality. My go-to is a $5 program called . If you want a free alternative, check out . Another option is , which offers more functionality than Magnet but doesn’t have as clean of an interface. All three apps give you far more ways to configure your windows than what you get through the built-in tool in macOS. They also come with shortcut support, which means you can quickly set up your windows and get to work. Check out more from our guide. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/how-to-clean-your-mac-macbook-cleaning-supplies-digital-organization-153007592.html?

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何が更新されたか

Inevitably, the more you use something — your Mac included — the more dirty and cluttered it’s likely to become。

Engadget によると、今回の更新は単なる告知ではなく、関連するプレイヤーの判断や動きに波及する可能性がある。

At that point, you can buy a new machine, but the more economical move is to make what you have already work better。

背景

ソフトウェアやサービスの変更は、見た目の更新だけでなく、利用者の行動や事業者の運用コストに連鎖しやすい。今回の動きも、機能の追加や方針変更が実利用にどう響くかがポイントになる。

なぜ重要か

利用者には使い勝手の変化として現れ、事業者にはサポートや品質管理の見直しを促す可能性がある。 単なる告知としてではなく、継続利用時の負担まで含めて見たい。 今回の内容は単発のニュースとして消費するよりも、周辺市場や既存の仕組みにどう波及するかを見ていく必要がある。

UIの変化だけでなく、運用ルールやサポート負荷の変化まで見ておく必要がある。

読者が押さえたい点

利用画面の変化だけでなく、既存ユーザーにどの程度影響するのか、運用ルールが変わるのかを見ておきたい。 発表そのものの新しさだけでなく、既存の選択肢と比べて何が変わるのか、実際の利用条件がどう定義されるのかを確認しておきたい。

今後の焦点

関連トレンドとしては iPhone, Apple があり、周辺の発表や関連企業の動きも追う必要がある。

To help your computer feel new, or at least a little cleaner and less chaotic, we put together this guide with techniques and useful apps that have helped us maintain a more organized computer。

続報では、対象範囲、提供条件、参加企業や競合の反応まで含めて確認したい。

今後の焦点

Inevitably, the more you use something — your Mac included — the more dirty and cluttered it’s likely to become At that point, you can buy a new machine, but the more economical move is to make what you have already work better。

UIの変化だけでなく、運用ルールやサポート負荷の変化まで見ておく必要がある。 関連トレンドとしては iPhone, Apple が重なっており、今後の関連発表も注視したい。