Seven Ways to Tidy up Your Mac for the New Year
As you look forward to a new year and new beginnings in all areas of your life, your technology should not be ignored. Taking a few minutes to update your Mac will make it cleaner and faster, which means it will help you achieve any other goals and decisions you have in 2023. Here’s how to quickly set up your computer at the end of the year. Poppy.
Organize your files on your desktop
The desktop becomes the de facto place to store files that you will need later. At the moment this seems to make it easier to access these files when you need them, but they tend to multiply – one or two files become 10 or 20 faster than you think, cluttering up your desktop. However, if you can’t delete everything from your desktop, you can at least try grouping files to make your desktop more organized.
Right-click on the desktop and select Use Stacks . Right-click the desktop again and select Group Stacks By > Type . This will immediately clean up the desktop without deleting any files.
To prevent this kind of file accumulation in the future, use applications such as Unclutter or Yoink . These applications allow you to upload a bunch of files or other data to a separate space right from your desktop. These files are easy to access at any time and your desktop will also become much cleaner.
Clear menu bar
If you use a lot of apps on your Mac, your menu bar is sure to get cluttered. Many apps only work well from the menu bar, which means removing the menu bar icon isn’t always a good idea. Instead, consider using an application like Bartender to help you organize your menu bar. It can also help you hide menu bar icons when not in use (for example, the battery icon is hidden when your Mac is charging).
Clear Dock
Apple ships the Mac with a whole bunch of app icons on the dock. Most people never use even half of these apps, and as new apps are installed, the dock starts to look like a giant queue with microscopic icons. Right-click the apps you don’t need and select Options > Remove from Dock . Then right-click on an empty spot in the dock and select Position on Screen . You may also want to consider moving the dock to the left or right.
Use a window organizer
Managing multiple windows can be a little tedious on your Mac. If you have a window organizer application like Magnet , it will be easier for you to organize all the windows on the machine. It comes with keyboard shortcuts to help you move apps around and organize them quickly.
Free up space on your Mac
If you’re constantly running out of space on your Mac, it’s time to get serious about freeing it up. While it’s easy enough to do it by hand, we recommend using an app like DaisyDisk to make the process even easier. With more free space, your Mac will run much faster. You can also buy a cheap external hard drive or SD card (if your Mac has an SDXC slot) and transfer large files to it.
Speed up your web browser
Browsers tend to get slower over time, so you should consider a quick cleanup to speed them up. It’s a good idea to periodically clear your web browser’s history and cache, as well as review the extensions you use and remove the ones you don’t need.
Clean up your Mac
With the digital cleanup taken care of, it’s time to physically clean up your Mac as well. Always start this by shutting down your Mac and unplugging it. Use a microfiber cloth and lightly blot it with 70% isopropyl alcohol to clean your Mac’s case. You can use a dry microfiber cloth to clean the ports, and for the display, dampen the cloth with a little water.
Your Mac should now look like new.