How to Clean my Mac on OS X El Capitan
You won’t regret cleaning pools of junk files from OS X El Capitan since cleaning Mac hard drive is a prolific activity and basic start of Mac optimization. However, if you look deeper into OS X El Capitan disk you will actually find difficult to identify between useful and junk files. Since looking and identifying junk files is confusing you might end up removing important files. This would be a sure short disaster, which is why you should be ensuring a complete updated backup of the Mac hard drive running OS X El Capitan. 10.11 or to reclaim Mac hard drive spaces, remove junk files, etc. try Mac cleaner software which is available free.
Before you launch cleaning operation on Mac OS X El Capitan, right-click on the Time Machine icon from top – left of the menu bar and select BACK UP NOW. Wait for some-time so that Time Machine application performs full backup of your OS X El Capitan hard drive.
Now gather your strength and start Mac cleaning with.
Emptying Trash on OS X El Capitan
You know by pressing “Command + Shift + Option + Delete” keys, you can clean out all the files from the Trash without the use of mouse and its right click. This is helpful when you are sure that no important files exist to be resorted back from the trash. Otherwise manually take a tour of your trash folder so that you can restore important files back to their location and proceed with permanent deletion of files from the trash.
Which of the above trash looks cleaner and better on El Capitan? You decide.
Clean all unwanted files from Download folder
You might be busy in downloading the best Mac apps or videos for OS X El Capitan but did you remember to move all the used DMG and zip archive files to trash? Go to the Download folder and press-hold “Command + I” to get info of Download folder. No surprises, if you are surprised to check out the Size of the folder due to presence of unwanted files. Don’t spare a minute to send all of them to Trash and do empty it for free space collection.
Cleaning iTunes duplicate files
Music files can easily get duplicated in iTunes but don’t worry because iTunes can help you find them for removal. It’s very simple, see how: Launch iTunes << Click View << Click Show Duplicate Items. The iTunes application will list up all the duplicate music files by name, artists or group items. To remove the duplicate files from the hard drive you first need to uncheck the original files and keep checked all the duplicate items. Now click on Edit from iTunes menu bar and click Delete. This is how to you says GOODBYE to duplicate files on iTunes using OS X El Capitan or below versions.
Let me share with you that there is an otherwise better solution to remove iTunes, iPhoto, iMovies, iWork and Aperture duplicate files by using Smart Finder application. Though small, it’s a helpful application that eliminates all kinds of duplicate files from OS X.
Cleans caches safely from El Capitan
There are pros and cons of removing old & news caches from Mac hard drive. The plus part is that your Mac OS X gets good amount of hard drive spaces by removal of large stockpile of caches. If your Mac hard drive is dying on free spaces, giving you hiccups or freezing at the best part of your OS X computing then you shall always go ahead to clean this culprit knows by the name – CACHES. Additionally, when your Mac hard drive have good amount of free spaces it will never ever disappoint you with the error message “Your startup disk is almost full” You need to make more space available on your startup disk by deleting files.
My recommendation is to use Stellar Speedup Mac utility for cleaning out caches from the OS X El Capitan home folder. This tool reaches to the deeper location of the hard drive where mouse cursor may not reach. Run this tool now and you will clean all the junks (including logs, unwanted language files, binaries, extensions and system junks) from the hard drive. After the use of Stellar Speedup Mac software all you will be left with a better and faster OS X El Capitan.
Coming back to the minus part of deleting the caches is some of the OS X apps, mostly browsers may behave slower than before. But don’t worry since creation of new and fresh caches will soon fill up the void.
Uninstalling useless application
Mac hard drive cleaning is incomplete without uninstallation of unwanted freeware, shareware, widgets and plugins. Show your Mac OS X that you care for its cleanliness and remove all sorts of useless and unused software to a location they deserve the most i.e. TRASH. Let me also remind you again to empty the trash.
Backup Mac OS X and fresh install OS X
Some misery of slowness never ends which is why you should go for fresh installation of the OS X El Capitan. Though technical, but simple procedure of cleaning an old copy of sluggish and freezing Mac and replacing it with new one. This post best describes the clean installation of OS X El Capitan. Be prepared for an OS X performance evolution and leave me your thoughts.


Thanks for this guide! It’s so important that people know how to clean their computer, and do it periodically in order to avoid problems.
Hello there,
I have enough free spaces on the Mac hard drive and 4 GB RAM. However still my OS X El Capitan runs slow and freezes whenever I run iMoive. The freezing results in quitting the application using Force Quit and now I suspect my hard drive. How should I make sure the drive is failing or not?
Have you repaired the hard drive using disk utility on El Capitan? I would also recommend you to backup everything through Time Machine.
How many times do I need to clean up my Mac?
Hey David,
Using Stellar Speedup Mac software you can schedule Mac cleaning at your preferred time & date. Hope this helps!!!
My iMovie folder is big and there are plenty of duplicate files created over a couple of years. How can I find only iMovie duplicate files from my hard drive. I don’t want to touch any other files for removal.
Hi Regina,
You need to go to Stellar Speedup Mac < < Preferences and uncheck all options except Duplicate files. Run the scan with this settings. http://imgur.com/g3SS4Cv
Can Stellar Speedup Mac software remove duplicate files from 2TB Lacie external hard drive?
Hi Ric, Yes Stellar Speedup Mac will scan this external hard drive to remove all the duplicates that exist on the media. Hope this helps.
Is Stellar Speedup Mac software a freeware? What are other benefits of buying this utility?
Hi Cody, Stellar Speedup Mac is a shareware that allows free hard drive cleaning of junks, system junks, trashes, logs files and extensions. With the full version of the software you can remove more junks files including caches, duplicates, unused files, language packs and applications which you may no longer required.
Hi Vishal, I need to clean iOS duplicates and iTunes duplicate files from my Mac HDD. How can I register Stellar Speedup Mac utility on MacBook Pro running OS X El Capitan 10.11.5
Hi Rose, I am sharing the registration page with you so that you can register Stellar Speedup Mac Utility. Let me also inform you that, the software is available in SOHO, Family and Platinum Edition.
All of a sudden my SSD drive shows storage spaces consumed by yellow color. What does it mean? I have a new MacBook Retina with 250 GB SSD.
Mikey, this suggests that your Mac SSD have accumulated system junks which needs to get cleaned in order to maintain minimum required free spaces. You can run Stellar Speedup Mac application to claim free spaces by eliminating system junks.
How do I super clean my Mac? It’s really been slow for some time and I cleaned the HD with free version of Stellar Speedup Mac. It freed around 1 Gb in the demo but I need more to make my Mac run smoother. Please advice.
Hi Kim,
It is my pleasure to inform you that you can use Stellar Speedup Mac Platinum Edition to supercharge your Mac and optimize it completely. This software includes various applications for Mac optimization.
1) Stellar Speedup Mac
2) Uninstaller
3) Stellar Drive Defrag
4) Stellar Volume Optimizer
5) Stellar Smart Finder
6) Stellar Drive Monitor
7) Stellar Wipe Mac
8) Benchmark
9) Smart Mac Care
Visit Stellar Speedup Mac Platinum Edition to Free Download
Try also these tips as most helpful when you need to clear and speed up your Mac.
-Remove email attachments
-Delete DMG files
-Remove the largest files on your Mac
-Clear caches and logs
-Uninstall unused applications
Recourse – nektony.com