- Hold down the Command and R keys as soon as you hear the Mac tone indicating a reboot. Wait for the macOS Utilities screen to appear, then click Disk Utility. Choose your Mac's system drive.
- How to Delete an App on Mac from Launchpad. The first way we want to recommend to you is using.
- How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Free
- How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Using
- How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Without
There are mainly two reasons why you want to restore your Mac to factory settings and erase everything.
- You want to erase your MacBook Pro/Air, MacBook, iMac to sell or give away the Mac.
- Your Mac is running slow or having other problems so that you want to delete everything on Mac to start over.
It is not difficult to erase everything on a Mac and reformat the MacBook or iMac. But if you want to reset MacBook Pro/Air, iMac without losing data, or securely and completely wipe a Mac, there are a couple of things you should do. Just follow this guide to complete all the steps that are needed to securely and completely erase everything on Mac. Your Mac will be restored to factory settings after that.
Step 1: Back Up Your Mac Before Factory Reset
Delete the app preference file. Plist files can become corrupt when a Mac shuts down or restarts unexpectedly or when an app freezes or crashes. As a result, the app may not open. When you delete a bad preference file, the Mac creates a new plist file that contains all the app's defaults automatically.
I believe that there must be some important files on your Mac. Therefore, it is a must to back up your files before erasing your MacBook or iMac. There are mutiple options to back up your Mac:
Move everything that are important to you to an external hard drive. It is time-consuming but feasible if you have limited documents, photos, videos, etc. that need to be backed up before erasing Mac.
Back up your files on Mac to a cloud storage, such as iCloud. Before doing that, make sure your iCloud account have enough free space.
Make a copy of your Mac data to an external hard drive with a backup program, such as Time Machine, Apple's built-in backup tool for Mac. Learn about the steps to back up a Mac: How to Backup Your Mac with or without Time Machine.
You can wipe a Mac without losing data by using one of the backup methods mentioned above. And to reduce the size of your Mac's backup and incease the backup speed, it is recommended to clean useless junk files on your Mac before a Time Machine or iCloud backup. FonePaw MacMaster can easily delete caches, logs, borwsing history, duplicate files and photos, large files, useless apps and more from your Mac.
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- Download and run FonePaw MacMaster on your Mac.
- Select the file type you want to clean, such as system junks, duplicate photos. Click Scan.
- Click Clean to remove the junks you don't need.
Go ahead to back up your Mac. The backup will be finished more quickly, taking less space of your external hard drive or iCloud account.
Step 2: Completely Delete Private Files
Do you know that files on Mac are actually recoverable after factory reset? That's right. Even though you have reformatted your Mac and erased everything on Mac, it is still possible to recover the erased files on the Mac with a professional data recovery program such as FonePaw Data Recovery. If you have confidential files on your Mac and don't want to take the risk that somebody may find the files from the reformatted Mac after performing data recovery, you can use Eraser on FonePaw MacMasterto securely delete confidential files on your Mac before factory reset. The Eraser can erase the trace of a file on the hard drive and make it unrecoverable.
- Install FonePaw MacMaster on your Mac.
- Click Eraser and select the files you want to destroy.
- Click Erase to make it unrecoverable.
Step 3: Turn off FileVault
FileVault encryption is an Apple built-in feature that is designed to encrypt your hard drive and files on the hard drive. It is recommended to turn off FileVault before reset and clean install macOS system. Here are the stpes to disable FileVault encryption.
- Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy.
- On the Security & Privacy window, click the FileVault tab.
- Click Lock button and you will need to enter password of the administrator account the unlock FileVault settings.
- After entering the password, you are able to click Turn Off FileVault. Click it.
All files on your Mac will be dencrypted after FileVault is off.
Step 4: Remove iTunes Authorization and iCloud Account
You don't want your iTunes or iCloud account to be linking to your MacBook or iMac if you decide to sell it or give it away. You can authorize only 5 computer with your iTunes account so you don't want to lose an allocation to a Mac that you no longer own. So before erasing your MacBook or iMac, you should first deauthorize iTunes and disable iCloud on your Mac.
Deauthorize iTunes on Mac
- Best app to add text to photo mac. Open iTunes on Mac.Click Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
- You'll need to enter the password of your Apple ID. Then click Deauthorize.
Sign out of iCloud on Mac
- Open System Preference > iCloud. Click Sign Out.A window will pop up, asking whether you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data on the Mac.
- Deselect all the options and click Continue, which will ensure that your iCloud data won't stay on the Mac.
Also, don't forget that your iCloud account can also be used to receive iMessage. So run Messages, click Preferences > Accounts to sign out of iMessage.
Step 5: Erase MacBook, MacBook Air/Pro, iMac
After finishing the above steps, you are now offically able to wipe your MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac. You need to erase your Mac in recovery mode.
Enter your Mac into recovery mode
Power off your Mac and then reboot it. As it is rebooting, press and hold Command + R (Option + Command + R or Shift + Option + Command + R) until you see the Apple logo.
Generally you can use Command + R combination to enter the Recovery mode. If you need to upgrade you need to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac, use Option + Command + R; If you want to clean install the macOS that came with your Mac, use Shift + Option + Command + R.
Erase everything on your Mac
When you are in recovery mode on Mac, you will see the macOS Utilities menu. Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk to erase. To erase everything on your Mac, you usually should choose the main hard drive named Macintosh HD.
If the Mac is running High Sierra or later, Disk Utility will show all the Macs linked with your Apple ID under Macintosh HD. So be careful not to delete the drive of other Macs.
Click Erase. Then you need to enter name and format of the drive. You can choose either APFS or Mac OS Extended (journaled) to reformat the Mac. APFS is a new file system introduced by Apple since High Sierra, which is more recommendable.Click Erase to begin wiping everything on your Mac.
Step 6: Reinstall macOS on MacBook, iMac
After deleting everything on your Mac, you can now reinstall macOS. Go back to macOS Utilities menu. Select Reinstall macOS and follow the on-screen instructions to finish.
That's all about how to factory reset your Mac and erase everthing. If you have more question, drop it in the comment section.
How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Free
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A frozen or unresponsive Mac is rare, but Macs aren't immune from some of the same weaknesses as other computers. At one time or another, we've all had documents disappear, programs crash and faced that spinning beachball of dread during a busy working day.
The best thing you can do is not panic, then follow some simple instructions to get up and running again. If you are finding this is happening more often, maybe it's time to look at long-term solutions. Maybe you've not updated your operating system recently? If that is the case, then you should note a new one comes out soon. With macOS Big Sur offering lots of benefits, now is the time to give your Mac an update.
Stop Your Mac From Freezing
A powerful tools to speed up your Mac and fix keeps freezing issues.
At the same time, you may need to declutter the Mac, removing old files and long-forgotten documents to avoid troublesome Mac freezes.
Why does Mac keep freezing?
Macs are fairly powerful, durable devices. It takes a lot to slow them down, or a simple issue of the Mac running too many programs, apps and browser tabs (all of then use processing power). Like with any computer, when too much is stored and too many apps are fighting for CPU processing power, you're stuck with a spinning wheel and your beloved Mac not responding to clicks and pleas.
Apps crashing are some of the most common reasons behind a Mac freezing. Usually, an app freezing won't crash the whole Mac, but that is a risk when your memory is full, or there are lots of applications running at once.
How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Using
Here are some of the main reasons Macs freeze most of the time.
Main reasons your Mac is frozen
- Too many apps running (this affects memory and cpu)
- Too many background processes (same)
- App crashed (there's a problem with a single app)
- Sluggish browser (too many tabs open)
- Overworked email client (too many attachments)
- macOS loaded with system junk or needs an update
- Not enough free hard drive space
- Hardware problem with your disk or RAM (diagnostics required)
- Malware (the ones that cause Macs to open multiple windows or draft emails, thus overloading the system)
How to fix a frozen macOS
Let's start with a bit of obvious advice: don't panic, don't do anything you'll regret, don't push every button. In this part we'll go over unfreezing a Mac and preventing issues in the future. Depending on your current trouble, we'll try to determine the core reason and what to do in each case.
First aid: How to unfreeze a Mac
First, you need to bring your Mac back to life. When it's unresponsive - either as a result of an app or the computer is struggle to function — you can either click Restart, from the main menu, or press Command-Control-Power (Eject for keyboards and iMacs) to get it to restart.
If neither of those solutions works, then you can hold the power button down which will restart the device. Not an ideal solution, since you can lose anything unsaved, but at least that should restore it to normal.
How to retrieve lost data after the freeze
What if you resurrected your Mac and realized some of the files are missing? Don't worry just yet, install Disk Drill, the world's premier data recovery software for macOS. It was created for the cases when Mac crashed and you lost data and when you accidentally deleted files. Disk Drill is powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards. Simply open the app and scan the chosen drive or partition, preview to find exact files you want to restore and restore them.
Now, let's make sure your Mac doesn't make a freeze into a habit.
Most common Mac slow and freeze reasons and fixes
Unresponsive because of a specific app
Apps may running in the background, freeze and crash. Try to determine which apps cause the crash. You start at this: when does the crash happen? If it's when you turn on or work in a specific app, maybe you need to either reset it or remove it entirely.
How To Clear Everything On Mac Except For Apps Without
FIX: To remove apps or set them to back default, use a Mac optimizer app called CleanMyMac, it's has a specific Uninstaller module which can safely perform the task. CleanMyMac is available on Setapp collection and you can use it for free during the trial period.
How to uninstall apps with CleanMyMac:
- Find CleanMyMac in Setapp and launch it.
- Find Uninstaller tab.
- Find the app in question.
- Checkmark it and click Uninstall.
How to download mathcad prime 5on mac. To reset an app, repeat the first three items and then right-click on the arrow near the app name and select Application Reset instead. Resetting an app to default settings and cleaning up its cache can help if you're sure you really need the app and you can't afford to simply remove it.
Also, don't forget to check for app's updates, there's a change your problems sprout from an outdated version.
How to force quit a frozen or unresponsive app
When an app freezes, which becomes obvious when an application is unresponsive in the middle of something, or you are shown the spinning beachball of despair, you can Force Quit (either in the app, from the dock or main menu).
Freeze because of a cluttered desktop
A cluttered desktop can seriously slow down your Mac, and can also cause many problems. That is because every icon on your desktop is an image, not just a link, and it's redrawn each time you start your Mac.
FIX: To clean up your desktop, and organize icons and files, try to use Declutter app. What this app does it groups all the files on your desktop into categories by type (or by any other principle you specify) and thus relieves your Mac from the need to draw 100 image-icons each time.
Freeze because of crushing background apps
This is usually when an app has been running without you realizing it. If your Mac freezes on startup than it's probably one of the startup items, apps that launch when your Mac turns on. You'll need to check on them and remove the extras.
FIX: Stop programs from running at startup on Mac: go to Settings > Users and Groups > Login items and uncheck any app that you don't want to launch when switching your Mac on, or restarting it. This way you'll escape weird crashes that render your Mac frozen.
Freeze because too many apps are running at once
How many are too many? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer; but once your Mac seems to struggle running simple tasks, or slows down when you've got multiple tabs or apps open, it's an indication that it is struggling to cope.
FIX: How to check what apps are running on your Mac right now? Open Activity monitor and take a look at the list of apps. Next to each you can see how much RAM and CPU power they eat up. You can switch between CPU and memory tabs to view each. Those that are the heaviest could cause the problem, so if you're sure you know what that app is, you can quit it.
How to close multiple applications on a Mac: in the Activity monitor, simply select and press the X mark in the top left corner. This will force quit the app. Resort to this only if your app is entirely unresponsive, otherwise use the menu in the top bar with the app's name, next to the apple icon. For instance Chrome > Quit Google Chrome.
In the same way you can manage processes on Mac. Rows without icons are processes. There are system ones and user-generated processes. Don't rush to quit any process before reading a little about it on Google. It might be important.
Freeze because there's no space on hard drive
An overloaded drive can be the reason your Mac fails to work properly and freezes or nearly-freezes. You can check if it's the problem by clicking the Apple icon > About this Mac > Storage. If there's not too many GB left on the free side of your disk, time to clean up.
The easy way to get rid of extra files and give your system a polish is to use CleanMyMac. It's cleaning module is everything you want from a good app: it has a one-click solution and a bunch of semi-automated options for picking out and removing large old files.
To clean your hard drive with CleanMyMac:
- Open CleanMyMac.
- Choose the Smart Scan in the left side
- Click Scan.
- Hit Run.
If you take a few moments to carefully clean up Large and Old files, you'll be gigabytes and gigabytes out, you can't imagine how much garbage hangs in there. From personal experience, it takes about half a year to clutter a Mac with random stuff.
- Click Large & Old Files and click Scan.
- Find what you'd like to remove in there.
- Hit Remove.
Now, here are a few other app suggestions to free up more space.
Gemini — removes duplicated images and similar photos.
Dropshare — lets you quickly move files into the cloud.
When Mac freezes but mouse still moves
A rare case that can signal two things: your Mac is nevertheless locked up and regular solutions fit (restart, check Activity monitor, find problematic apps, clean hard drive)or there's a hardware problem.
There's a way you can check if the latter is the case without taking your Mac to a service store. Install iStat Menus and use its indicators to see if there's an ongoing problem with your drives or battery. Pay attention to the CPU temperature and battery life in particular.
Another way to diagnose your Mac would be to run a specific hardware test administered by Apple itself.
Here's how to run Apple Hardware Test
Preparation: disconnect all external devices except keyboard, mouse, display, and power connection. Put your Mac on a table or anything flat (a soft bed would be a poor choice).
- Shut down the Mac.
- When turning back on, immediately press and hold the D key until you see the Test icon.
- Select language and click the right arrow or press the Return key.
- Click the Test button to begin. You can also press T or Return.
- Upon completion, take a look at the lower part of the window and study the results.
- To quit, hit Restart or Shut Down at the bottom.
How to avoid a Mac freezing
When a Mac freezes, those solutions are reactive, and while you are going to be up and running again soon, you should think about fixes that will help you avoid crashes in the future.
CleanMyMac is one way to cleanup an untidy Mac. Other apps worth installing from Setapp collection include iStat Menus we mentioned before, a handy app that will quickly identify what is absorbing so much CPU processing power and advise those applications are closed. Unlike Activity Menu, iStat Menus providers users with even more useful data, and is available through Setapp, along with hundreds of other apps for Mac customers, all for one convenient price. Remember to pay attention to CPU temperature as a key potential indicator of an upcoming freeze. When it's too high, quit apps and processes that take too much of its power.
That's about it on the matter of freezing Macs, we hope this article has been of help. Every app we mentioned is available on Setapp, an app collection by subscription. More than a hundred ultra-useful tools for all kinds of Mac maintenance, lifestyle, and work tasks. Sign up to try it.
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