Janie Grace Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 I am constantly running out of space on my MacBook Air and then I have to figure out what to delete. It's tiresome. One idea I have is that I must have hidden folders somewhere. This is because often when I go to save something, the default folder comes up and it's some jumble of letters and numbers that means nothing to me (like a folder named "W45932"). And then I change it to "Desktop" or some other MEANINGFUL folder that I actually created and use. I have never created these jumbled up folders and I can't find them... but surely they exist somewhere on my computer! How do I find and delete them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 You can use the Finder to search all file types. You can just go through and see what's there. Are you regularly updating the operating system and security updates when they come out? I've not had this happen on any of my macs. I'm wondering if you have a virus, they are rare on Mac but do exist. Hopefully someone else has had this happen and can be more helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 DS just borrowed the laptop to take to school! I found a (legitimate) app that finds caches etc. It's free up to X MB of stuff it finds and deletes, but it's just as useful after because it lets you open the folder directly from there and delete yourself. I was stunned at how much is cached. Like every Chrome update, duplicates of photos, etc. I wish I could remember it off the top of my head... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendy not in HI Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 (edited) Our Mac died this winter. The hard drive was still alive, though, and the techs at the Mac store helped save it and helped sort through and delete tons of junk. I'm not sure what they did, but they cleaned it all out really nicely. We had to buy a new computer, but our old hard drive is still alive and we can use it with our new computer. One big memory killer was hiding in itunes. I had no idea that old apps that were downloaded onto one device were saved forever in itunes, in my Mac. I deleted hundreds of odd little free apps, going back years, and that freed up a whole lot of memory. Also, back ups to different iphones and ipods were just sitting there taking up lots of memory space. Some from phones that were no longer operating. Our photo storage was also full of duplicates. I wonder if you could make an appointment at your local apple store and have them help you? Edited May 25, 2017 by wendy not in HI 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Our Mac died this winter. The hard drive was still alive, though, and the techs at the Mac store helped save it and helped sort through and delete tons of junk. I'm not sure what they did, but they cleaned it all out really nicely. We had to buy a new computer, but our old hard drive is still alive and we can use it with our new computer. One big memory killer was hiding in itunes. I had no idea that old apps that were downloaded onto one device were saved forever in itunes, in my Mac. I deleted hundreds of odd little free apps, going back years, and that freed up a whole lot of memory. Also, back ups to different iphones and ipods were just sitting there taking up lots of memory space. Some from phones that were no longer operating. Our photo storage was also full of duplicates. I wonder if you could make an appointment at your local apple store and have them help you? Yes! Discovered this on the iMac! One profile was automatically downloading everything purchased on iTunes! Every app, TV episode (in HD!), song.... Deleting those and stopping that nonsense made a world of difference. Poor DS, so wrongly accused of doing *something* that was eating up space. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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