Deleting two or three big unneeded files can often free up more space than clearing out thousands of cache files and cookies. There’s also a list view, which you can sort by size, to instantly reveal the largest folders. These tools scan your hard disk and generate a visual map showing the relative sizes of all folders and files. Windows users can use a free utility called WinDirStat the Mac equivalent, also free, is called Disk Inventory X. And since these files are unique to you, generic cleanup tools are likely to miss them. Old, innocuous-looking files can gobble up huge amounts of space on your laptop, such as backups that are no longer needed, or big downloads that you’d forgotten about. Consider streaming music and podcasts rather than downloading them for offline playback – and see 11, below, for our advice on photo storage. You can, however, free up space manually by clearing your Safari cache, via Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. You’ll see options for saving space and clearing out clutter.įor Android smartphones, there’s a good range of third-party cleanup apps iOS isn’t so well served here, since apps can’t remove files created by other applications. Mac OS Sierra has a similar feature, but it’s well hidden: to find it, open the System Information tool, then open the Window menu and select “storage management”. If your laptop is running low on storage, Windows’s built-in Disk Cleanup tool can find and wipe unneeded files – just search for it in the Start menu.

Best mac cache cleaner 2017