4
AUTOMATIC OFFLOAD Everything
in your iCloud Drive – (accessed on
your Mac from the sidebar of any Finder
window) is also stored on your Mac. But
when your Mac’s drive fills up, macOS will
delete these copies, leaving only links to
your files on Apple’s servers. Attempting
to open a file will download it back to
your Mac. By adding your Documents
folder to iCloud Drive, you make it
behave the same way. If most of your
work is stored there, this can keep your
Mac going when you’d otherwise
completely run out of space.5
PROS AND CONS There are two
catches to this. One is that you’ll
need enough space in your iCloud
storage allocation for everything in your
Documents folder (and on your Desktop,
if you’re messy enough to keep work
there). The other is that if your Mac has
filled up and macOS has offloaded copies
of iCloud Drive files, but you can’t get
online at a given time, you won’t be able
to access your work. It’s probably best to
think of this as a way to tide yourself over
until you make some room rather than an
ideal solution.6
OPTIMISE MAC STORAGE If you
want to use iCloud Drive but always
keep copies stored on your Mac
regardless of space, uncheck Optimize
Mac Storage in System Preferences.Most unusual behavior in macOS, such
as slowdowns, has more innocent
causes. But if you think you may have
installed malware, the most important
thing not to do is go online, do a search
and install any tools you see
recommended to remove it. These may
themselves be malware! Instead, go?PX[ʭWP^
preferences,
and caches1 TOTAL YOUR TEMP FILES
Some apps, such as video
editors, amass huge temporary
files while working that you can
safely delete later to save lots of
space. Look up advice for each
app online.2 KILL CACHES
Caches are data stored
temporarily by macOS and apps
for speed. In the Finder, hold Opt
while clicking the Go menu and
pick Library. Open the Caches
folder and browse for space
hogs. You can delete caches like
any other file, but you’ll be asked
for an admin password. It’s
usually safe to do so, but rarely
necessary.3 PREFS GO POOF
Also in Library, the
Preferences folder contains
settings for each app. Deleting
these is worth trying if an app
misbehaves, but won’t save any
significant space.Up-to-date antivirus
scanner software
can reassure you
about malware.directly to a reputable security software
company, such as Bitdefender. Its free
Virus Scanner for Mac (see bitdefender.
com/toolbox or the Mac App Store) will
scan for known malware.