How do I clean up old apps on my hard drive without deleting something vital?

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How do I clean up old apps on my hard drive without deleting something vital?

I have transferred hard drive apps from an old computer to a new one several times over the past 15 years. A lot of the apps seem old or outdated, but how do I know that I'm not deleting something important to an app I am using?

I'm getting ready to set up another new one, but I would really like to uninstall a lot of useless apps. Is there a program to run? Now going from an iMac to a MacMini. Thank you!

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.6

Posted on Dec 14, 2023 7:31 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,896 points

Dec 15, 2023 12:50 AM in response to SteveGontheBigIsland

No, there isn't an app to run as the only one who knows what apps are important to you is, as it happens, you.

But here's a tip: don't copy apps from one machine to another. Reinstall them from source. That way you get the up-to-date versions of your apps, and avoid issues with faulty copying and so on.

As a general rule: deleting one app from your Mac won't affect the others on a Mac. It's not like Preview or Safari need the presence of some other app to run.

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How do I clean up old apps on my hard drive without deleting something vital?

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