

To recreate the full-disk Spotlight index click the plus sign at the bottom of the window, add your entire Macintosh HD to the list, and click Choose. In Privacy ( Figure F) you'll see a list of all the locations on your Mac's hard drive Spotlight has been told not to index. Feel free to change anything you don't want indexed here, otherwise click on Privacy at the top of the window.
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On the screen that opens you'll see a full list of the categories of items Spotlight will index. Open System Preferences and look for Spotlight.
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Emails, media, browsing history, apps-it's all there if you want Spotlight to be able to search for it.Īs with other indexes of computer storage, Spotlight's database can sometimes need a reboot, but there's no automated way to do it, so you'll have to go about it the manual way. I mentioned Spotlight above as a quick way to open apps: Just hit command + space bar and you're instantly able to search for any file on your computer. There's no reason not to simply restart your machine every night at the end of the workday, giving you a fresh desktop to start the day with. Regular reboots of your Mac will flush its temporary storage spaces and give macOS a chance to reinitialize and have a fresh start. In the short term, computers have a tendency to slow down between reboots because caches build up, temp files eat up space, and a growing number of system processes eat up resources, among other things.
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Right-click on the disk partition you want to perform first aid on and click the First Aid menu item.Īpple made changes to macOS' update process in Big Sur that now allow updates to download in the background, so it's even easier now to update a Mac, meaning you should definitely do it.

On the left hand side of the Disk Utility app, you'll see the names of the volumes and partitions on your Mac ( Figure A). Run the Disk Utility by typing its name into Spotlight (hit command + space bar) and clicking on it. The macOS built-in Disk Utility app has a First Aid function that can diagnose errors in the way macOS has formatted directories, repair software errors, and even detect if a drive is going bad and needs replacing. SEE: 10 acOS tune-up tricks for your Mac (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Volume First Aid

These 10 macOS maintenance tips are designed to help MacBooks, iMacs, and other macOS Big Sur computers operating at peak efficiency, all without a single third-party app. Take Apple's macOS laptops and desktops: They're great machines when they're running well, even into old age, but they require regular maintenance to continue to perform. Luckily, all of the problems that need fixing are digital, so they're much easier to take care of at home-no expert needed. Old programs leave behind traces of code, apps that force their way onto startup lists ensure they're always on and hogging memory, and caches get backed up and slow performance.

Cars go to mechanics, contractors repair houses, and, whether we realize it or not, our computers need maintenance despite a lack of moving parts or exposure to the elements. The biggest, most important assets in our lives require regular upkeep to ensure they function well.
