Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition

Tip 253

Clean Caches for Smooth Running

To speed things up, most OS X applications and system tools cache data on the hard disk that they access frequently. While this works fine most of the time, sometimes the caches can become corrupted, and this can slow down either the application or the entire system. Therefore, if you run into a mysterious problem of an app working slowly or perhaps not working at all, deleting the caches might be worth trying. Don’t worry—the caches will be re-created as soon as the app next opens.

Clearing Local Caches

Start by quitting any apps that are open. Then open a Finder window, hit Shift+Command+G, and type the following: ~/Library/Caches. Then drag all the files and folders you see to the trash. Enter your login ...