History files can make Spotlight searching sluggish. When it gets too big, it can actually slow down browsing. For instance, the cache file is intended to make your browsing snappier, but can easily consume hundreds of megabytes. If you use AppleвЂ™s Safari, some of the programвЂ™s features can take up unnecessary space.

If you add lots of music to your iTunes library, Dupin is a great way to slim it down. Doug AdamsвЂ™ $15 Dupin gives you much more power to weed out duplicates, sorting by a variety of different criteria. Still, iTunesвЂ™ duplicate search is limited. ITunes can find duplicate files in your library. Open the Console application (in /Applications/Utilities), to see a list in the Console Messages window sidebar. Your Mac stores lots of log files, most of which you never need to review. If not, you may have already saved the attachments to your hard disk. If you still have the original messages, the attachments are part of those messages.

You can generally delete these without worry. You may have dozens of files here occupying a huge amount of space. But if you double-click an attachment to view it, or if you use QuickLook to glance at it, Mail stores a copy in your youruserfolder/Library/Mail Downloads folder. When you receive attachments to e-mail messages in AppleвЂ™s Mail, the files are stored with your messages at first. While youвЂ™re at it, check in youruserfolder/Music/iTunes folder you may find a Previous Libraries folder, which includes copies of your iTunes libraries that were saved after you installed a new version. (BBEdit saves a new backup every time you save a file.) Deleting these backup files can save space, and make searching via OS XвЂ™s Spotlight much easier. If you use any application that saves backups, you may find that it has tucked away several gigabytes of duplicate files, depending on how the program saves them. BBEdit stores its backups in a BBEdit Backups folder in my Documents folder I have OmniFocus store its backups in my Documents folder as well. Some applications, such as OmniFocus, let you choose the location for the backups others, like BBEdit, donвЂ™t. Two programs I use often-Bare Bones SoftwareвЂ™s BBEdit and The Omni GroupвЂ™s OmniFocus-do this. Many programs offer automatic backups, and store copies of files in a selected folder, just as iChat saves chat logs. While you may want to save recent chat logs, you may have months of files you can trash, saving a lot of disk space. If you look inside the iChats folder, youвЂ™ll see that the files are organized by date. But if you send images inline during chats, these files may take up a lot of space. This is a great idea (and especially helpful at work) if you often need to refresh your memory about a conversation. With this preference set, iChat saves a log file of every chat. (Go to iChat -> Preferences, click on Messages, select Save Chat Transcripts To, and then choose a folder.) By default, the program saves transcripts in a folder called iChats in your Documents folder, but you can choose a different location to store these files. If you use iChat, you can have the program store logs of your chats. But I also want to draw your attention to a half-dozen digital dust bunnies that you might not have considered: Last year, Chris Breen shared valuable Tips for a tidier Mac-all of which are worth revisiting. Far be it from me to suggest that you clean out your basement, garage, or attic, but I would be remiss if I didnвЂ™t recommend you take a closer look at the crusty corners of your Mac. ItвЂ™s spring again, and with the new season comes the age-old ritual of cleaning out things you ignored for most of the year.

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