How to run maintenance on your Mac: a complete guide

Knowing how to run maintenance on a Mac is still important in 2026. Because although you could consider Macs these days as being pretty low maintenance, they’re not exactly exempt. If you do very little or nothing at all, system cache, excessive startup items, and all your built-up docs and files will eventually catch up to you.

I’ll walk you through all my essential Mac maintenance tasks from Ventura to Sequoia.

Regular Mac maintenance is still important

It’s true that lots of maintenance tasks are handled automatically now by your system itself, but you can still have a big impact on speed, storage space, and hardware lifespan by doing some basic manual intervention.

I run quick tasks weekly, then save the more in-depth ones for my monthly Mac maintenance checklist.

Quick, weekly Mac routine maintenance

1. Restart your Mac regularly

To clear up your Mac’s RAM and reset some internal processes, don’t forget to restart your Mac at least every one to two weeks.

2. Empty your Trash and Downloads folder

A really simple Mac maintenance tip is to empty your Trash folder weekly. Loads of people don’t realize, unless you manually empty it, it's still taking up storage.

Also, don’t forget to keep an eye on your Downloads folder, installers, and temp files like to sit around here.

3. Close down tabs and quit apps

If you’ve got loads of apps open or tons of browser windows, close them down if you’re not actually using them. I use Activity Monitor from Finder > Applications > Utilities to identify resource hogs.

If you find an unresponsive app, you can always Force Quit using this keyboard command - Option - Command - Esc.

4. Keep apps and your macOS updated

Everyone knows they should do this, but so many of us forget. In System Settings > General > Software Update. You can keep on top of new updates, and in the App Store itself, you can check if any of your installed apps have updates waiting.

How to clean up Mac monthly

1. Free up storage space

1. System Settings > General > Storage.

2. Under the recommendations section, make sure you enable the options here, like Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Store in iCloud. They can make a difference.

3. Finally, you can also manually review large files and old iOS/iPadOS backups.

2. Be vigilant with your startup items

The less you have launching at startup, the better, so check System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and manage what items you really need here.

3. Run Disk Utility First Aid

If I keep having system crashes, I run First Aid from Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. All you need to do is select your startup disk, then click First Aid > Run.

4. Clear browser cache and system caches

Every browser is slightly different, but usually in its settings or privacy settings, you can find an option to clear browsing history and data.

You can also clear system cache, but you need to approach this with caution, make sure you know what you’re deleting in any Library folders like ~/Library/Caches

Personally, I would rather use the Cleanup feature from CleanMyMac, which only removes what is safe, so you don’t need to worry about making a mistake. Here’s how:

1. Open CleanMyMac (get your free trial here).

2. Press Cleanup > Scan.

3. Click Review All Junk and remove what you don’t need.

5. Uninstall unused apps

Dragging apps to the Trash does not remove them properly; it leaves behind system clutter and support data. CleanMyMac has a dedicated Applications feature that does safely remove all traces.

Deep Mac maintenance (every few months)

1. Run Mac maintenance scripts via Terminal (pre-Sequoia only)

You can run manual scripts on modern Macs in Terminal, even though these are run automatically.

1. Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.

2. Enter this command: sudo periodic daily weekly monthly

3. You’ll need to enter your password.

2. Scan for malware

XProtect helps, but it’s not the only thing you should be relying on to keep your Mac safe from threats. I use the Malware Removal tool from CleanMyMac via its Protection feature. I can run a scan whenever I feel suspicious.

3. Always back up your data

No one wants data loss, it’s the worst scenario for a Mac user, you should really back up at least once a month, use your preferred method, from Time Machine to cloud services, just don’t skip it.

4. Reset SMC and NVRAM/PRAM

Running an Intel Mac, you can reset your SMC and NVRAM; here’s the official Apple how to page.

On Apple silicon, a simple restart pretty much does the same thing. This can be useful when your battery is running out quickly, or you’ve got display or fan problems.

Mac maintenance checklist