Go to ~/Library/Preferences/
and sort by modification date. Anything unused in the last X weeks/months can go. Simply start any application once you install. Keep the files around another month in case you start an application and have an unexpected first-launch experience.
Use a tool like Disk Inventory X or DaisyDisk, point it at ~/Library/Application Support
and nuke anything with more that X MB (I'd recommend 10) you don't recognize or no longer use.
There is no "100%" solution, and since you keep on installing/trying/uninstalling there's really no point.
Edited to add:
Check the LaunchAgents
and LaunchDaemons
directories within your user library and the /Library
, as well as the Accounts
preference pane in System Preferences.app
for unnecessary Login Items
Use Disk Inventory X (free) or DaisyDisk (non-free but pretty) to look around your whole disk to see where your storage went.
Now we're getting very much into subjective territory:
Read into which directories are excluded by default from Time Machine (you don't see them in the preference pane!), I am pretty sure Logs
and Caches
are among them. Trash their contents (although I find both rather useful, so YMMV).
Most applications can be moved around directories, so if you suffer from application overload, move your own applications to a different one and remove them from the Dock (preferably one not indexed by your application launcher, i.e. LaunchBar, Quicksilver, etc. if you use such software) and move them out from that "quarantine" once you need them. One month later, delete the "quarantine" directory.
Try out the shareware Hazel
. Not for me, but helps with cluttered download folders, I hear.
Install your applications only in ~/Applications
(folder within your user directory, need to create it first), except where not possible (iWork and VMware Fusion, and generally everything with an installer comes to mind). This way you can easily carry them over to a different machine without changing /Applications
, you cannot mess up access permissions for software accessible to all users and can be sure which ones can be freely trashed, and which ones probably shouldn't.
If you're using Time Machine, it supports restoring only user directories after a fresh install. This goes well with applications in ~/Applications
, you might need to reinstall drivers and Installer.app
-installed software, though.
"application launcher" is spotlight? – Pacerier – 2018-02-14T13:16:56.177
@Pacerier I provide examples, but yes, Spotlight does some of that too, true. – Daniel Beck – 2018-02-14T13:56:22.957