Like everything else, computers get messy! Even Macs. However, it turns out there are 3 little scripts hiding in your Mac that are intended to periodically clean your system. The problem is if you use a laptop they probably never get run. They're scheduled to run in the middle of the night and laptops are rarely left on overnight.

Whenever my Mac seems like it's getting a little sluggish I run these scripts. It may all be in my head, but I feel like the system is a bit more responsive after having run them. Here's how:

1. Open a terminal (for those of you that don't spend your days in a terminal like I do, open Finder, go to Applications > Utilities, and double-click Terminal)
2. Type:

   sudo periodic daily

   and hit return (it will ask you to enter your password).
3. Type:

   sudo periodic weekly

   and hit return (this one might take a few minutes).
4. Type:

   sudo periodic monthly

   and hit return.

It's that easy! If you're interested, read more for quick descriptions of what they do.

Daily

• Removes long-lived system log files
• Removes temporary junk files.
• Removes system messages older than 21 days.
• Does some account and security auditing
• Rotates Log files
• Deletes all system warning and info messages older than a few days.

Weekly

• Rebuilds the locate database (this is what causes the weekly task to take a few minutes).
• Rebuilds the whatis database.
• Rotates the logs

Monthly

• Performs login accounting
• Rotates Log files