What are system preference files on Mac OS X?
Your Mac's system preference files are files that store the rules (or parameters) that tell your apps how they should work. And you can find these preference files within each applications' contents.
Your Mac's system preference files are files that store the rules (or parameters) that tell your apps how they should work. And you can find these preference files within each applications' contents.
And what about broken preferences?
Well, with time, these preference files can be corrupted (or broken) due to things like: an app crash, a sudden blackout, or even hard drive corruption.
Well, with time, these preference files can be corrupted (or broken) due to things like: an app crash, a sudden blackout, or even hard drive corruption.
Now, to fix them, we must delete them — Clean up these Mac preference files makes the app create a new, default preference file. This can help your app(s) operate correctly again. So, today, we'll go over two ways on how to remove system preference files: the easy way (with a utility), and the hard way (manually).
How to Fix System Preferences on Mac OS X | The Easy Way
Mac Download Folder Preferences App
Deleting preference files (well, refreshing them) on your Mac is incredibly easy with a Mac utility like CleanMyMac X. It scans your Mac for preference files that are broken and removes them with just a click of a button. CleanMyMac X contains a few cleaning modules responsible for cleaning your Mac in the most efficient manner. The System Junk module looks through your system and application folders to find different kinds of unneeded files, including broken application and system preferences.
To fix preference files on your Mac with CleanMyMac X, just:
- Download CleanMyMac X (click here to download it).
- Launch CleanMyMac X and select System Junk on the left.
- Click Scan.
- And then click Clean.
In a few seconds, your Mac will be cleaned of unneeded system data, including broken preference files. If you'd only like to remove the broken preferences, before you click Clean, select 'Review Details,' only checkmark the box that says 'Broken Preferences,' and then click Clean. CleanMyMac X makes reseting system preference files on Mac incredibly simple. And it does a ton more, too. You can read more about it here.
However, if you'd prefer to remove Mac system preference files yourself, check out the section below.
On the Preferences dialog, make sure you are on the General tab. Towards the bottom, you’ll see File download location. If you click on that drop-down, you can choose Other to select another folder. If you move a file or change the download location after downloading it, Safari can’t find the file. Tip: To change where downloaded items are saved on your Mac, choose Safari Preferences, click General, then click the “File download location” pop-up menu and choose a location.
How to Delete System Preference Files on Mac OS X | The Hard Way
How to find system preferences on a Mac? All preference files are stored in [Your Home Folder]/Library/Preferences. Usually they named in this manner:
com.[name of the software vendor].[name of the application].plist
com.[name of the software vendor].[name of the application].plist
Now, if you have an application that works incorrectly, you can find the corresponding preference file in the above-mentioned folder and remove it from there. On the next launch of the application, it will recreate a default version of that file and then begin working properly. However, if this doesn't happen, that it may be a good decision to put the broken preference file back — They can be a bit temperamental. It's highly advised that you make a copy of the preference file before you delete it, just in case something goes wrong.
So, to remove unnecessary system preferences (or preference files that are bugging your your application), check the:
/Library/Preferences
/Library/Preferences
…system folder. To do this, open a Finder window, press Cmd+Shift+G and type the above in. However, be aware that items stored in that location could be incredibly important to your system and how it functions, so you should be 100% sure about the files you're going to delete.
But again, we'd recommend looking into CleanMyMac X — it makes fixing and removing broken preference files on your Mac easy as can be.
We hope this article has helped you understand what Mac system preferences are, and how to delete system preference files on Mac.
These might also interest you:
Safari User Guide
Download music, PDFs, software, and other items by clicking links on webpages.
Important: If a download contains software, an alert appears when you open the item. To be safe, don’t open it if you weren’t expecting a software program or if it’s not from a trusted source.
Download an item
Mac Download Folder Preferences Folder
- In the Safari app on your Mac, click anything identified as a download link, or Control-click an image or other object on the page.
- Choose Download Linked File. (Some webpage items can’t be downloaded.)Safari decompresses files such as .zip files after it downloads them.Note: If you download an item that you previously downloaded, Safari removes the older duplicate so it doesn’t take up space on your Mac. See Optimize storage space on your Mac.
See items you downloaded
- In the Safari app on your Mac, click the Show Downloads button near the top-right corner of the Safari window.The button isn’t shown if the downloads list is empty.
- Do any of the following:
- Pause a download: Click the Stop button to the right of the filename in the downloads list. To resume, click the Resume button .
- Find a downloaded item on your Mac: Click the magnifying glass next to the filename in the downloads list. If you move a file or change the download location after downloading it, Safari can’t find the file.Tip: To change where downloaded items are saved on your Mac, choose Safari > Preferences, click General, then click the “File download location” pop-up menu and choose a location.
- Clear the downloads list: In the downloads list, click Clear. To remove one item, Control-click it, then choose Remove From List.By default, Safari automatically removes an item after one day. To change when items are automatically removed, choose Safari > Preferences, click General, then click the “Remove download list items” pop-up menu and choose an option.
Mac Download Folder Preferences Permissions
![Folder Folder](/uploads/1/2/6/6/126667335/824975969.png)
Open My Downloads Folder Mac
See alsoAdd passes to Wallet in Safari on MacIf you can’t download an item from the web using Safari on MacChange Websites preferences in Safari on Mac