If you decide to sell or give away your Mac, you'll need to wipe your data in order to set up your Mac like a new one. Not only is it essential for your privacy, but it is also the right way to prepare your MacBook for another owner. Resetting Mac to factory settings includes several steps. Here’s the brief outline of them:
Data backup
Deauthorizing iTunes on macOS Mojave or earlier
Signing out iCloud and iMessage
Erasing Touch Bar data
Erasing Mac hard drive in Recovery Mode
Reinstalling macOS
Just dragging the apps to the Trash does not delete all the associated files. Download and install this free utility to uninstall apps Download AppCleaner for Mac - Uninstall your apps easily. I know that and I have AppCleander installed. But that's not the point since I do want to have a correct view inside the App Store.
How to reset Mac software: The easy way. Restoring an app manually can take a bit of work. And if you delete the wrong folder, it could prevent the app from working altogether, or break the wrong app by mistake. Without realizing it, other problems could be causing apps to crash. Thankfully, Mac reset software exists to make this job easier.
Continue reading to learn the steps to factory reset MacBook Pro or any other Mac computer just as of it was new.
Note: This guide is relevant to Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.
The ultimate checklist to factory reset MacBook Pro
Step 1. Back up your data
When you factory reset MacBook Pro, all the information you have on your hard drive is wiped off. That’s why you need to create a backup to save your important files and data. This is like cloning your hard drive and keeping it for some time.
Mar 10, 2020 Most programs will have a Restore files tool right in the user interface. You can launch the remote app on your Mac, or visit the company's website. You can then select the files and folders you want to restore from your backup menu.
You can manually back up all your files and apps by copying everything to an external drive or iCloud. However, the faster and more secure way to back up your Mac is Time Machine — Mac’s built-in software. It allows to recover individual files and restore your whole hard drive in the event of a catastrophe.
However, before you use Time Machine, make sure to clean up your Mac. You don’t want to back up all the junk it contains, do you? Plus, a backup will go faster and more smoothly if your Mac is not cluttered. For a quick cleanup, you can use a utility like CleanMyMac X. It will help you remove large and old files, useless apps, caches, and system junk in two clicks.
Here's how to clean GBs of junk in under 5 minutes:
Download CleanMyMac X and launch it.
Click Scan.
Click Run.
Once you’ve cleaned up your Mac, enable Time Machine backups:
Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose System Preferences.
Select Time Machine.
Click the Select Backup Disk button.
Choose the disk you’d like to use as a Time Machine backup, then click Use Disk.
Check the Back Up Automatically box in order to back up your Mac to the chosen disk automatically.
That’s it!
Note that your first backup may take a long time, depending on how many files you have. But don’t skip this step — the backup will allow you to restore all your data should something goes wrong when you factory reset Mac.
Once your files are backed up, next be sure to disable any services that are associated with your system, including iTunes, iCloud, and iMessage, and deactivate programs on your Mac. Just take your time to sign out of everything to avoid those “after the sale” calls from a new user.
Step 2. Deauthorize iTunes
Note: As you may know, iTunes has been replaced by Music, Podcasts, Books and Apple TV on macOS Catalina. You can only deauthorize iTunes if your Mac is running macOS Mojave or earlier.
Did you know, you can authorize up to 5 computers, which means that you can play your content just on 5 different Macs? That’s why you need to make sure your computer is not linked to your iTunes account when it gets a new owner. Don’t save this step for later.
Here’s how to sign out of iTunes:
Open iTunes on your Mac.
Click Account in the menu bar.
Choose Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
Provide your Apple ID and password.
Click Deauthorize.
Tip
If your Mac is running macOS Catalina, you can deauthorize Music and Apple TV as well following the instructions above. To deauthorize Books, open it and click Store. Choose Authorisations to deauthorize.
Do you need to turn off FileVault to do a factory reset?
Some sources on the Internet recommend turning off FileVault before doing a factory reset. FileVault encrypts your data and prevents unauthorized access to the information on your startup disk. So, even if you are going to sell your Mac, the purchaser won’t be able to access your data as they’d need your password to decrypt it. Complete factory reset covers erasing your startup disk (described in Step 7), which will make the recovery of your data impossible. Therefore, there is no need to turn off FileVault, as your data can’t be accessible in any readable form after you erase the drive.
This Mac download was scanned by our built-in antivirus and was rated as malware free. This program's bundle is identified as com.mint.quickview. This free Mac application is a product of Mint.com. The application is included in Lifestyle Tools. This free software works fine with Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Mint quickview mac app. Mint QuickView is a companion app to Mint.com that gives you an up-to-date snapshot of your finances-right on your Macintosh desktop. It's easier than ever to see where your money is going. Mint QuickView is your personal finance dashboard for the Mac. It gives you an instant snapshot of where your money is being spent and what transactions have been made in your accounts. You see it all in bit-sized pieces, so it's never overwhelming - making it easier to stay on top of your personal finances. Read all of the Mint QuickView FAQs by visiting our Support Community here.
Step 3. Disable iCloud
Sign out of iCloud to make sure that any remnants of the cloud data, such as bookmarks, notes, reminders, etc., are not visible to a new user.
Follow these steps to turn off iCloud:
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
Select iCloud.
Click Sign Out.
Confirm that you want to remove data from your Mac.
Step 4. Sign out of iMessage
Before you restore Mac to factory settings, be sure to sign out of iMessage. Here’s how to do that:
One of the easiest ways to slow down your Mac is by overloading on launch applications. After a year or so, you might not even realize what apps are starting in the background. While apps like Spotify jump up front and center when they launch, alerting the user, other apps are happy to chug away in the menubar with nary a user interaction for. Mac® Temporarily Disabling Login Items. Restart the computer. If you see the login window: Hold Shift, click the Log In button, then release Shift when you see the Dock.; If you don’t see the login window: Start your computer, hold down Shift when you see the progress bar in the startup window, then release Shift after your Blizzard Battle.net desktop appears. https://runever602.weebly.com/how-to-stop-background-apps-on-mac.html. How To Stop Mac Apps From Launching At Startup. There are some obvious ways to manage startup apps on Mac, but a few hidden tricks as well. The item runs in the background and is ready to.
Open up Messages.
Click Messages in the Menu bar in the top left corner of your screen.
From the drop-down menu, choose Preferences.
Select your iMessage account.
Click on the Sign Out button.
As simple as that!
Step 5. Erase Touch Bar Data
To ensure that all information is cleared from the Touch Bar, you need to erase its data. Follow these steps:
Hold down the Command+R keys after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac or right after your Mac begins to restart.
Choose Utilities > Terminal from the macOS Utilities window.
Type this command in Terminal: xartutil --erase-all
Press Return, type yes when asked if you are sure, and press Return again.
Choose Terminal > Quit Terminal.
Step 6: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
Once you’ve backed up your data and signed out of everything, you are ready to wipe your Mac and give it a fresh start with a new owner. The following steps will tell you how to restore Mac to factory settings. This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart. As the system restarts, hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
How To Restore Mac Without Cd
Step 7: Erase Mac hard drive
If you plan to sell or give away your Mac, you need to erase your Mac’s startup disk. The startup disk is built-into your MacBook. Its default name is Macintosh HD.
With the release of macOS Catalina, Apple has added the read-only volume. It means that the new macOS is running a separate system volume to keep critical system files more protected. That’s why apart from central Macintosh HD volume, there is Macintosh HD - Data volume, which contains all your data. So, if you want to remove every piece of personal information from your Mac, you need to erase both Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data volumes.
Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
Click the Continue button.
Your startup disk is the disk named “Macintosh HD” unless you renamed it before.
If you have “Data” volume in the sidebar, which contains the name of your startup disk (for example, Macintosh HD - Data), select it. Click Edit and select Delete APFS volume from the menu bar. Press the Delete button (don’t click Delete Volume Group).
Now select Macintosh HD from the sidebar.
Click Erase at the top of the Disk Utility window.
Enter the name of this volume and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format from the drop-down menu.
Click Erase. You may need to enter your Apple ID for confirmation.
How to move apps from mac to iphone. When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 8: Reinstall your operating system
Congratulations, you’ve reformatted your hard drive and now you can reinstall a clean Mac operating system. Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X from the Utilities menu. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
However, if you are not going to keep your Mac, it would be better to quit the process and let the new owner enter all necessary information. Simply hold down the Command and Q keys and then choose Shut Down to turn the Mac off but leave it waiting for a new user.
That’s all. Now your Mac is clean and ready for a fresh start.
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There is really nothing to worry about, in case you have deleted a purchased App on your iPhone or iPad. You will find below the steps to Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone or iPad.
Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone or iPad
In the past it was not easy to Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone, users would pretty much buy the App yet again, in case they had deleted it accidentally and did not have a backup on their local computer or iTunes.
It also consists of a machine learning for auto colour adjustment tool which makes it easier to change the colour.The best feature that this tool has is it allows you to export the images for web. Pixlr Pro is a tool which can be used online in a browser. You can also enjoy features like working with Mac’s touch bar, SVG editing and export, preview the changes live to check how the outcome would look like, text editing etc.5. What mac app is comparable to photo shop. Hence, you no longer have to get the images done for website using multiple tools.
However, Apple now links every App that you download from the App Store to your Apple ID and stores the App in your Account. This makes it really easy to Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone or iPad.
You will find below two different methods to restore deleted Apps on iPhone or iPad.
1. Restore Deleted Apps From List of Purchased Apps
You can Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone from the list of purchased Apps as available on the App Store. This option is suitable, in case you do not know the Name of the App or you are not sure about which Apps you had deleted on your iPhone.
1. Open the App Store on your iPhone.
Note: Make sure that you are signed in with the same Apple ID that you had used to purchase the Apps.
2. Once you are in the App Store, tap on the Profile icon located at the top right corner of your screen.
3. On the Account screen, tap on Purchased.
4. On the next screen, tap on Not on this iPhone tab. This will bring up all the Apps that are currently not available on your iPhone.
5. The next step is to look for the App that you had deleted and tap on the Cloud icon next to the App, in order to begin the process of re-installing the App back on your iPhone (See above image)
2. Restore Deleted Apps on iPhone using Search
How To Restore Mac Home App Free
In case you had recently deleted the App and know its name, you can quickly search for the deleted App on the App Store and install the App back on your device.
1. Open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad.
Note: Make sure that you are signed in with the same Apple ID that you had used to purchase the App.
2. Once you are on the App Store, search for the Deleted App by typing its Name in the search bar.
3. Now, tap on the Deleted App as it comes up in search results.
4. The next step is to Download and Install the App back on your device.
Since you have already paid for the App, you won’t be charged for downloading the App yet again from the App Store.
What You Need to Know About Apps Linked to Your Apple ID
As mentioned above, all the Apps that you download from the App Store, including Free and Paid Apps are linked to your Apple ID and all these Apps are stored in your Account on Apple’s Cloud servers.
What is good about this setup is that practically every App that you Purchase or download for Free from the App Store will be available in your App Store Account.
Even if the publisher of the App removes a particular App from the App Store, the removed App will still be available in your Account. Resize enable mac app.
Restore Mac To Factory Settings
However, this set up of saving every downloaded and purchased App to a User Account can create a huge list of Free, Purchased and discarded apps, which makes it difficult to find a particular App from the huge pile of Apps linked to your User Account.
How To Restore Mac Home Apps
Also, Apple does not allow you to permanently delete any of the Apps that are linked to your Account, which makes it difficult to get rid of unused or embarrassing Apps (if any) that you may have downloaded in the past.