Originally Posted by joemikeb
Originally Posted by MartyByrde
I am willing to bet that over 75% of folks do little, if any, disk cleanup/maintenance. I actually am doing disk cleanup every day by permanently removing deleted EMails in Thunderbird. It's just second nature to me. And I have consistently seen folks have issues with Apple's Mail program. When I mention permanently removing deleted EMails, they don't have a clue what I am referring to.
I think you grossly overestimate the number of Mac users that do any, if any, disk maintenance. I used to have a regular daily, weekly, and monthly routines but with the evolution of MacOS, I have come to the conclusion they are no longer needed and are a waste of time. The advent of solid state drives means some of those routines no longer have any impact on performance. Taken together with APFS where the old file and drive optimizing routines I used to rely on can be counter-productive.

However, I manually perform semi-regular "house-cleaning" eliminating unused apps and utilities, and eliminating file duplication.

Well, it's similar to newer and newer automobiles. But there is still a need for at least some basic maintenance. Plus, it never hurts to learn things about one's car (or cars, as in my case).

Still, I will continue to do my daily cleanup (99.9% of the time that involves permanently removing deleted EMails). My weekly tasks will continue to apply Onyx, Tech Tool Pro, and SuperDuper! (yes, SD is a backup tasks, but still good to do it in concert with Onyx and Tech Tool Pro). And given that I am doing other tasks at the same time, it is not a burden at all. I believe that if I did not perform those tasks, I would feel like I am asking for trouble. Similarly when I do not clean our townhome on a Saturday (needed to skip one about a month ago, as I was not feeling well), I feel a loss, along with not feeling 100% "clean".

Again, it just comes naturally for me, and it definitely can't hurt. Plus, I rarely, if ever, have any issues.