How to Customize System Preferences on Mac
Chandra Shekhar Choudhary
Assistant Consultant (Sr. SEO Analyst) at Tata Consultancy Services
The System Preferences app on your macOS helps you adjust various settings to customize how your Mac will look. Here, you can find most System Preferences come native to your macOS and can’t be removed. Hence, you can hide them if needed. Additionally, you can tweak settings to customize System Preferences on Mac.
Furthermore, certain third-party apps also insert their own preference panes in Mac’s System Preferences at the bottom row. You may find some of these third-party preference panes lie on your system even when you have uninstalled the application.
In this article, we have discussed how to customize, hide and remove unnecessary preference panes on your Mac.
How to Hide a Native System Preferences Pane
To hide native System Preferences pane on your macOS, follow below-mentioned steps:
On Mac’s Dock, launch System Preferences. Alternatively, open it from the Applications folder or from the Apple menu bar.
On System Preferences menu bar, click on View > Customize. Alternatively, tap and hold the Show All button. You can find this button to the right of the forward and back arrow buttons at the top of the System Preferences window.
Here, you will find a blue checkbox has appeared next to each pane. To hide any of these items, simply uncheck the panes and press Done.
How to Remove third-party Preference Panes
To do this follow below-mentioned steps:
- Launch System Preferences from Dock or Applications folder.
- Find & locate the third-party preference pane in the bottom row of the System Preferences window that you want to remove.
- Once located, right-click on it and select “Remove (name of the pane) Preference Pane”.
- Enter administrative details when prompted.
How to Remove Preference Pane Files Manually
To do this follow below-mentioned steps:
- Open a Finder window.
- Here, head to Go menu, hold down the Option key and chose Library option from the dropdown menu.
- In the Library folder, open the Preference Panes subfolder.
- Here, locate. profane files that you wish to remove.
- Once located, right-click on it and choose Move to Trash option.
- Restart your Mac.
Explore Preferences
All important Options for your system are neatly organized into System Preferences. For example, if you want to see options for Spotlight then you will find it in Spotlight preferences.
Here, you will find all the Preferences set in a grid of icons. You may find icons are shows differently depending on your Mac and various apps that you have installed. By default, you will find that preferences are arranged in rows by category. If you want to arrange them in alphabetical order, then select View > Organise Alphabetically.
Set Options
With each preference pane, you will find options you can set. Here, you will find a Help button with most of the panes. You need to click it for more information about the options. You may also find some of these panes are locked to protect your Mac. It is indicated by a closed lock icon at the bottom of the pane. You will also find options that are dimmed here.
To set options, you need to unlock the pane. To do this, click the lock icon, and enter the administrator details to proceed.
Find Options
You can find options in System preferences by using the search field. Once you enter any search term, it will highlight the listed items. If it shows you a red badge next to System Preferences icon in the Dock and there you need to take one or more actions.
Use Best Mac Optimization Software
If you want to clear the clutter on your Mac, then it’s time to use the best apps to clean Mac. This top Mac cleaning software helps you find and remove all junk on your system if you are done arranging System Preference items. While there are lots of these tools available, let’s discuss the best 2 best Mac optimization software here.
If you are struggling to find out how to clean junk on Mac, then Smart Mac Care is the answer. This powerful Mac cleaner helps you keep your system in good health while keeping its security intact. It offers 3 effective scan processes to offer complete cleaning and security. These scan features include malware scans, junk scans, and privacy scans. In advanced tools, it helps you de-duplicate your system storage, uninstall unnecessary apps, remove failed downloads, manages login items, and more.
CCleaner for Mac is the next best tool available to clean, optimize and secure your system for better performance. It helps you protect your privacy and make your Mac run faster and secure. Working on smart algorithms, it helps you clean all types of junk files to recover GB’s of disk space. It cleans your browsing history to keep your online activities secure. It offers full customization options to help you offer a seamless user experience.
So, this was a quick review of how to customize System Preferences on Mac and keep it clean from clutter. Do try these steps and feel free to share your experience in the comments below.
Summary: - The System Preferences app on your macOS helps you adjust various settings to customize how your Mac will look. Let’s discuss how to do this and discuss the process to clean Mac.