Downloads Folder

Hello,

Newbie, looking for wisdom. I am trying to clean up the downloads folder on my desktop. Can you safely delete all of the disk images? Most of them have a .dmg Better yet, how can I tell what to delete?

Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

Al

G'day and welcome to the forums.

If you have installed the software/apps, then go ahead and delete them. Once upon a time, last century, one used to burn all the .dmg files to a rewritable CD but today with updates every time we turn around, not worth the effort. What operating system as the folder should not be on the desktop but in the M<enu Bar > Go and Downloads is usually a side window. I am sure you know having too many folders o your Desktop can slow your Mac down.

Welcome to our Forums, big-dumb-al.

Harry, I think that the OP possibly meant "Dock" instead of "Desktop"?? It certainly shouldn't be on the Desktop.

Ian

Who knows Ian? One can only respond to the information supplied. Al is it Desktop or Dock?

The Dock is simply an alias, or shortcut mot then program/folder itself. Drag it off the Dock and it will vanish in a puff of smoke. You will then of course need to know how to access it.

So Al, by all means trash em. I too used to hang onto them for fear I might not be able to find the app again or I might need to reinstall but these days everything is updated so frequently these .dmg (installer packages) become outdated so quickly there is simply no point.

Thank you to everybody that responded. I appreciate your time and energy. Enjoy your day!

Just emptied Downloads - wish clearing the clutter in the house was as easy!

Best way is to start over.
New computer
New house