What we found, and what we decided.
Notes from building an instrument for other people's machines: what a measurement can honestly claim, what a cleaner should never touch, and the findings a normal computer turns out to be full of.
- 3 min read
Mac storage full: where the gigabytes actually hide
"Your disk is almost full" — and Finder shows you nothing. The twelve places the space really sits, how large each one typically gets, and how much of it comes back for free.
StoragemacOSDisk space - 3 min read
Docker is eating your Mac's disk: what prune really deletes
Docker.raw is 60 GB, docker system prune -a frees 40 of them — and takes things with it that nobody can get back. The four accounts behind the number, and which command empties which.
DockerStoragemacOS - 2 min read
Memory pressure, not free RAM: the only number that counts
A full memory bar is healthy — and a whole industry sells software that calls it a problem. What pressure measures, why "free up RAM" makes a machine slower, and how a real shortage actually looks.
MemorymacOSWindows - 2 min read
Where does my Mac send data? How to find out
A computer nobody is sitting at opens dozens of connections in ten minutes. How to find out which program is talking where — with the built-in tools, and with one that resolves the destination offline.
NetworkPrivacymacOS - 3 min read
WindowServer, mds_stores, kernel_task: what these processes actually do
The fan spins up, Activity Monitor shows a name nobody explains. What the twelve most common macOS processes do, when their CPU load is normal — and when it is not.
ProcessesmacOSCPU - 2 min read
Why BalaneDisk never deletes anything
A cleaner that empties folders unasked is asking for trust with data it does not understand. We took the opposite route — measure, explain, and hand the lever over.
PrinciplesStoragemacOS