Reinstall Catalina Mac

  • A: Answer: A: Yes, Catalina has two volumes and from what I have read here is that you will need to erase the entire drive (top entry in Disk Utility) and reinstall from there. If you do not erase, you will most likely wind up with two Mac HD Data. If you are giving away the device, you need to erase the drive anyway.
  • In Catalina, Mojave Big Sur, and potentially High Sierra (depending on your Mac) this will be APFS. But on older Macs running older macOS versions the format needs to be set to Mac OS Extended.
  • On an Intel-based Mac: Choose Apple menu Restart, then immediately press and hold Command-R. In the Recovery app window, select Disk Utility, then click Continue. In Disk Utility, select the volume you want to erase in the sidebar, then click Erase in the toolbar. Type a name for the volume in the Name field, click the Format pop-up menu.

Some Mac users may wish to perform a clean install of MacOS Catalina onto a Mac. A clean install represents a fresh start, and it’s achieved by erasing all data from the Mac hard drive and then performing a fresh clean installation of MacOS Catalina onto that Mac.

Are you constantly trying to fix Safari on Mac?

Userswho are plagued by Safari issues usually want to uninstall and reinstall theapp to resolve them. While this might work for a lot of apps out there, itdoesn’t quite solve Safari problems. In fact, you can’t simply click and deletethe app since it is an in-built feature of the macOS and a permanent part ofit.

How do I uninstall and reinstall Safari?

If you are keen on fixing Safari just get the latest version of macOS and reinstall it on your computer to get rid of Safari bugs. If you are working with the newest edition of your macOS, you are automatically using the most recent version of Safari. This also ensures that user data like passwords and extensions are protected. Of course, if all else fails, you might consider using a different browser like Kingpin for high browsing speeds and incognito browsing.

How do I fix Safari on my Mac?

Thevery basic thing you can do is force quit the browser and hold the shift keywhen Safari is starting. This will make it start in safe boot. The safe mode ismore stable than the regular one.

But this doesn’t always work. So you might need to tweak Safari settings to fit your usage. Resetting Safari on Mac clears the pile of cookies, caches, redirects, ad preferences, and a lot more. As we wrote in the previous article, it is possible to reset Safari browser even without opening. On the other hand, changing the settings may also cause you to permanently lose any data that does not have a back-up.

Youcan modify the settings easily after you’ve launched the browser on Mac. Hereis a step-by-step guide to help you improve browser performance:

1. Delete Safari cache

Reinstall

Cachefiles weigh down your system like nothing else. You can find the ‘Delete’option in the Preferences section of the Safari toolbar. Then go to the ‘Advanced’tab and scroll down to the ‘Show Develop menu in the menu bar. Check the box infront of it. This will display the ‘Develop’ tab on the toolbar. Click on‘Develop’ and then click on ‘Empty Caches’.

Inshort, here are the steps:

Safari > Preferences > Advanced > Show Develop menu in menu bar > Develop > Empty Caches

2. Delete website data

Everywebsite you visit leaves some amount of data on your system. And all usersvisit a huge number of websites over some time. So, you can imagine the totaldata load that gets stored on your Mac. Itis easy to adjust the browser in such a way that all this data is removed andthe browser malfunctions are removed.

Detailedsteps:

  • Launch Safari
  • Click on Preferences to open a new window and then click onPrivacy.
  • Select the button named ‘Manage Website Data’.
  • Click on the ‘Remove All’ button. You will be asked to confirmyour choice.
  • Click on ‘Remove Now’.

Inshort:

Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data > Remove All > Remove Now

Erasingwebsite data from all websites you’ve ever visited might check the trackingissue. However, there is a potential problem of sites loading slower. Prioritizeyour needs and change the settings accordingly.

3. Delete Safari history

Safarisettings on Mac make it easy to delete history files from the Safari toolbar.

Reinstall Catalina Mac

Justdo the following things. Launch Safari and click on the ‘Safari’ tab in thetoolbar. Now click on ‘Clear History’. When the drop-down menu opens, choose‘All History’ and finally, click on ‘Clear History’.

Like so: Safari > Clear History > All History > Clear History

4. Delete Safari extensions and plug-ins

Extensions

Torestore Safari settings and fix performance issues it is sometimes best toremove all extensions and plug-ins from the browser.

What to do:

  • Open Safari on your system.
  • Click on Preferences
  • Head over to the ‘Extensions’ tab on the menu
  • Here you will find the full list of active Extensions on thebrowser. You can choose to delete either a few selected ones or the entire listall at once.
  • Click on ‘Uninstall’ to finish deleting them.

Thisis what it looks like:

Safari > Preferences > Extensions > Uninstall

Plug-ins

Deletingplug-ins may be more tiresome than you think. They get saved in two separate places.Use your Finder window to locate them.

Here’sthe outline:

  • Launch Finder and move to the ‘Go’ option and select ‘Go tofolder’
  • In the search list that gets displayed, type ‘˜/Library’and click on ‘Go’.
  • The Library folder opens and now it’s time to look for InternetPlug-ins saved in a different folder.
  • Drag and drop them in the Trash.
  • Next, go back to the ‘Go’ icon and type ‘Go to folder’ once again.
  • This time you type ‘/Library’ and click on Go.
  • Now you can look for the Internet Plug-ins folder once again.
  • Drag and drop plug-ins in the Trash one final time to remove themfrom Safari.

Finder > Go > Go to folder > ˜/Library > Go > Internet Plug-Ins > Trash > Go > Go to folder > Library > Internet Plug-Ins > Trash

Withall such small modifications, you can reset Safari whenever you want. Once thebrowser is free of all this weight, it will not only become faster and lighterbut also more secure than before. Some website data or extensions oftendownload malware in your system.

Choosing an additional browser

Of course changing settings over and over again gets tedious. You might want to pick another browser like Kingpin that doesn’t store cookies or other site data. This saves you from having to tinker with its settings. Kingpin also forgets your browsing history and caches once your session is over. Moreover, the browser lets you access restricted content in private.

Havingan alternate browser doesn’t hurt, especially when you can use it to performhighly-sensitive online activities like bank transactions or shopping for gifswithout worrying about data leakage to other sites. Its tabs are PIN protectedso no one can spy on you. With this browser, the chances of being tracked areminimized, which is a great thing since your browsing session won’t be brokenup with ads.

Summing it all up

Safariis part of the MacOS and hence can’t be uninstalled or reinstalled. To get themaximum efficiency out of it what you can do is change Safari setting to suityour purpose. Remove extensions, caches, cookies, history, and all such filesof little use. Keep your OS updated to enjoy the benefits of the newest versionof Safari for Mac. As an alternative, switch to a safer, faster, privatebrowser like Kingpin to fix all browsing issues once and for all. It isavailable for Mac and makes for an uninterrupted browsing experience.

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I’ll admit it: I’ve gotten a little used to working at smaller companies, where there’s no monitoring of company computers, and it’s the Wild West as far as what you can install on them.

That’s no longer the case for me. I now work at Auth0, a company with a headcount that’s quickly approaching 800, with unicorn status and Series F funding, and it’s in the security industry. Naturally, there’s a full-fledged security team that monitors company-issued computers.

In my excitement to take the new version of macOS — Big Sur — out for a spin, I’d forgotten that the Security team hasn’t yet approved it for use. They very quickly (and I should add, nicely) contacted me and let me know that I needed to reinstall macOS Catalina as soon as possible.

There are other reasons why you might need to go back to Catalina after installing Big Sur:

How To Install Catalina On Macbook

  • It’s still very new, and very new versions of operating systems always have some set of issues, whose effects can run the gamut from mildly annoying to catastrophic. If you can’t afford to lose time dealing with these issues, you should wait for the updates.
  • There are reports that the current version can “brick” MacBook Pros from the 2013 / 2014 era. This isn’t a problem if you’re keeping your old 2013 / 2014 machine around as a backup, but more serious if you’re still using it as your main computer (and yes, a 2013 / 2014 Mac is still a perfectly good machine, even for development work).
  • If you’re a DJ or music producer, Big Sur currently has compatibility problems with some of the hardware and software. If you want to keep DJing, producing, or mixing on your Mac, stay on Catalina for a little bit.

For the benefit of any who need to downgrade, here’s a step-by-step guide to reinstalling Catalina after you’ve installed Big Sur. You’ll need a USB key and the better part of an afternoon.

Step 1: The preliminaries

1a: Start downloading the Catalina installer from the App store

Reinstall

The first thing you’ll need is the macOS Catalina installer.

Reinstall Catalina Mac

It’ll take up around 9 gigabytes of space on your hard drive, and the App Store will put in your Applications folder.

Once it’s completely downloaded from the App Store, the installer will start automatically. When this happens, close the installer. You’ll make use of it later.

The installer will take some time to download. Apple’s servers will be busier than usual, as many users are downloading Big Sur and other upgrades.

1b: Back up your files!

In the process of reinstalling Catalina, you’ll need to completely erase your Mac’s hard drive. If you have any files that you can’t live without, this is the time to back them up.

I didn’t have to worry about this, since:

  • All my work product is either code (which lives on GitHub) or content (which lives on GitHub or Google Docs), and
  • I’ve been at Auth0 less than a month, and between onboarding and offsites, there just hasn’t been that much of a chance for me to accumulate that many files on my hard drive!

1c: Get a nice fast USB key that stores at least 16 GB

The process will involve booting your Mac from a USB key containing the macOS Catalina installer, so you’ll need a key with enough space. An 8 GB USB key won’t be big enough. Because digital storage is all about powers of 2, the next size up will be 16 GB.

I strongly recommend that you use a USB 3 key, especially one with read speeds of 300 megabits/second or better, such as the Samsung Fit Plus. Doing so will greatly speed up the process. Don’t use a USB key that you got as conference swag — it may have the space, but more often than not, they tend to be slow, because they’re cheap.

Reinstall Macos Catalina From Usb

If the USB key contains files that you want to keep, back them up. You’re going to erase the key in the next step.

Step 2: Make a bootable USB key containing the macOS Catalina installer

2a: Format the USB key

Plug the USB key into your Mac, then launch Disk Utility.

Reinstall Catalina Mac Os

Select the USB key in Disk Utility’s left column, then click the Erase button:

You’ll be presented with this dialog box:

Enter MyVolume into the Name field, and for Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click the Erase button. This will format the USB key with the volume name of MyVolume.

2b: Install the macOS Catalina installer onto the USB key

In Step 1a, you downloaded the macOS Catalina installer and closed it after it started automatically. In this step, you’ll transfer it to your freshly-formatted USB key.

Open a terminal window and paste the following command into it:

(The command above assumes that you gave the USB key the volume name MyVolume.)

Once you’ve provided sudo with your password, you’ll be asked if you want to erase the USB key. Entering Y in response will start the process of making the USB key a bootable drive and copying the macOS Catalina installer onto it:

The Erasing disk process will be relatively quick, but the Copying to disk process may take a while. This is where using a nice, fast USB 3 key will pay off.

Be patient and let it get to 100%, and wait for the Install media now available message to appear and the command line prompt to return.

2c: If your Mac is from 2018 or later, set it up to boot from external media

Check the year of your Mac’s manufacture by selecting About This Mac under the Apple menu:

  • If your Mac year is 2017 or earlier, you don’t need to follow the rest of this step. Proceed to Step 3.
  • If your Mac’s year is 2018 or later, you’ll need to change its security settings to allow it to boot from an external drive.

Here’s how you change the security settings:

  1. Restart your Mac and hold down the and R keys when you see the Apple logo. This puts the computer into recovery mode, which provides many setup options.
  2. In the menu bar, select Utilities, and then select Startup Security Utility from the list that appears.
  3. The Startup Security Utility window will appear:
    1. Under the Secure Boot section, select Medium Security. This will allow you to install Catalina without having to connect to a network.
    2. Under the External Boot section, select Allow booting from external media. This will allow you to install Catalina from a USB key or disk drive.

Step 3: Install macOS Catalina

Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key while it restarts. Your Mac will present you with a choice of startup disks.

Choose the USB key. Your Mac will boot up and you’ll be presented with the macOS Catalina installer screen:

Go ahead and install Catalina.

Once Catalina is installed, you can proceed reinstalling your other software.

Once that’s complete:

  • If your Mac’s year is 2017 or earlier, you’re done installing Catalina. You can now go about reinstalling your software and restoring your backed up files.
  • If your Mac’s year is 2018 or later, you’ll need to restore its original security settings. The process is described in Step 4, below.

Reinstall Macos Catalina From Internet

Step 4: If your Mac is from 2018 or later, restore the original security settings

If your Mac is from 2018 or later, follow these steps to restore the original security settings once Catalina has been installed:

Reinstall Catalina Mac

  1. Restart your Mac and hold down the and R keys when you see the Apple logo. This puts the computer into recovery mode, which provides many setup options.
  2. In the menu bar, select Utilities, and then select Startup Security Utility from the list that appears.
  3. The Startup Security Utility window will appear:
    1. Under the Secure Boot section, select Full Security.
    2. Under the External Boot section, select Disallow booting from external media.