In the next article we are going to take a look at Sweeper. This is a small tool that will allow us to scan our Ubuntu computer in search of junk files to clean it. About this tool, a colleague already told us a little in his day in the article in which he mentioned us the best alternatives to Ccleaner for your Ubuntu.
Sweeper is a tool that we can find in KDE, and with which we will have the possibility to easily manage the cleaning of our system. This tool has a fairly simple and intuitive GUI, from which we can select some criteria to make it search for and take care of empty files and directories, broken links, etc.
Install Sweeper on Ubuntu
With APT
As we said, Sweeper is a cleaning tool, but unfortunately it is not pre-installed in the vast majority of Gnu / Linux operating systems, except in some based on KDE. To start the installation, you need to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and use the following command to install the latest available version of Sweeper:
sudo apt install sweeper
uninstall
For remove this installed program via APT, in a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) we would only need to execute the command:
sudo apt remove sweeper; sudo apt autoremove
With Snap package
The KDE Project has packaged this utility as a snap package and has made it available to all users who have access to this type of package. It has to be said that the snap package is not stable yet, so for the moment it is advisable to install this program with APT.
If you want to try this version, for install the program as snap package it is only necessary to execute in terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) the install command:
sudo snap install sweeper --edge
uninstall
If you would like to remove this installed program as snap package, in a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) you just have to execute the command:
sudo snap remove sweeper
Clean with Sweeper
To clean our PC using Sweeper, we will start by starting the application on our computer. If you use either of the two installation options that we have just seen, you can look for the program launcher that should be available on our computer.
In addition, We can also start the program by running in terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
sweeper
Clean up operating system junk
If you want to clean junk files from your Ubuntu system with Sweeper, first look for the section 'Web navegation'of the application and uncheck the selection of all the boxes. After deselecting all the boxes below this section, you will be able to delete the garbage from your system. To start cleaning, select the 'buttonClean'.
By clicking the 'Clean', a text box will appear on the screen that will tell us: “You are deleting potentially valuable information. Are you sure?»Here we will click on the 'Continue' button to confirm the choice.
Clean up web browser junk
If you are looking for a way to remove only garbage from your web browser, first uncheck all the boxes in the section 'General' of the application. Then, make sure that all the boxes in the section 'Web navegation'are marked. Then you can start cleaning. Inside Sweeper, look for the button 'Clean'and click on it with the mouse.
Selecting the 'Clean', a text box will appear. This box reads: «You are deleting potentially valuable information. Are you sure?" Confirm that you want to continue by selecting the button 'Continue'.
Clean up all the trash
If you want to clean all the junk from the PC at once, make sure everyone 'check'are marked in Sweeper. You can select all the boxes one by one, or just at the bottom of the program window we can find the button "Select all".
After just click on the 'buttonClean'. By selecting this button, we will also see the notice of, “You are deleting potentially valuable information. Are you sure?»If we click on 'Continue' it will start cleaning all the garbage from our system.
This is just one of the different options that users can find in our Ubuntu system to clean up the garbage that accumulates on our computer. Although this is a valid option, bleachbit is more complete, as it offers more options.