New to Ubuntu and curious about basic package cleaning? This guide will help you! In no time at all you’ll be able to clean apt-cache, browser cache, application cache, old system data, and even free space.

BEFORE WE BEGIN

This guide will work on any version of Ubuntu. Bleachbit, a program that is discussed in this guide, can also be used on other Linux distributions, and even Mac and Windows.

HOW TO DO BASIC MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING ON UBUNTU

Cleaning your Apt-cache

• In your terminal window, enter the command below.

sudo apt-get autoclean

Removing unnecessary packages

• In your terminal window, enter the command below.

sudo apt-get autoremove

Cleaning Everything else

You can clean your apt-cache in bleachbit, but it’s very helpful to know how to do it in the command line.

•  Bleachbit is very easy to understand and is available in the Ubuntu software repositories. It can clean anywhere from apt-cache, browser cache, application cache, old system data, and even free space.  Install it with the command below.

sudo apt-get install bleachbit

• Once you’ve installed bleachbit, in the top-left corner click preview. This will tell you how much memory is able to be freed.
• After previewing, click the clean button. This may take a while, but eventually your system will be cleaned up.

Done!

CONCLUSION

New users to Ubuntu and Linux in general may have trouble understanding basic techniques to keep their installation clean. Luckily, with this guide, you’ve learned exactly how you can clean your packages and other aspects of your Ubuntu installation.