Cleaning up Ubuntu

-REMOVE RESIDUAL CONFIG PACKAGES

In Synaptic Package Manger, there is a built-in feature that gets rid of old Residual Config packages. Residual Config packages are usually dependency packages that are left behind after you uninstall a package. To use this feature, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. On the bottom left hand corner of the window,click the Status button. In the list above the Sections, Status, Search, and Custom buttons, you should see the following

Installed
Installed(auto removable)
Installed(local or obsolete)
Installed(upgradable)
Not installed
Not Installed (Residual config)

Click on the “Residual config” text. (If the Residual config text does not appear, that means you don't have any Residual Config packages on your computer.



-REMOVE PARTIAL PACKAGES

This is A built-in feature used in theTerminal. To access the Terminal, go to Applications > Accessories > Terminal type this command:

sudo apt-get autoclean

-REMOVE UNNECESSARY LOCALE DATA

For this you need to install localepurge. This is just a simple script to recover diskspace wasted for unneeded locale files and localized man pages. It will automagically be invoked upon completion of any apt installation run.

-To install localepurge in Ubuntu type this in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install localepurge

After installing anything with apt-get install, localepurge will remove all translation files and translated man pages in languages you cannot read.
This can save you disk space, depending on the packages you have installed.

-REMOVE “ORPHANED” PACKAGES

If you want to remove orphaned packages you need to install deborphan package.

Install deborphan in Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install deborphan

Using deborphan

Open Your terminal and enter the following command:

sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove –purge

-Remove “orphaned” packages Using GtkOrphan
Install gtkorphan or via the terminal type this:

sudo apt-get install gtkorphan

Go to System-> Administration-> Removed Orphaned package

It will analyze the system and show all the orphaned package in the main window. Check those packages that you have no use for and uninstall them

-CLEAR DUPLICATED FILES AND BROKEN SYMLINKS

Over time you could have lots of copies of the same file lying in different areas of your system. The best thing to do is eliminate them before they take control of your hard disk.

Install fslint via the terminal:

sudo apt-get install fslint

Go to Applications-> System Tools-> FSlint. Add the file path that you want to search. On the left, click on the Duplicate tab and click Find at the bottom.

Other than finding duplicate files, FSlint can also find broken symlinks, empty directories, bad IDs and even redundant temp files, all of which you can delete and recover back your precious disk space.

Cleaning up of the apt cache:

sudo apt-get clean

Cleaning up of any unused dependencies:

sudo apt-get autoremove