How to Monitor, Clean, and Optimize Linux with Stacer

Are you looking for ways to optimize your Linux system and get it to run faster? There are plenty of ways and tools for you to do so, and Stacer includes everything you need to monitor, clean, and optimize your Linux installation. Let’s see how it works.

Installation

On Ubuntu, you can install Stacer with:

sudo apt install stacer

Fans of Arch will have to turn to AUR for its installation.

On Fedora and Red Hat, you can download Stacer’s RPM file from its releases page and then install it with:

sudo rpm --install stacer*.rpm --nodeps --force

It’s probably easier, though, to use DNF:

sudo dnf install stacer

After its installation completes, you can find it among the rest of your installed software and launch it or use the stacer command in a terminal.

Also read:How to Empty Your Trash Automatically in Ubuntu with AutoTrash

Real-Time Info

Stacer’s interface offers about a dozen different pages, accessible through an icon list on the left of its window. The first page, which greets you when you first run Stacer, presents real-time information about your CPU, memory, disk, and bandwidth use. Those are accompanied by static information about your system, like your hostname and kernel, on the bottom-left corner.

Are your CPU, memory, and disk utilization too high? You probably need to visit the rest of Stacer’s pages for some maintenance.

Startup Apps and Services

The second page, with a rocket icon, allows you to manage startup applications after you log in to your desktop. You can also add new applications that you would like to start automatically using the blue “Add Startup App” button on the bottom right of the window.

In our case, this window didn’t display anything because we didn’t have any applications starting automatically.

The Services page, accessible through the fifth icon with the two gears, is similar in that it allows you to enable or disable stuff that starts automatically. Instead of applications, though, as its title states, it’s dealing with services.

You can use the two pull-down menus on the top to have the list display only active or inactive services and use the two switches on the right of each service to enable or disable it. The first switch controls whether the service will start automatically. The second allows you to start and stop services at will.

Please make sure that you know what each service you are disabling does. Some are crucial for the OS itself being operational.

Disk Cleanup

With Stacer, it’s easy to recover some of your precious storage taken up by useless files. Visit Stacer’s third page, System Cleaner, with the brush icon.

Enable what you would like the program to clean by clicking on the checkmark icon underneath each category. Alternatively, to enable all cleanup types, click on “Select All” on the bottom of this page.

Click on the button with the magnifying glass to have Stacer locate those useless files. After a while, Stacer will present a report. Check the results and select what you want to delete by clicking on the checkmark to the left of each entry’.

Like before, there is also a “Select All” option on the bottom left of the list to mark everything for cleanup in one click. We suggest you go through the list, though, as it could contain a log or package you may want to keep. To delete everything in Stacer’s System Cleaner list, click on the big blue circular button with the brush on the bottom of the window.

Manage Packages and Repositories

The seventh icon will bring you to Stacer’s uninstaller page, where you can remove installed packages. If you are also using snap packages, Stacer will list them in a secondary list, accessible from a button on the top left. It also offers a search function on the top right to help you locate specific packages.

To uninstall a package, select it by clicking on the checkmark on its left, then click on the “Uninstall Selected” button at the bottom center of the window. Note that you can also select multiple packages.

Skip two icons, and if you click on the tenth icon, with a rough approximation of a filing cabinet, you will meet Stacer’s APT Repository Manager. You can control all your software sources from this spot.

Like in the previous pages, you can enable or disable a repository by clicking on the switch icon on the right of its entry. Two buttons on the bottom left allow you to edit or delete the selected entry. An “Add Repository” button on the bottom right allows you to extend it with more repositories.

When you try to quit Stacer, it will ask if you want to minimize it in the system tray. Since it eats more resources than top in a terminal or a desktop panel widget for monitoring your system, we find no reason to keep Stacer running in the background.

Stacer offers you control of even more aspects of your system. Still, we consider those to be more important for cleaning up and maintaining your distribution in good working condition.

If you are using Ubuntu, here are a few ways to maintain a clean, lean Ubuntu machine.