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CleanMyMac vs Onyx

M

Mr. Incredible

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 16, 2010
541
0
Southern California
Which one does the job best at cleaning your Mac and helping it run faster and smoother?

After using Onyx, it gave me an extra 2.2 GB of Free Space.

When using CleanMyMac, it found 11.04 GB of stuff that can be removed, but I can't remove it, unless I buy it ($29.95 for LifeTime Use).

Anyway, which is better, Onyx or CleanMyMac?

Or, is there a better app that will clean your Mac to have it run smoother and faster?

Because I've noticed my iMac running slower than how it was when I first bought it, and I would like to have it be fast again.

[Note: My Capacity is 499.76 GB, and I have 302.69 GB Available, so I'm not using much space, but it's running slower than how it was months ago].
 
Mr. Incredible said:
Anyway, which is better, Onyx or CleanMyMac?

Or, is there a better app that will clean your Mac to have it run smoother and faster?
Because I've noticed my iMac running slower than how it was when I first bought it, and I would like to have it be fast again.
Click to expand...
You don't need any maintenance apps to keep your Mac running efficiently. Having things stored on your hard drive doesn't slow your Mac down. It's only what you have running that impacts performance. Take a look at Activity Monitor to see what apps/widgets/processes you have running. Onyx is a good tool, but not required for good performance.

One app that I would not recommend, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere, is CleanMyMac. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much
 
Well, something has had my computer run slower than normal, when looking at the activity monitor, the highest CPU was the AppStore at 4.2, I'll attach a photo with this post.

What I believe to be slowing down my computer is...porn.

I think I might have a trojan, or spyware, or adware, or malware, or whatever it is.

It's just slower compared to how it was 9 months ago.

Is there a way to fix this?
 
Mr. Incredible said:
What I believe to be slowing down my computer is...porn.
I think I might have a trojan, or spyware, or adware, or malware, or whatever it is.
Is there a way to fix this?
Click to expand...
Have you installed any apps, codecs, plug-ins, viewers, etc. from porn sites or installed any pirated software? If so, you may have installed a trojan. If not, it's unlikely that malware is your problem. There has never been a virus in the wild that runs on Mac OS X. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some education and common sense and care in what software you install:
 
GGJstudios said:
Have you installed any apps, codecs, plug-ins, viewers, etc. from porn sites or installed any pirated software? If so, you may have installed a trojan. If not, it's unlikely that malware is your problem. There has never been a virus in the wild that runs on Mac OS X. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some education and common sense and care in what software you install:
Click to expand...

I haven't installed anything from any porn sites, but I have ripped 2 porn dvds, and my friend gave me some porn videos that he downloaded from torrents (could those have had a virus, malware, or anything?)

If it's not malware, or a virus, than what could be the reason to my computer running slower?

Turning it on takes slightly longer, as well as shutting it down.

Also, I used to be able to open multiple apps (Safari with multiple tabs, iChat, iTunes) simultaneously with no lag in between, and no spinning beach ball. But now, it's just running slower, I don't get it. :(
 
Mr. Incredible said:
I haven't installed anything from any porn sites, but I have ripped 2 porn dvds, and my friend gave me some porn videos that he downloaded from torrents (could those have had a virus, malware, or anything?)
Click to expand...
Not likely. First, there ARE no viruses that run on your Mac. To install a trojan, you would have had to enter your admin password, so you would have known you were installing it.
Mr. Incredible said:
If it's not malware, or a virus, than what could be the reason to my computer running slower?
Turning it on takes slightly longer, as well as shutting it down.
Also, I used to be able to open multiple apps (Safari with multiple tabs, iChat, iTunes) simultaneously with no lag in between, and no spinning beach ball. But now, it's just running slower, I don't get it. :(
Click to expand...
As I mentioned before, check Activity Monitor to see what all you have running. Also look in your Login Items to see what you have automatically launching when you boot up. You can also find things that you have set to launch on startup in the following folder:
/Users/username/Library/LaunchAgents/​
Again, the slower performance is directly attributable to what you have running, not what's stored on your drive. Be aware that apps such as iTunes, iChat and Safari (especially with Flash on sites or multiple tabs/windows open) will consume a lot of system resources, leaving less available to other apps/widgets/processes.

Also, in Activity Monitor, on the System Memory tab at the bottom, check your page outs and swap used.
 
if i may pitch in with my 2 cents here:

the only real maintenance your Mac needs is making sure the cron scripts are executed on a regular basis.

i'm using a widget called Maintidget to monitor when the scripts were run last and invoke running them when necessary.
 
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Snesley Wipes said:
Cleanmymac FTW!
Click to expand...
It helps if you read the thread. Read post #2. Since this is your first and only post in this forum, it appears you're either uninformed about the dangers of that app, or you joined just to advertise it. Either way, it's a poor recommendation.
 
GGJstudios said:
It helps if you read the thread. Read post #2. Since this is your first and only post in this forum, it appears you're either uninformed about the dangers of that app, or you joined just to advertise it. Either way, it's a poor recommendation.
Click to expand...

I disagree...
 
Snesley Wipes said:
I disagree...
Click to expand...
You can disagree all you want. The fact remains that many have complained about problems with that app and warned others to stay away. My common sense tells me if there's a lot of people having problems with an app, I'm not going to risk using it on my Mac. It does nothing to improve performance. It only frees up disk space, which isn't required for a Mac to run efficiently. In addition, it's app removal function leaves files and folders behind, so it's not thorough.
 
GGJstudios said:
Not likely. First, there ARE no viruses that run on your Mac. To install a trojan, you would have had to enter your admin password, so you would have known you were installing it.

As I mentioned before, check Activity Monitor to see what all you have running. Also look in your Login Items to see what you have automatically launching when you boot up. You can also find things that you have set to launch on startup in the following folder:
/Users/username/Library/LaunchAgents/​
Again, the slower performance is directly attributable to what you have running, not what's stored on your drive. Be aware that apps such as iTunes, iChat and Safari (especially with Flash on sites or multiple tabs/windows open) will consume a lot of system resources, leaving less available to other apps/widgets/processes.

Also, in Activity Monitor, on the System Memory tab at the bottom, check your page outs and swap used.
Click to expand...

I first want to apologize for not adding a photo like I mentioned earlier. But in the photo below, I took a snap shot of my Activity monitor, at the bottom, it has the System Memory with:

Free: 2.14GB
Wired: 815.7 MB
Active: 962.2 MB
Inactive: 129.2 MB
Used: 1.86 GB

My Page Outs: 0 bytes, and Swap Used: 0 bytes.

Also, in my LaunchAgents, I have 3 CleanMyMac stuff at the bottom, with 4 com.apple. stuff, not sure what it is.

Should I delete the CleanMyMac stuff? Cause I just removed the app a few minutes ago also.

Anyway, here is the pic at the bottom, tell me if it looks good on your end.

As for installing something that required a password, I don't know. I mean, there are times to where I have to put my password down, that I might have accidentally (highly doubt it though) downloaded a trojan, but I doubt that I did.

If I do have a trojan, how can I find it and remove it? Are there any free apps for that?

Finally, Jolly, I'll check out the apps/widgets that you provided.
 

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Ok, so following the steps on your Mac Virus/Malware Info thread, I have the following pics at the bottom.

Only problem is, my IP address is 10.0.1.1

And it's grayed out, as well as my domain (charter.com).

When I click the add button, it wants me to add something on top of the grayed out part. I don't know if I should be doing that or not.

Also, the link to the 10.5: Disable DHCP-specified DNS servers, I am confused when reading it.

If I do add the OpenDNS servers to my Network, will I have to add both the Primary and Secondary, or just 1 of them? And between the OpenDNS and Google servers, which one is best, and which do you recommend?
 

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Mr. Incredible said:
Ok, so following the steps on your Mac Virus/Malware Info thread, I have the following pics at the bottom.

Only problem is, my IP address is 10.0.1.1

And it's grayed out, as well as my domain (charter.com).

When I click the add button, it wants me to add something on top of the grayed out part. I don't know if I should be doing that or not.

Also, the link to the 10.5: Disable DHCP-specified DNS servers, I am confused when reading it.

If I do add the OpenDNS servers to my Network, will I have to add both the Primary and Secondary, or just 1 of them? And between the OpenDNS and Google servers, which one is best, and which do you recommend?
Click to expand...
You don't have to do anything in that section if you're not having a problem with redirects. Just skip that section. Since you've already deleted what was there, just add either the OpenDNS or Google servers. It doesn't matter which you choose. Both are fine.

The antivirus app is mentioned with a link in the section "What about sending files to Windows users?"
 
Last edited:
So, I have ClamXav, when I click on "Start Scan", what do I choose to Scan? Do I click on "Computer" under Devices, and click on Mac HD to scan that, or something else? And how long does the Scan normally take?

Also, I added the OpenDNS servers to my network, but the charter.com grayed out part remains in the domain section. Since I added both the primary and secondary OpenDNS servers to my network, now what?

Btw, is ClamXav for Mac or for Windows?
 
Mr. Incredible said:
What I believe to be slowing down my computer is...porn....Is there a way to fix this?
Click to expand...

Once you get your Mac fixed, perhaps not looking at, downloading, clicking on, etc. porn might be a wise choice. There are online programs available to help break this habit.
 
Mr. Incredible said:
So, I have ClamXav, when I click on "Start Scan", what do I choose to Scan? Do I click on "Computer" under Devices, and click on Mac HD to scan that, or something else?
Click to expand...
Select whatever drives you want to scan.
Mr. Incredible said:
And how long does the Scan normally take?
Click to expand...
I have no idea. I don't run antivirus apps on my Mac.
Mr. Incredible said:
Also, I added the OpenDNS servers to my network, but the charter.com grayed out part remains in the domain section. Since I added both the primary and secondary OpenDNS servers to my network, now what?
Click to expand...
You should be fine.
Mr. Incredible said:
Btw, is ClamXav for Mac or for Windows?
Click to expand...
It scans for malware for both platforms.
 
I don't use either one and for the most part my Macs have always performed as they should, Conversely there are a lot of threads about cleanmymac being a bit too aggressive and removing things that will be needed by the user.

OSX which is built on UNIX does a great job at managing log files and cleaning up, generally speaking people get into deep weeds when they try to "help" the system along by doing the work themselves.
 
The only effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
[Best way to FULLY DELETE a program[/B][/URL][/INDENT]

new on this forum. this was a great tip.lot of work though. better think twice (or more) before downloading...
thanks
 
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