Is this app any good, have read a lot of bad things about it, but a lot of the time I find it is caused by user error. I know Mac OS has built in protections and that they are known issues not necessarily new threats. and interested on occasionally running scan as part of system maintenance I perform each Sunday.
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cleanmymac x any good
- Thread starter John Frahm
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not really looking for threat detection or cleanup I pretty much have them under control looking more for scanning my computer for virus/malware, used Norton 360 for years (well Norton 360 is fairly new) on my pc hp laptop. but I have moved to exclusive apple ecosystem not sure about using it, don't really need , or want all the bells and whistles.
Two things:
1) There have been a few threads lately, which you should be able to easily find with the forum search function, where people have commented on Mac cleanup programs.
2) KnockKnock seems to be a free and good virus/malware detection program.
1) There have been a few threads lately, which you should be able to easily find with the forum search function, where people have commented on Mac cleanup programs.
2) KnockKnock seems to be a free and good virus/malware detection program.
thank you, am new to this site, don't think I have used search function with much success. But I will get there.
Am trying total AV, disabled all the add ons, startup, login and background functions. Just using to scan my computer and maybe try using to uninstall unwanted apps.
I am guessing you are used to Windows and new to macOS. On a Windows PC it is essential to have real time anti-virus scanning. But on a Mac, this level of threat mitigation is arguably not needed unless you interact a lot (e.g. at work) with Windows users and want to avoid passing on any Windows malware. The level of threats to macOS is much lower and, for most people, sufficient mitigation is to always keep macOS up to date and run occasional scans for macOS malware with Malwarebytes. Remember also that macOS has its own threat mitigation via Gatekeeper and XProtect.
This is a contentious subject. It is true that a MAC is less susceptible to malware than, say Windows, and has good built in protection. Many feel that is sufficient. Some don't. I tend to be over-protective so use Sophos as well.
If you really want to get into it etrecheck is excellent at finding things like extensions, launch agents, etc. It is not for the uninformed as you can cause damage to your system if you don't know what you are doing.
For app deletions you need to use the apps uninstaller or a program like cleanmymacx or appcleaner to remove associated files that exist on the system. The latter two may not get everything but appcleaner does a decent job. Haven't removed an app with cleanmymacx.
There are always someone who writes bad stuff about CleanMyMac X in forums. Probably russian bots as the app is from Ukraine. - If you want only to do something about malware there is Malwarebytes. But if you want a tool box which can help make your Mac continue to be as fast as on day one you should get CleanMyMac X. - We run it regularly (about weekly) on our three Macs and have been using the app for about 10 years. - The cleaning deletes many MB or GB of system junk every time. The uninstaller helps you delete all the bits and pieces which would otherwise be left. And you can manage launch agents too. You can delete "purgeable data" which are data which are not strickly necessary because they can be downloaded again. And you can use the "Space Lens" to view what exactly are taking up all that space.
note: "Purgeable space" is not the same as "other". You can safely delete purgeable space. "Other" is just a label for things which does not fit into the limited MacOS categories when showing what is stored on the Mac. So "Other" might be you most important data.
It’s not a necessary tool by any means, nor is there any need to do “system maintenance” once a week.
Exactly, yes am sort of new to mac's compared to life long windows. But as stated above I am fully aware of mac's protections and am only looking for service to scan my computer when I do system maintenance. Weekly I shut down my laptop (I leave on and just let it go to sleep) Reset my ram. Clean my trash, inspect, delete as needed my cash files, erase all unwanted browser history items, cookies, screenshots, etc. used to wipe and clean install my os every 2 months. I don't leave much on my SSD, I offload most to icloud and a NAS on my home network, one weak link was scanning for viruses, malware, etc. I only use scanning tool and have disabled all other functions of total av, don't allow on startup or to run in the background.
OK well I disagree that the reason you would want that is to protect Windows users. Mac users who are less experienced totally can get a virus if they download weird things in todays age. But if you use a mac normally, you're unlikely to get any malware ever.
One other thing you can do for system maintenance is to reinstall the OS. One Apple senior advisor I talked to said he does it regularly. Just make sure that you have good backups in case their is a glitch, but otherwise it preserves all of your data. I've probably reinstalled my current OS a dozen times.
Reinstalling macOS does not do much more than overwrite the existing read-only system volume with an identical volume.
For reinstalling to have much cleanup value, it needs to be good backup, erase disk, install macOS, install apps, recover files from backup (not migration assistant). That is a lot of work.
Better to have sound practices for uninstalling unwanted apps.
I would like to say I really don't down load anything, never found a virus/malware on any of my Macs, have on my iPhone, but I do love to research and read and maybe learn something along the way. And I guess the fact that I am looking at online games comes into play, I use safari almost exclusively but have duckduckgo that's running a lot of protection that I use when needed. Don't know if it is any better than safari, but I keep safari lean to keep the speed I like, duckduckgo is kind of klunkie due to the security I run with it. Have done my best to keep all that from interacting with my system in general.
I have ClamXAv, and do run it about once a month on both of my Macs. Has been dependable enough for me.
As for AppCleaner, yes, an excellent program. But there are times it does not catch everything. So after I use it, I then use EasyFind for finding other associated modules for the app I am removing. That combination (AppCleaner and EasyFind) has always worked well for me.
To each there own, I don't run blindly into the abyss, I try to stay on top of things, might be why my 2012 MBP runs circles around my daughters 6 month old windows 10 laptop. And to really show my stupidity I do a clean install of my OS every month, although I am planning on extending that to maybe two months.
What is the point of clean install every month? Is there a problem with your Mac during that time? If not, you are wasting time doing a clean install every month.
There are no Mac viruses in the wild. A person might pick up a Malware variant but, that is far from the norm and often happens when a person is traversing parts of the internet they probably shouldn't, or downloading illegal apps and files that are infected.
MacOS has an excellent 3 point defense system that runs continuously to protect the system. It does a lot more than the free version of Malwarebytes that is so often suggested.
So many people don't understand modern macOS. As @gilby101 correctly said, macOS runs from a signed and sealed image. Every macOS installation (of the same version number) is bit for bit identical. Reinstalling the OS replaces a fully working operating with a bit for bit identical copy. That's a waste of effort.
That might be fine for a Windows machine (I haven't used modern Windows), but everything you mentioned is a complete waste of time on a Mac.
- Cleaning RAM? That's not even a real thing.
- Cleaning trash–not a thing, just empty it.
- Deleting cache files–waste of time, you're erasing optimizations that the system has built and it will just rebuild them.
- Erasing browser history–you can do that if you're concerned about prying eyes, but it does nothing to make your system run better.
- Cookies–same as browser history.
- Screenshots–what? Those are just normal files. You can delete any file you're not using. They don't influence how the system runs.
- Wipe and "clean" the OS–total waste of time as mentioned above.
Well I guess short answer (maybe) is I like to keep my SSD clean (ish), I use iCloud and a NAS on my home network to store most things, except programs and a couple of folders. I am a retired engineer so I overthink things. I like to reasherch and I try out a lot of programs, more than not I delete them, but as I am sure you know they all leave traces behind, doing a clean install gets rid of them all. I even go as far as having a running file of apps I keep and setting I use for when I reboot. I keep copy’s of my he but never restore from them, do it all manually, I know waste of time, but it’s just me and dogs so that’s all I have.