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CleanMyMac

Ambrosia7177

Ambrosia7177

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 6, 2016
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What does a program like "CleanMyMac" do that going into Disk Utility and formatting your startup disk won't do?

Am I missing something here?

I am reading this article on doing a "clean install" and they make it sound like you need to use that program to get things clean?
 
Maybe you missed seeing that article is by MacPaw - the company that sells the CleanMyMac app, and they would appreciate it if you buy it from them. I think it is called "advertising", or, at least "self-promotion".
But, to answer your first question: Formatting/erasing the hard drive with Disk Utility is free (and frees you from all data on the drive, too!). CleanMyMac has a free trial, and hopefully (for MacPaw) you will like it, and pay them $39.95 (for each computer where you install CMM, btw) for a license. Do you get anything that you can't get for free through another method? Nope.

I hope that addresses your concerns about one of the "miracle drugs" of the Mac computing world... As with other drugs, sometimes you think that drugs make the world appear prettier, but it's often a false idea.
 
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DeltaMac said:
Maybe you missed seeing that article is by MacPaw - the company that sells the CleanMyMac app, and they would appreciate it if you buy it from them. I think it is called "advertising", or, at least "self-promotion".
But, to answer your first question: Formatting/erasing the hard drive with Disk Utility is free (and frees you from all data on the drive, too!). CleanMyMac has a free trial, and hopefully (for MacPaw) you will like it, and pay them $39.95 (for each computer where you install CMM, btw) for a license. Do you get anything that you can't get for free through another method? Nope.

I hope that addresses your concerns about one of the "miracle drugs" of the Mac computing world... As with other drugs, sometimes you think that drugs make the world appear prettier, but it's often a false idea.
Click to expand...

My bad! I didn't read the "fine print". :oops:

Their (advertising) just made it sound like by only using macOS's built in Disk Utility, you might be leaving behind some remenant files that could cause issues. (I think that can happen in the Windows world - or at least in the past it seems like that could happen...)
 
There are numerous threads on the forum about fully deleting an app. If you're interested, search "How to fully delete an app"
 
Fishrrman said:
Clean my Mac?

No.
No.
NO.
NO!

Have I made myself clear?
Click to expand...

Aye aye, Capitan!

Like I said before, Iw as just reading a seemingly useful article, and they had links to CleanMyMac.

After checking out the company, I can see that their motives are questionable.

Lesson learned!
 
It's a completely unnecessary program. Caches exist for a reason, they are not piles of dust and cobwebs like MacPaw would have you believe. Constantly clearing out your caches can reduce speed, because then everything needs to be loaded from scratch.
 
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Do yourself a favor. Don't install ANY optimization apps, virus scanners, malware detectors or anything else that purports to protect your Mac from troubles.

The only thing that can protect your Mac is YOU. Don't download/install apps from just anywhere. Don't visit porn sites. Don't believe everything you see. And most importantly, your Mac already runs all the maintenance scripts these "optimization" apps use, and if you have an SSD drive in your Mac, 50% of what they would do that the Mac doesn't already simply don't work.

All those app categories contain nothing but apps that cause more problems than they solve. And in many cases, they ARE the very problem that they claim to solve.
 
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Beg to disagree here, CleanMyMac kept my old MBA running smoothly for a long time... Using it to completely delete apps (often Mac OS is not able to delete all related files).
 
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cyberone said:
Beg to disagree here, CleanMyMac kept my old MBA running smoothly for a long time... Using it to completely delete apps (often Mac OS is not able to delete all related files).
Click to expand...

While the feature can occasionally be useful, there are plenty of nice, simple, safe "uninstall" applications for Macs. Most are a few bucks, some are even free, like apptrap.
 
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i had to use a generic mac cleaner in 2017 to update permissions so i could upgrade to high sierra, which worked. I never used that cleaner again. I do not recommend using pr paying formthose apps tho
 
CleanMyMac is not a malicious app by any means. From experience (didn’t pay for it though :cool:), it works exactly as intended although you have to make certain it doesn’t remove anything important to you like Language files, Photo cache, and files ‘within other Apps.’
You can easily find apps that do the exact same thing for free or even do these things yourself. Don’t waste your money.
 
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I wouldn't buy CleanMyMac as everything it does can be done yourself or from a variety of apps (AppCleaner, Onyx, DiskDaisy); but if you'd prefer paying just for a pretty UI than go ahead.
 
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