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Do you use Onyx or any other "maintenance" program?
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I use Cocktail, but mostly because it lets me fix a bunch of the things that got broken since OS X 10.6 (like the [DELETE] key as "back" in Safari). I hear you on that placebo effect. I feel most slowdown is about the fragmenting that Macs don't do. I've found cloning a well used install a couple times actually gives quite a response boost. but that certainly couldn't be because of the resulting defragging.
That kind of "cleaning" software does more harm than good really. I guarentee you some random developer does not know how to maintain OS X better than Apple's engineers do. They can delete caches and other file systems that OS X uses to optimize the running of the operating system. It might free up some storage space in the short term but OS X will quickly replace what was deleted because it is used to increase the performance of the operating system.
The best thing you can do to speed up your computer if it starts to slow down over the years is to do a fresh install of the operating system. Years of installing random applications that are constantly running in the background will take precious CPU time. Even if you don't launch the application many programs install "helper" programs that are constantly running in the background even if you delete the main application.
If you compare the active process list of your old operating system with a few years under it's belt to a clean install of the same operating system you will be blown away with the amount of random stuff that is running that you didn't even know about.
I used my MBA for about 5 years and never used any kind of cleaning software and it ran pretty much like the day I got it. I only gave it a clean install because I passed it onto my girlfriend and wanted to get all my stuff off it that she had no use for. If you are careful about the applications you install (Mac Store apps will not install a bunch of random stuff on your computer) from third party developers you can go pretty much the life of your Mac without doing anything to it maintenance wise.
I hope you enjoy your new rMBP!
The best thing you can do to speed up your computer if it starts to slow down over the years is to do a fresh install of the operating system. Years of installing random applications that are constantly running in the background will take precious CPU time. Even if you don't launch the application many programs install "helper" programs that are constantly running in the background even if you delete the main application.
If you compare the active process list of your old operating system with a few years under it's belt to a clean install of the same operating system you will be blown away with the amount of random stuff that is running that you didn't even know about.
I used my MBA for about 5 years and never used any kind of cleaning software and it ran pretty much like the day I got it. I only gave it a clean install because I passed it onto my girlfriend and wanted to get all my stuff off it that she had no use for. If you are careful about the applications you install (Mac Store apps will not install a bunch of random stuff on your computer) from third party developers you can go pretty much the life of your Mac without doing anything to it maintenance wise.
I hope you enjoy your new rMBP!
Onyx is not 'cleaning software'. Yes, it has features that can clear items, but that is a small subset of the things that Onyx can do. The main reason I use Onyx is to configure some hidden parameters of many of Apple’s applications.
I apologize, I have not actually used OnyX so I am unfamiliar with it. When I googled "OnyX OS X" the first thing that popped up was "You can use OnyX to perform system maintenance, clean up ..." so that is why I said what I did.
The OP was only using it for the "optimization" portion of the software so I don't really see your point anyways. The OP was asking if it was worth reinstalling for him and I gave him my recommendation. Because you have separate uses for it does not change my original recommendation to the OP.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think perhaps it's best if you actually use a product before giving any advice/critique. Optimization can include using the software to set hidden parameters, which was why I posted what I did in my previous post.
That is tinkering. It was pretty clear from the OP's post that he was using it for the "cleaning" aspect of the software. If he was using it to change some advanced settings I doubt he would have come here to ask if he should install it or not. Typically if somebody is not sure whether or not they need something they don't.
I don't need to use every piece of software to get a general idea whether it is useful for the average user or not. When the developer himself put in the first sentence of the description of his software that it is for "system maintenance and cleaning" I know what it does. Just because it can also change some advanced settings is a moot point.
I would say that, if you're not experiencing any issues, then the software would be of little help.
I use OnyX as I feel every OS needs a little maintenance every now and then regardless of how great said engineers are. I like it because I can control the level of maintenance I would like to perform. They update it all the time and the cost is perfect.
I use DaisyDisk if I'm trying to find something that's eating away at my storage more than it should be, but it isn't a one click cleaner program.
Software like DaisyDisk is great, it shows you what is using up all your storage without tinkering with anything. On a few occasions I have found large programs or games that did not uninstall properly and left behind many GBs of data that was taking up precious storage space on my old 256 GB MBA.
Freeing up storage space like that gives me the same feeing as finding a $20 bill in the pocket of my jeans after doing laundry. Free space!
Exactly, I originally installed it, because I had a massive "Other" section on my storage usage and could not find the culprit using the built in tools. Found the issue in about 30 seconds using DaisyDisk.