What is your Mac cleaner?

[Partron22]

Command+shift+. now toggles hidden files.

Took them long enough!

 

[Rodan52]

Most of the above suggestions have merit and it's true that the mac OS can do most of the work for you but as many of these methods rely on manual removal you first need to perform a search and then you need to know what you can and cannot remove. When storage is tight as in the example of a 128Gb HD on a MacBook Air people need an app that can do the work for them quickly and safely. Using Find any File to search for remnants of trashed apps or useless hidden files like Universal Binaries and unwanted language files is time consuming and frankly dangerous for the inexperienced because even assuming they have a full backup they need to know where these files live and how to put them back.

 

[bopajuice]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to the MacRumor forums, i've in possession of a MacBookpro 13' from late 2015 and I absolutely love it.

Still i'm wondering if it's smart to use an app that keeps my MacBook clean. Not because I get a lot of trash on it, because I'm very organized about the stuff I install on it, but just to keep it as clean as possible.

I've heard about CleanMyMac and I was wondering if anyone has experience with this app or another which is good.

Looking forward hearing from you all!

Im no expert but as far as I know there is no need to "clean' a Mac. The Mac does not leave stray .DLL's or have a need to Defrag a hard drive etc. I never clean anything except for cookies and browsing history, and I leave it running for months. Still works like a charm.

I get so frustrated trying to explain this to my dad. He is always deleting things he thinks he does not need, to "optimize" his Mac and make it "faster". Then when he screws it up, he does a "clean install" just like the old days of Windows.
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Took them long enough!

I am sure there is a reason they do this. Part of the reason I like OS X. They don't make it easy to get into system files. Best way to screw up a computer is mess with system files.

My experience has been quite different. CleanMyMac3 has been terrific for me and keeps my systems mean and lean.

What does it clean? I mean if you want to get rid of cookies or browsing history. Do it in the browser. Takes seconds. Why would you install a program to do this? Are you saying this program somehow speeds up your Mac?

 

[KALLT]

Using Find any File to search for remnants of trashed apps or useless hidden files like Universal Binaries and unwanted language files is time consuming and frankly dangerous for the inexperienced because even assuming they have a full backup they need to know where these files live and how to put them back.

It should not be done by programs either. Removing languages and universal binaries is not “safe”, it is not sanctioned by Apple and there are no guidelines for developers to follow. Thus the working assumption is that bundled components are always there. There are numerous cases where removing said components can break applications or cause unexpected issues. Apps like CleanMyMac keep extensive self-curated black lists to skip programs that are known to break, which tells you all you need to know about the assumed safety of this process.

you need to know what you can and cannot remove.

You still need to know that when you are using automation. A program does not ‘know’ when you can remove something; it needs instructions from someone. The developer determines the search algorithm and confidence level. Apps like CleanMyMac still report false-positives and fail to detect certain files. They also recommend deleting files that should not be deleted in the first place. They are thus neither safe nor thorough.

When storage is tight as in the example of a 128Gb HD on a MacBook Air people need an app that can do the work for them quickly and safely.

People need to understand that there is no such thing as a safe and easy cleaner. A program cannot read your mind or have complete knowledge of the entire system and all installed apps. That is just practically impossible. I’d argue that the whole premise of a cleaning tool is questionable and almost utopian. You cannot really do this in real life either; you need to go through all the stuff to decide what can be binned.

128 GB is just not a lot of space. You need to subtract the actual space of system components and leave a large margin for caches and swap files. You effectively have to earmark 20–25 GB of space, plus 5–10 GB of empty space to give yourself some breathing room.

 

[NordmoleX]

Being very new to Mac, coming from Windows which I used for many many years, I have read things like that quite a bit recently. In various forums and websites. Opinions vary as it turns out. I agree, MacOS is not Windows, i am sure we can all agree on that.

But i have noticed, that people that are using MacOS for a long period of time, tend to make things, well lets say "complicated" because why not. Thats not a negative remark on anyone, please dont misunderstand me. Towards the topic at hand here, just a very few times on Windows, using Uninstallers of software or even external uninstallers, because the original uninstaller still left a lot of junk remain, I really had issues of "too much" being uninstalled. But over the course of many years I that only happened very few times.

Sure, you can do it all manually on every OS, but I suppose tools on Mac that do similiar things, cant be all bad, right ? I mean, i havent used apps like AppCleaner etc. yet, simply because I am still learning how things are done on Mac. I have however come across forums already, where the mear mention of these apps almost gets you killed. Guess thats like with so many Linux forums, where they hang you if they even smell you're coming from Windows and dont have a clue. ^^

So far I have installed & removed quite some apps, because especially if you're new, you usually learn by trying. Many apps were not as expected, and so I removed them. Manually. But i have to admit, i miss uninstalling things simple, without the need to find all the files. Which, depending on the app, can be a pain in the *****

So my question here, can Mac uninstall tools be so much worse than on Windows, that on some websites you really get p***ed on just by mentioning this, or is it just because you know, its Unix/Linux, so people thinking that making things much more complicated is more professional. I really would like to know, since I am still in the process of learning.

Thanks.

 

[Stefan johansson]

I use the normal uninstall Tools that's included in sierra,never noticed any major problems. Guess the people complaining are the same people that always complains about everything,as they believe that their own opinion is the only opinion. Soo,I guess that it does not matter what the software developers do,there will always be people advocating their own ideas.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Well, AppCleaner is way better than the simple "move it to Trash".
That being said, it doesn't mean there are no leftovers at all after using it.
So, my practice is:

1. AppCleaner.
2. EasyFind (to find the leftovers and clean them manually).

 

[casperes1996]

Being very new to Mac, coming from Windows which I used for many many years, I have read things like that quite a bit recently. In various forums and websites. Opinions vary as it turns out. I agree, MacOS is not Windows, i am sure we can all agree on that.

But i have noticed, that people that are using MacOS for a long period of time, tend to make things, well lets say "complicated" because why not. Thats not a negative remark on anyone, please dont misunderstand me. Towards the topic at hand here, just a very few times on Windows, using Uninstallers of software or even external uninstallers, because the original uninstaller still left a lot of junk remain, I really had issues of "too much" being uninstalled. But over the course of many years I that only happened very few times.

Sure, you can do it all manually on every OS, but I suppose tools on Mac that do similiar things, cant be all bad, right ? I mean, i havent used apps like AppCleaner etc. yet, simply because I am still learning how things are done on Mac. I have however come across forums already, where the mear mention of these apps almost gets you killed. Guess thats like with so many Linux forums, where they hang you if they even smell you're coming from Windows and dont have a clue. ^^

So far I have installed & removed quite some apps, because especially if you're new, you usually learn by trying. Many apps were not as expected, and so I removed them. Manually. But i have to admit, i miss uninstalling things simple, without the need to find all the files. Which, depending on the app, can be a pain in the *****

So my question here, can Mac uninstall tools be so much worse than on Windows, that on some websites you really get p***ed on just by mentioning this, or is it just because you know, its Unix/Linux, so people thinking that making things much more complicated is more professional. I really would like to know, since I am still in the process of learning.

Thanks.

Short version:
It's not really that the tools on Windows are better (said without using Windows for the past 7 years). It's just that there are a hell of a lot of places to store files, and a hell of a lot of ways to store data, and no generalised tool can be perfect, so the "purists" of us tend to prefer either manual methods, or specific tools developed by the app's developer (always use that if one exists).

Long answer:
Unlike Windows, there's no similar thing to the Windows Registry on macOS. This means that keeping a small amount of leftover files on your Mac after deleting the bulk of an app, will not affect anything else. At least usually. A rare number of apps may install kernel extensions and such, but those really should include a utility for uninstalling by the developer.
For this reason, Apple deems it enough to just throw the app itself in the trash. Furthermore, some well designed apps actually run a script when you throw the main app in the trash that cleans up all other leftovers too.
If an app has particularly large leftover files or the app leaves external files that can do anything (such as executables) after the main app is removed, it is recommended practice to include an uninstaller. In the rare case this does not happen, uninstallers like CleanMyMac, App Zapper, etc. (But never Mac Keeper... Hate that ****. Mostly for their advertising) can be good utilities for inexperienced users, especially with very common apps that they're usually tested against (assuming you're not running a beta OS or beta apps). If you use them for more than a simple app deletion however, such as CleanMyMac's feature to "trim down the size of the OS", you really need to know what you're doing, cause you could potentially break something. If you blindly click continue, you could end up with a system that doesn't have language files for a particular language that you'd like to use, or other "redundant" features missing that you may want, or that another app may rely on to function properly. This is why I personally don't recommend the use of such tools. Not that they are bad tools in general, but that incorrect usage can lead to unexpected results.
And of course if you have lesser known programs that the cleaning utilities are unlikely to be tested with, they may miss a few files, or worse yet, delete the wrong files (for instance a library associated with more than one program).

I use the normal uninstall Tools that's included in sierra,never noticed any major problems. Guess the people complaining are the same people that always complains about everything,as they believe that their own opinion is the only opinion. Soo,I guess that it does not matter what the software developers do,there will always be people advocating their own ideas.

What "normal uninstall tools that's included in Sierra"? Do you mean dragging an app to the trash? Or opening Launchpad and clicking the X on an app (which only works if they're from the App Store)? Or what?

 

[MacGizmo]

I use AppCleaner. It's free and works fairly well.

 

[jojoba]

I use Hazel for basic housekeeping. It regularly cleans up my download folder, screenshots, camera uploads etc, and also saves me the time of finding additional system files when I delete an app.