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CleanMyMac X Is The Toolbox Your Mac Needs

Anthony Karcz

WWDC is a bit like Christmas, but one where you only get pictures of your presents because they're on backorder. New ARM-powered Mac hardware and macOS Big Sur promise incredible performance boosts, but neither the hardware or the software is coming till later this year. That's why you should download a copy of CleanMyMac X now. 

The reasons for wanting the next generation of products from Apple are numerous. Maybe you're looking for new features. Maybe you're hoping it will restore performance to your Mac. Or maybe you've decided to throw in the towel and start over with a new machine. 

But no matter the reason, you still need a performance boost now. I've been using CleanMyMac X for a couple of months and I've come away impressed with its utility and robust feature set. 

A quick note, there are two versions of CleanMyMac X—one from the App Store and one that you purchase directly from the MacPaw site. I'll be talking about the later, since the App Store version has several features disabled due to limitations Apple puts on apps. 

First Run

The great thing about CleanMyMac X is that you don't have to be a dedicated macOS tinkerer to realize utility from it. When the app first launches, there's a friendly window with an easy Scan button. Click it and the program runs through a cleanup, protection, and speed scan. 

Cleanup will find all of the discarded bits and bobs your system generates, not just the stuff in your trash (though it checks that too). This includes user caches, log files, unused language files, temp files, downloaded mail attachments, and more. Even running it every week or so, I usually have several GBs of purgeable files taking up space on my hard drive. 

Protection is a handy malware tool that, hopefully, won't find anything at all (unless you spend a lot of time online clicking things you shouldn't). If something shows up here, you definitely want to run a deeper scan after the quick scan is finished. 

Speed flushes your DNS cache and frees up RAM, among other things. It's meant to give an immediate speed boost to your machine. 

Clicking the Run button executes everything that you left selected on the scan results screen. And, honestly, if you do nothing else with CleanMyMac, you'll see results right away and improve your Mac's performance. 

But there's so much more to do.

Going Deeper

Each of the overall scans has a category in the left-hand sidebar where you can do even more. 

Cleanup targets specific types of files and runs a deeper scan on your entire hard drive. Most likely, you’ll only ever need to do a deep clean once a year if you run the quick scan on a regular basis.

Protection runs a Privacy scan where you clear out cookies and user data that's lurking in your programs. You can also clean out all those random Wifi networks that you connected to once and never touched again. 

Optimization is a veritable cornucopia of helpful scripts, letting you optimize Mail, improve your system's launch speed, trim your Time Machine backups, even reindex Spotlight and repair your hard drive. 

In all, the complimentary tools to the quick scan give dedicated tinkerers a sizeable amount of toys to play with to make their Mac as speedy and safe as possible. 

But why stop with maintenance? The Applications section lets you dig deep into your Mac’s programs and storage and do some hands-on maintenance.

Uninstaller lets you fully get rid of programs (rather than just dragging them to the trash, where they'll leave behind folders and other bits).

Updater keeps track of updates for every application on your Mac, not just the ones installed by the App Store. My only wish here is that CleanMyMac would notify me when there are new updates to install.

I particularly like the Extensions application. Here you keep track of what app extensions are lurking in all corners of your Mac. If you're looking for reasons why your browsing is slower or your system is sluggish, Extensions is a great place to start. I was able to clear out at least half a dozen from old programs that I don't even use anymore. 

The Large & Old Files section can be useful for letting you find, well, large, old files. Especially if you're crunched on space, it's handy. For me, however, the files that CleanMyMac found were videos of my family that I've transferred from hard drive to hard drive over the years. Yes, they're big and, yes, they're old, but they're not going anywhere. Still, it's a great way to easily root out space hogs that are taking up needed space.

If you're looking to completely destroy sensitive files, you'll want to check out the Shredder. With it you can quickly and securely delete files, skipping the trash and getting around any locks in Finder. 

Space Lens is useful for seeing what's taking up room on your hard drive. However, if you're looking for a detailed graphic representation of your Mac's storage, I still prefer DaisyDisk. That said, CleanMyMac does an excellent job of quickly showing you what applications and user files are taking up the most space on your computer. I was able to see at a glance that the Blizzard games I keep holding on to, thinking I'll play again someday, were choking my drive. 

On top of all of this, CleanMyMac has a handy widget that lives in your toolbar. From there you can keep an eye on how much RAM is available, what your CPU temp and load are, what applications are using the most battery, and more. It’ll even offer to force quit stuck applications.

The Toolbox Your Mac Needs

Let’s be honest, keeping your Mac in top shape is generally an easy task. If macOS is good at one thing, it’s keeping itself running effectively. I rarely, if ever, see the entropic performance creep on older Macs that I do on Windows boxes. 

That's not to say it can't use a little help now and then and CleanMyMac X is exactly what you need to keep your Mac in top condition. Not only will it keep your machine running smoother, it keeps you safer with its malware detection, and lets you tinker with files and applications directly—all in one easy-to-use interface. 

An annual subscription is $39.95 while a one-time-purchase is $89.95. The one-time purchase will get you discounts on future app versions. But keep an eye out for daily deals—they happen often and can knock a considerable chunk off the purchase price. 

A note, the Apple App Store version is cheaper, but you won’t get the system-checking, updater, maintenance, or file shredding tools of the direct-from-MacPaw version.

Not quite ready to buy yet? Download the free version and check it out. You'll likely find that your limited time available in the free app is just enough to make you want more. Head over to the CleanMyMac X page to get started.

Thanks to MacPaw for providing a license for this review. Opinions are my own. 

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