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Best Mac app cleaners to use?

C

cmichel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 28, 2008
11
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Hi,

I have a 2020 iMac, 5k, 27inches, 202Ghz Intel Core i5 and I would like to know what is the best way to clean/speed and upkeep my iMac.

I try as much as possible to stay away from the "clean my mac" app.

I have already cleaned the Caches and Cookies folders in my library,

Thank you,
 
cmichel said:
Hi,

I have a 2020 iMac, 5k, 27inches, 202Ghz Intel Core i5 and I would like to know what is the best way to clean/speed and upkeep my iMac.

I try as much as possible to stay away from the "clean my mac" app.

I have already cleaned the Caches and Cookies folders in my library,

Thank you,
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need to do anything really.

Keep free space, if you fill the storage completely it will make the machine work harder to find free space, but other than that... try not to install too much crap that runs in the background.

I've never used any clean my Mac stuff in 15+ years. These aren't windows machines.

Is there anything in particular you think needs to be gone? Otherwise most of the "cleaning" and cache clearing stuff is just snake oil.
 
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throAU said:
You shouldn't need to do anything really.

Keep free space, if you fill the storage completely it will make the machine work harder to find free space, but other than that... try not to install too much crap that runs in the background.

I've never used any clean my Mac stuff in 15+ years. These aren't windows machines.

Is there anything in particular you think needs to be gone? Otherwise most of the "cleaning" and cache clearing stuff is just snake oil.
Click to expand...
Hi, Thank you very much for your answer.

I have free space since I use iCloud, more convenient when at work. I rarely install apps/background crap on my iMac. About Cache clearing, it was a recommendation from an Apple adviser a few years ago, that's why I tend to do it from time to time,
 
Does this have an SSD inside?

If so, could you run a drive speed test utility (such as the free BlackMagic Speed Test) and post the results here?

Also, how much RAM is installed?
 
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Fishrrman said:
Does this have an SSD inside?

If so, could you run a drive speed test utility (such as the free BlackMagic Speed Test) and post the results here?

Also, how much RAM is installed?
Click to expand...

Hi,

Yes, there's an SSD 1To with 32 Go RAM
 
Fishrrman said:
Does this have an SSD inside?

If so, could you run a drive speed test utility (such as the free BlackMagic Speed Test) and post the results here?

Also, how much RAM is installed?
Click to expand...
Here you go
 

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Polishing cloth is good for cleaning. If it has nano texture refer to the manual for cleaning that. Keep the vent and room clean to minimize dust going into the machine. If you really want to go all in, disassemble it, clean the insides of dust and repaste the chips.

That’s the best way of keeping it clean and fast ;)
 
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cmichel said:
best way to clean/speed and upkeep my iMac.
Click to expand...
I use Onyx, EtreCheck and sometimes eh CleanMyMac X lol.

Titanium Software | Operating System Utilities for Mac - OnyX

OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files, perform cleaning and computer maintenance tasks, configure some hidden parameters of many Apple applications, and more.
titanium-software.fr titanium-software.fr

EtreCheck

etrecheck.com etrecheck.com

Both do different things and I've been using these for many years
 
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JustAnExpat said:
Your machine is fine, and should last about 5 to 7 more years, or thereabouts. Keep on using it.
Click to expand...
Thanks, well I work everyday with it and a few things intrigued me.

In particular, there are these lyric & history windows that slide open staggering in iTunes/music app. Seems strange.

There is also that Finder window that is frozen at start up.
 
throAU said:
I've never cleared caches in 15 years. If there's nothing screwy with the machine.... don't mess with it :)
Click to expand...

Caches haven't been a problem for me, but I have discovered huge log file dumps or auto-generated backup archives I didn't know about before. Every so often, I use Omni Disk Sweeper to help me drill down through my filesystem one level at a time to find stuff that's been building up.

I found around 300GB worth of mail log files one time. No wonder Mail was running a bit slow all the time. I turned on connection logging to troubleshoot a mail server error one time and forgot to turn it off. A year later, that set of log files had ballooned to almost 300GB.

Note to OP, manual purges like this aren't for the faint of heart, but if you know what you're doing or you're desperate enough, give it a go. Otherwise, the only file system maintenance I'd ever recommend is the easy stuff you can do by going into System Preferences > General > Storage.
 
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I've often used AppCleaner to remove applications and associated files but recently I've learned that some apps install some system files that aren't removed by AppCleaner…and that simply throwing the application into the trash does remove those files.

I don't know…but I guess it depends on the application being removed.

The app had left some system files that, after using AppCleaner, could only be removed using Terminal when booted into recovery.
 
The best way to delete an application, which is what the OP is asking about, is to use the uninstaller provided with that app.
Unfortunately not all developers provide uninstallers with their applications.
Instead some provide Terminal commands to uninstall their apps which is the second best way to delete an app.
Third is to use an app like AppCleaner which I've found to work quite well but not perfectly as some files will occasionally be orphaned.
Last and definitely least effective is to move the app to the Trash and delete it. That only gets rid of the main application but leaves behind all kinds of helper files associated with the app.
 
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adam1063 said:
whats the best mac app cleaners to use?
Click to expand...
I don't know what is best, but I use TrashMe 3 (Rated 4.7 in App Store) and have never had any issues with it.
I use mostly the feature to find updates for my Apps, but on the few times I've used it to remove an App it nicely found the associated support files for the program.
 
When I need to "get rid of" an app, I use the free "AppCleaner".
Get it here:

Then, do this:
1. Open AppCleaner
2. Open your Applications folder (in the finder)
3. Grab the app you want to delete, and "drag and drop" it into AppCleaner's window.
4. AppCleaner will "look around" and gather up all the files related to the app.
5. If any are "unchecked", put a check into them.
6. Click the "remove" button, and they're ALL moved to the trash.
7. Close AppCleaner and empty the trash.
8. Gone!

I'm guessing there might be a few applications that AppCleaner can't "clean out" (perhaps Adobe stuff, Microsoft stuff, etc.). Those software publishers usually make available a standalone "uninstall" utility to get rid of them.
 
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I recently switched to AppCleaner once I realized that "CCleaner" and "CleanMyMac" were essentially bloatware and doing more harm than good.

YouTuber Stephen Robles mentioned Hazel as an app to use for removing apps from your Mac. I haven't tried it yet but he seemed to like it
 
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