These cleaner apps are fine, Mac OS X keeps installation receipts for any applications which are installed via packages (the Installer application.) This is pretty much any app that isn't a drag-and-drop installation. The built-in Storage Management app is the best place to start when cleaning up your Mac. In the Recommendations tab you’ll see a number of useful options, like Store in iCloud and Empty. CCleaner - Free junk file cleaner. CCleaner is one free and top Mac cleaner to delete cookies, search.
What Is the Dr. Cleaner App?
- Cleaner will optimize both your Mac OS disk and memory, providing you with better computer performance. First, it detects and cleans out garbage files. And second, it can free up memory so you can run critical applications. Cleaner is easy and quick to use, with an intuitive user interface. Cleaner features include: Disk Cleaner.
- 110,000 RATINGS, AVERAGE RATING 4.8 - Dr. Cleaner is the ONLY all-in-one FREE App that offers Memory Optimization, Disk Cleaning and System Monitoring to keep your Mac optimized for the best performance. With a brand new user interface, Dr. Cleaner provides an easy-to-use way to optimize the performance of your Mac!
110,000 RATINGS, AVERAGE RATING 4.8 - Dr. Cleaner is the ONLY all-in-one FREE App that offers Memory Optimization, Disk Cleaning and System Monitoring to keep your Mac optimized for the best performance. With a brand new user interface, Dr. Cleaner provides an easy-to-use way to optimize the performance of your Mac!
Dr. Cleaner is an all-in-one memory optimization app that aspires to help your Mac function at its best. It offers disk cleaning, system monitoring, and help uninstalling no-longer-needed apps and software. Dr. Cleaner scans big files, cleans junk, and removes duplicate files.
Dr. Cleaner Features
Dr. Cleaner is an undemanding utility app that doesn’t take up a lot of room on your system. It approaches optimization of storage and RAM with the help of following features:
- Deletes unwanted files on your Mac
- Displays your available memory
- Displays CPU and Network usage monitors
- Locates duplicate file copies (Pro version only)
- Help manage installed applications (Pro version only)
Dr. Cleaner Pros
Aside from its basic ability to clean up your Mac from junk files (caches, logs, etc), Dr. Cleaner has a few more things going for it:
- Comes with a polished, fluid interface
- Core features are available for use with a free version of the app
- Conveniently displays folders contents in pie charts
Dr. Cleaner Cons
Despite all the praise and immaculate 5-star App Store rating, Dr. Cleaner falls short of expectations:
- Takes a few extra steps to get to the main app: opening the app brings up monitors windows, where you have to click System Optimizer to get to the main app.
- Groups 10 to 500 MBs files within the same “big files” group
- Provides poor selection of tools in a free package
- Duplicate Files & App Manager features come in Pro package. Unarchiver and Antivirus come as standalone apps only
How to Use the Dr. Cleaner App
Here is how to get started on using Dr. Cleaner to clean up your computer:
- Open Dr. Cleaner on your Mac
- Select System Optimizer in the bottom right corner to start the main app
- Choose one of the tools from the side menu
- Junk Files
- Big Files
- Duplicate Files
- App Manager
Likely to be one of the chief reasons you downloaded the Dr. Cleaner app, cleaning up Junk Files is one of it’s most valuable and practically the only ones available for free functions for you to use. Junk files helps clean out caches, logs, temporary files, leftovers, etc. Click the Scan button and wait for Dr. Cleaner to locate redundant files on your Mac.
Select the files you want to delete and hit Remove.
Equally as important as deleting junk files is removing duplicate files and unused apps. Unfortunately, these features are not available in the free version of Dr. Cleaner and require an upgrade to Pro to be used.
Dr. Cleaner Pricing
Dr. Cleaner is a free download available in the iTunes App Store. Although it’s free to download and use, there are only a handful of features that you can make real use of. The Pro version of the app with cost you $14.99 and delivers two additional features.
Is Dr. Cleaner Safe?
In the age of malicious malware and seemingly innocent downloads that offer no functionality, or even worse, pack a nasty punch, users might have some concerns about downloading Dr. Cleaner. You can lay those concerns to rest, as Dr. Cleaner, despite not having a rich selection of features, removes unwanted files with surgical accuracy. When testing out the app, no system files were harmed or user files lost.
How to Uninstall Dr. Cleaner
If you are looking to delete Dr. Cleaner manually you will have to take the following steps:
- Start by open Finder>Applications and moving the main Dr. Cleaner.app to Trash
- In Finder press Shift+Command+G and first go to the ~/Library/Application Scripts folder; remove all TrendMicro associated folders:
- com.trendmicro.ATLoginItemHelper
- com.trendmicro.DrAirSupport-DrCleaner
- com.trendmicro.DrCleaner
- Follow up by opening the ~/Library/Containers directory and deleting addition supporting files here:
- com.trendmicro.ATLoginItemHelper
- com.trendmicro.DrAirSupport-DrCleaner
- com.trendmicro.DrCleaner
- Finally, removing com.trendmicro.DrCleaner.plist preference file by accessing it in the ~/Library/Preferences folder
Dr Cleaner Mac Download Dmg
Move to Trash all of the files and folders mentioned above. Right click the Trash bin and select Empty Trash to fully remove Dr. Cleaner app from your Mac.
Bottom Line
Dr Cleaner Mac
Mac desktop and Macbook owners running OS X 10.10 or higher who are looking for a free simple way of cleaning temporary files, caches and logs from their computer will enjoy this app. Yet if you are the type of person who needs a more through cleanup app, that is not burdened with unavailable functionality and capable of running deeper system maintenance, then you’ll have to pass on this one.
If you are reading this article, the chances are that youhave a problem: your Mac is running slow.
And chances are you read about CleanMyMac (read my review here) and how it can make your Mac run faster.
And finally, you also read multiple “expert” userreviews suggesting that CleanMyMac is a scam or a malware.
I decided to find out if the rumors are true or not on myown. Because I don’t like spreading rumors, I prefer hard facts. If I claimthat something is not working, it means I tested it myself, and it didn’t work.Conversely, if I claim that something works, I tested, and it worked.
So, let’s do some research and see what we can find.
According to VirusTotal and other antivirus programs, CleanMyMac is safe to download and install. However, some functions provided by CleanMyMac may not be safe to use for inexperienced users. For instance, deleting certain files may bring your Mac to an unstable state.
Note: this article is not about whether you should or shouldn’t purchase CleanMyMac. I will post a detailed review later and provide a link for those who interested. This post is intended to answer the question in the title.
Is MacPaw a Legit Company
CleanMyMac X is a product of MacPaw, a company with offices in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Santa Barbara, CA. It was founded in 2008 by Oleksandr Kosovan, a Ukranian developer.
Since then, MacPaw added several other applications, most notably a subscription-based service Setapp. By the way, Setapp was named World’s most innovative company in Europe 2019 according to FastCompany.
The company was also featured in Forbes, 9to5mac, TechCrunch and VentureBeat.
So, yes, MacPaw is a legit company and recognized by manyreputable organizations.
By the way, the funniest claim I read on forums is the assertion that MacPaw works for Russian intelligence.
I don’t want to go too deep in politics, but let me remind you that Ukraine is in the middle of a conflict with Russia, and it’s hard to imagine that Russians can influence a company in the capital of Ukraine.
Moreover, reportedly the founder of the company risked his life by supporting civic protests in 2014 against the corrupt government. So, no, I don’t believe MacPaw is associated with any government.
Is CleanMyMac Malware
There is a very known myth that Apple computers cannot get viruses, but more experienced users know that this is not true.
Macs do get viruses and other types of malware. If you ever had to fight with annoying pop-ups after installing a new app or an extension in Chrome, you know what I mean.
Whenever I download any software over the internet I alwaysgo thru following steps to make sure that I am not getting a malware:
- Upload an installer package, usually DMG to VirusTotal. VirusTotal is a free online tool that checks for malware by over 70 antivirus scanners.
- Run Norton 360 Standard or Deluxe. It’s the best antimalware product for Macs currently.
Both VirusTotal and Norton assured that CleanMyMac is not a malware, or adware, or spyware of any sort.
Why is CleanMyMac not in App Store
Smart users know that it is best to install apps from theMac App Store.
When a developer submits an app to the Mac App Store, Apple performs tests and validates the app to make sure that it does not contain any malicious code.
So, by submitting their app to the App Store, the developers get a stamp of approval from Apple itself. And any user knows, that any app downloaded from the App Store is secure, it is not a scam or spyware, it is OK to download and use.
But how does Apple guarantee that all apps in their storeare safe? By limiting their access to many parts of the macOS. It is called asandbox. Each app is placed in a restricted area where they cannot cause anyproblems to the system and other programs running on the computer.
And this is a problem for applications such as CleanMyMac.
Since CleanMyMac X needs access to the core, it cannot run in a sandbox in order to be effective. If you are still not convinced, try to find any antivirus program in the Mac App Store.
If you want to install antimalware solutions from McAfee, Bitdefender, or Norton, you have to download them from their sites. It’s because any application that needs to have access to the system files cannot run in a sandbox.
There are two other reasons for developers to encouragedownloading from their sites:
- Apple takes 30% cut from any purchase in its store, so the developers either have to increase their prices by 30% or eat the cost of hosting.
- Bypassing App store allows developers to have creative licensing solutions. For instance, they can offer a trial version and then unlock the full version after you obtain the license.
In short, I am not surprised by the fact that CleanMyMac isnot available for download from the App Store because it is a common practicefor programs that work on the system level.
However, MacPaw is not totally bypassing Apple checks with its products. CleanMyMac X is Apple notarized. What does it mean?
Is Mac App Cleaner Safe
Unlike submitting the program to the App Store, where itundergoes a full review (and nobody really knows what happens behind thedoors), notarization is an automatic service.
When building and assembling the final version of the product, developers can send it to the Apple notary service. The service will check for any malicious code, and if nothing wrong was found, it would issue a ticket. This ticket is verified when the app gets installed on Mac.
When a user downloads and tries to install an app notarized by Apple, she will see the message that looks like a warning. The main message is the same as with any app downloaded from the internet: ‘”Blah blah app” is an app downloaded from the internet. Are you sure you want to open it?’
The difference is in a fine print below the main message: “Apple checked it for malware software, and none was found.”
As you can see Apple admitted that CleanMyMac X was checked for malware software and none was found.
Note: this screenshot is from a Mac running on macOS Mojave. In Catalina, the message is different, possibly because starting with Catalina, Apple promised not to allow to run un-notarized apps.
Why Are There So Many Negative Reviews on Forums
But, how about a great number of negative reviews on the internet?
Why every time someone asks whether to install CleanMyMac or not, there is always an expert who’s working with Mac for twenty years, and they claim that your Mac will melt as soon as you install the program?
Or, there is always an “Apple tech,” who suggests to immediately restore your Time machine backup from before you installed the application.
I believe there are several explanations:
1. CleanMyMac often gets confused with MacDefender and MacKeeper
I didn’t review MacKeeper yet, so I can’t tell if it’s a good program or not. Once I install and use it, I will provide a link for my review.
At this point, all I know about the company that sells MacKeeper is that there was a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company deceived users into paying for unneeded fixes.
Another well-known app MacDefender, is a type of malware. It gets your credit card information for fraud purposes, and Apple even provided instructions on how to remove it. The other names of the malware are MacGuard, MacDefender, MacProtector, and MacSecurity.
After having issues with these apps, users became veryuneasy about any cleaning tools, including CleanMyMac.
2. There were cases when CleanMyMac deleted the wrong files
When reading user reviews, I found several cases when user-provided screenshots of damage caused by earlier versions of CleanMyMac.
I am a software engineer myself, and I know that all programs have bugs.
For instance, my favorite Windows version of all time is Windows XP. When it was first released, it was a total disaster – people were not able to run most of the applications after the upgrade for months. And this is the main product of Microsoft, a 100 bln dollar company.
Apparently, MacPaw learned from their mistakes, and now they have the Safety Database – list of files that should not be deleted. And after 12 years on the market, any software becomes stable.
If you are asking if there is a risk that a wrong file can be deleted by CleanMyMac, my answer is: there is always a risk that ANY cleaning software can do that.
However, I believe the probability of this happening is extremely for software that has 12-year history compared to a new program without such long experience.
3. Experts believe that everything done by CleanMyMac can be done manually
I agree with this point. In fact, I wrote a post on how to clean the disk on Mac without any software.
As always, there are two caveats.
First, I am a very technical person.
I understand how the software works because I’ve beendeveloping commercial software for twenty years. I know which files are safe todelete and which are not. I know how to use various system tools, and I know alot about Macs. Otherwise, I would not be running this site.
For someone less technical than me, doing everything that Ido may not be too easy. So, having an app that does the same, but withoutrequiring in-depth knowledge is worth paying for the app.
Second, the manual cleaning process is quite tedious.
To understand how much work it is, let me explain in the next example. I have two grills: charcoal and gas. For the last two years, I use the gas grill in 90% cases.
While the charcoal grill is superior in the end result, it takes a lot of time and effort to light the coals and even more time to clean. I use the charcoal grill on certain occasions, but prefer the gas grill for the convenience it provides. I hope you understand what I mean.
Now, when I laid out all the facts I was able to find during my research, I am finally ready to make a conclusion.
Is CleanMyMac X Safe?
Combo Cleaner App For Mac
CleanMyMac is safe to download, install, and use. It’s a product built by a well known Ukranian company MacPaw, which has other products as well.
CleanMyMac X is not a virus or spyware. It is Apple notarized, which means Apple scanned its code and found no malicious components.
Moreover, CleanMyMac is now available in the Apple App Store, and Apple obviously will not distribute malicious software.
Additionally, CleanMyMac maintains the Safety Database – a database of files that cannot be deleted, which reduces the chances of removing data required for macOS and other program operations.
Best Free Mac Cleaner App
To avoid getting malware, download any app directly from the company sites. Avoid downloading anything from sites such as cnet dot com, macupdate dot com and others.
App Cleaner Osx
Always check the DMG files on VirusTotal or with a good antivirus (Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender, etc.)
Want to know more? Read my in-depth review of CleanMyMac X.
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