Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/watchlist/cleanmymac-4-3/
Adds the new Space Lens feature for building a storage map and revealing the biggest space wasters. ($89.98/$39.95 new, free update, 72.4 MB)
Iām not familiar with cleanmymac. Iād like to know how many use and recommend this product. Deciding whether to buy it. Thank You
Itās reputation has improved slightly in that itās less likely to cause accidental damage to your computer, but thatās probably more attributable to Apple than MacPaws.
It is still being slammed by troubleshooters on the Apple Support Community forums, but most of those folks are totally anti-utility people.
DetectX Swift still labels it as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) but Iām pretty sure thatās about to change. None of the other anti-malware scanners Iām familiar with do so as of yesterday.
If you decide itās something you canāt live without, just be sure you know exactly what each function is doing and that it needs to be done. Running such apps in automatic mode is what gets most users in trouble. And there are free apps for almost everything that it can accomplish for you.
-Al-
I use it and have for a few years - it does seem to be well behaved and updated regularly.
It pays to poke around a bit when doing a paid upgrade as some routes to upgrade have been cheaper than others, especially when moving to multi-licences from a single licence.
It is licensed per machine, although you can deregister a machine and register another easily enough.
For an example of the views at the ASC, see
Yes, those are exactly the folks I was referring to. I would be willing to bet that none of them have ever installed or used it themselves. It makes less work for them if users stay away from them.
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Their lack of basic knowledge about what Clean My Mac does is stunning - if these are the support people that folk have to rely on maybe Windows/Linux/Solaris/HPUX is not such a bad option 
Of course Free/Open/NetBSD is always a good option
Being serious for a moment that is why I have never found the Apple forums useful when looking for a support query/answer, except when someone here has pointed at a specific answer.
The views of those posters (who are volunteers, not Apple support personnel) stem from their efforts to help people who have messed up their machines. Some of these āhelpers" do have a lot of experience ā you only earn 10 āpoints" when someone answers back that you have actually solved their problem.
Iāve only encountered a few CleanMyMac victims myself, usually people obsessed with removing language files who accidentally destroyed their OS in the process.
The ASC does have weaknesses, but as far as I can tell it is a whole lot better than Appleās official support, which from posters tales often seems to be totally clueless, at least in the areas I am most familiar with.
I have found it a useful tool for my wife and for other casual users who are concerned to keep their Mac smooth and streamlined and can cope with a once-a-month ācleanā without delving into any nerdery. Iāve no issues with it over the past few years. Those users might be confusing it with other similar apps, MacKeeper being the standout bad actor in the area. I wouldnāt equate Clean My Mac with them.
It is available as part of the SetApp subscription service which might make more sense economically, especially if youāre keen on a few of other apps there.
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In reading your opinions I am not going to try it. I wonder if the more apps you install the more one is apt to create unnecessary problems. The more one program ādoes it allā - there seems to be more complication to troubleshooting.
This app is fine. Iāve been using it for years. Provides many utility services in one nice app. I donāt believe the nay sayers have used the app enough to be having the negative opinion. There is no reason not to get it. Itās part of Setapp now.
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