CleanMyMac question

[Randy Godfrey]

Hello Mac people!

For no apparent reason, I've been recently questioning the validity and safety of my continual use of the CleanMyMac app by MacPaw. When searching online for answers as to whether this app is safe to use, the opinions vary wildly.

Many Apple tech types say not to use it, as it may be destructive and that the Mac OS has all that is needed to efficiently take care of the system. On the other hand, many (unfamiliar to me) tech reviewers say that it's a marvelous utility and worth it's cost to run.

I thought that I would run this by the group to see if there is a consensus.

Any thoughts?

Randy

[Mac Carter]

Hi Randy,

I’m in the same boat. I checked it out, read virtually every review on it, bought CleanMyMac X over a year ago and and installed it on our 3 M1 MacBook Airs. I used it nearly every week. It NEVER caused any harm. 

However, recently, I did some further checking and concluded that while it is not harmful to use, does not improve performance, and most of what it does is either unnecessary or already done by the MacOS. I also learned that its malware module is seriously overrated and that the few things it does that the MacOS does not do (like undelete files associated with an app you delete) can be done by other very good free apps.

So, while their tech support is quite good and the user interface is outstanding, they offer no explanation for what CMM does that is unique and worth the subscription. I even asked them why they don’t participate in malware comparison sites like AV-Comparatives. They whiffed on that question. 

What convinced me I was wasting my money was the following Apple forum discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250607795?login=true&page=2. So I removed it from all 3 laptops and will not re-subscribe.

I don’t understand why so many reviews on CMM tend to give it high ratings. There are other Apple forum links on this topic that also conclude it's a waste of money. 

Since deleting it about a month ago off all 3 laptops, I have not seen any issues that suggest deleting it was a mistake. So, my conclusion is that, like all other “CLEANER” apps, CMM is a bunch of hype.

The only apps of this genre that I still have installed and occasionally use are: ONYX, Etracheck and TinkerTool (Not TinkerTool System). I fully trust all 3.

Cheers,

Mac

 

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[Randy Godfrey]

Hey Mac, 

Thanks for your thoughtful take on CMM and the Apple Discussions link. After reading that thread I think that I will also uninstall the app. Unfortunately, I had just recently payed for another year of CMM on one of our three Macs, but chalk it up to a learning experience, right? 

Some of that discussion is rather cringeworthy. Has me considering installing a fresh copy of the OS, but that might not be necessary, as I haven’t noticed any problems. 

I’ve recently updated my Disc Warrior app and still feel that it does a great job rebuilding the directory with graphic representation of recovered storage space, although using DW doesn’t seem as frequently necessary as it was on the earlier OSs with my “legacy” Macs. 

Anyway, thanks again for your evaluation! 

Randy

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/87CB6A1B-89C4-441D-AFAD-883CCD842600%40gmail.com.

[Mac Carter]

Randy, from my view, I really don’t feel that CMM is designed to cause harm. I don’t see a reason to reload your OS. But since doing that is so easy these days, if it would make you feel better, you should do it. 

I’m surprised to hear you are still using Disk Warrior.  It does not work with current APFS hardware. I reluctantly gave up on it. See:

Cheers, Mac

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 16, 2023, at 9:13 AM, 'Randy Godfrey' via WhatMug <wha...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

 Hey Mac, 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/1932217094.1080794.1678983210778%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Mac Carter]

Randy, one more thought… if you are within 30 days of Re subscribing to CMM, I suggest you contact them and ask for a refund.

Cheers, Mac

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 16, 2023, at 9:43 PM, Mac Carter <macca...@gmail.com> wrote:

Randy, from my view, I really don’t feel that CMM is designed to cause harm. I don’t see a reason to reload your OS. But since doing that is so easy these days, if it would make you feel better, you should do it. 

I’m surprised to hear you are still using Disk Warrior.  It does not work with current APFS hardware. I reluctantly gave up on it. See:

[Randy Godfrey]

Thanks Mac,

Well, that is interesting. I've recently updated to DW 5.3, using it on our Macs that are running High Sierra 10.13.6. It seems to work fine. I've just discovered that there in an update to DW 5.3.1. This is the alert window that came up from Alsoft...

DiskWarrior 5 version 5.3.1 is now available.

New Features in 5.3.1:

• Updates to improve performance when launching in some configurations.

• Eliminated an error message that could occur when rebuilding some Time Machine disks.

New Features in 5.3:

• Supports OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion through macOS 13 Ventura when rebuilding Mac OS Extended volumes.

• Now runs on Apple Silicon M1 & M2 Macs to rebuild Mac OS Extended volumes.

• No longer requires a kernel extension (KEXT) to operate in macOS 11 Big Sur and later.

• Now runs within the macOS 11 Big Sur (and later) Recovery environment on Intel Macs. Previously worked only in the Recovery environment of macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier.

• Supports Dark Mode in macOS 10.15 Catalina and later.

• Numerous updates to keep pace with security and other changes in the latest versions of macOS.

• Increased minimum requirements to include Intel 64-bit and Apple Silicon Macs running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later.

Visit Alsoft.com to download the update.

Then again, we are running old Macs. My 27" iMac is a mid-2012 and our Macbooks are from mid-2010. They are still very capable machines. I've maxed out the RAM and have installed SSDs. Oh, except for this particular white unibody, which I believe is the very last white Macbook.

Randy

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/C52545C7-6EE7-448E-975E-EE337BA6642A%40gmail.com.

[Randy Godfrey]

Ah, ok. Thank you!

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/CDA82DFB-6EC6-4937-B426-30536A82AC9D%40gmail.com

.

[Randy Godfrey]

Oh, one more thing Mac...

My 27" iMac is mid-2011 not 2012, so even older! 32GB of RAM and 2, 3TB external drives.

It is probably laughable that we are still running these old machines. High Sierra still supports an up to date browser, so until that is no longer the case we will probably keep using them.

Thanks again for the time you've taken to share your views on this!

Randy

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/1064135635.1383746.1679029763843%40mail.yahoo.com

.

[Mac Carter]

Hi Randy,

OK… that explains it.. you have older gear and have not upgraded the OS beyond High Sierra. So, I think you understand now what DW can and cannot do. 

Yes, it CAN run on any computer. BUT it CAN ONLY “fix the directory” on internal or external drives formatted in the older OS format – Extended HFS Plus. DW CANNOT fix any hard drive formatted in APFS format (used in Apple’s OS since Mojave 10.4. If you haven’t done so already, click on the RED band at the top of every page on the DW site or go to this link: https://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior5apfs

"1) Apple File System (APFS) disks (typically a macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later Startup Disk) are recognized but ARE NOT able to be rebuilt by DiskWarrior 5.3. Click here to learn how to identify an APFS disk.

2) Apple Silicon (M1 & M2) Macs are now supported when rebuilding external Mac OS Extended Disks."

Essentially, Apple APFS format no longer allows a tool like DW to access what used to be called the “Directory”. The is no “Directory” anymore. The newer APFS format is a completely different design. Performance and security are the 2 primary objectives behind the newer APFS format — it separates your OS from your DATA into 2 “boxes” and is FAR MORE SECURE than the old format which combines the OS with your data in one “box”. 

Besides being far more secure, one other advantage of the APFS format is that it functions FAR faster than the old HFS Plus format. External SSD backup drives CAN take advantage of the incredible speed of OS and the USB-C Thunderbolt ports on current M1 and M2 computers.  For example, it used to take about 30-40 mins to do a full backup on my old spinning HFS-Plus formatted external drives. Now it takes about 30 seconds to do a full backup on my external APFS formatted SSD drives.  

So, I understand how older computers can be made to function faster with an SSD drive (I did that too). However, I think having relatively current hardware that will run the current APFS format OS is more important. It runs circles around older gear running the old OS even with SSD’s. 

Your hardware limits how far you can go in terms of upgrading your OS. You are an example of someone staring right at the exponential rate of growth in technology. The good news is, your gear seems to still work well and serves your needs. The bad news is you cannot upgrade to take advantage of the “modern” APFS format with its superior performance and far better security features. And, at some point in the not to distant future… you should expect Apple to announce they “no longer support your hardware and OS”. 

 

Cheers,

Mac

 

On Mar 16, 2023, at 10:09 PM, 'Randy Godfrey' via WhatMug <wha...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thanks Mac,

Well, that is interesting. I've recently updated to DW 5.3, using it on our Macs that are running High Sierra 10.13.6. It seems to work fine. I've just discovered that there in an update to DW 5.3.1. This is the alert window that came up from Alsoft...

DiskWarrior 5 version 5.3.1 is now available.

New Features in 5.3.1:

• Updates to improve performance when launching in some configurations.

• Eliminated an error message that could occur when rebuilding some Time Machine disks.

New Features in 5.3:

• Supports OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion through macOS 13 Ventura when rebuilding Mac OS Extended volumes.

• Now runs on Apple Silicon M1 & M2 Macs to rebuild Mac OS Extended volumes.

• No longer requires a kernel extension (KEXT) to operate in macOS 11 Big Sur and later.

• Now runs within the macOS 11 Big Sur (and later) Recovery environment on Intel Macs. Previously worked only in the Recovery environment of macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier.

• Supports Dark Mode in macOS 10.15 Catalina and later.

• Numerous updates to keep pace with security and other changes in the latest versions of macOS.

• Increased minimum requirements to include Intel 64-bit and Apple Silicon Macs running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later.

Visit Alsoft.com to download the update.

Then again, we are running old Macs. My 27" iMac is a mid-2012 and our Macbooks are from mid-2010. They are still very capable machines. I've maxed out the RAM and have installed SSDs. Oh, except for this particular white unibody, which I believe is the very last white Macbook.

Randy

On Thursday, March 16, 2023, 09:43:46 PM PDT, Mac Carter <macca...@gmail.com> wrote:

Randy, from my view, I really don’t feel that CMM is designed to cause harm. I don’t see a reason to reload your OS. But since doing that is so easy these days, if it would make you feel better, you should do it. 

I’m surprised to hear you are still using Disk Warrior.  It does not work with current APFS hardware. I reluctantly gave up on it. See:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/1064135635.1383746.1679029763843%40mail.yahoo.com.
<diskwarrior-review.jpeg>

[Randy Godfrey]

Hi Mac,

Thank you so much for that detailed explanation. And, very interesting about the 2 separate boxes and no more directory. Wow.

I'm sure that I would be amazed with a new machine and the APFS format. The added security is something I hadn't thought about, which definitely has me thinking now. I feel a bit remiss for not keeping up with the tech info on the modern Macs. Easy to be lulled into complacency when all seems to be working just fine, at the moment. Anyway, you've given me some food for thought towards upgrading. I receive the EveryMac news but admittedly haven't been studying those very closely.

Right, and I do wonder how long it will be before Apple will no longer support our old systems.

Thanks again, Mac!

Randy

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/whatmug/83CF26FF-BB28-44D2-9C61-C302D6AB9454%40gmail.com.