With MacBook Airs quickly becoming the most popular laptops ever seen, and the lowering cost and increasing availability of SSDs, many people are sacrificing disk space for performance. With disk space at a premium, it’s important to keep your footprint minimal, keep your Mac clean, and get rid of any unnecessary files.
But what about those files you don’t see on a day-to-day basis, like system caches, unnecessary languages for applications, and other files that can junk things up? MacPaw’s CleanMyMac may be just the answer for you.
Overview
CleanMyMac is a disk cleanup app for the Mac, that helps you free up disk space by removing things you don’t need. CleanMyMac combs over your entire drive, tracking down un-necessary clutter and making it easy for you to remove. You may even find that you could be saving far more space than you ever thought possible.
In addition, CleanMyMac has several nice built-in features, such as a background monitor that knows when you delete an app, and can help you remove the background files it leaves behind, all without you having to think or worry about it.
Initial Thoughts
I was very impressed the first time I ran CleanMyMac – between universal binaries, unused language packs for applications, and system caches, I was able to free up 16.5 gigabytes of valuable space that I didn’t even know I was wasting.
Besides being very effective and what it does, CleanMyMac performs some helpful background tasks. When you plug in an external device, for instance, it can tell you if there are cache files or trashes that need to be removed from it, and when you drag an app to the trash, it can help you by removing all of the data files and dormant information that app would otherwise leave behind.
Design / Ease Of Use
Design is definitely one of CleanMyMac’s strong suits. The app not only looks neat and clean, but because of its simple list-based layout, it’s incredible easy for even a less-experience computer user to effectively operate. Its colors contrast well with each other, and the app leaves a very good visual impression on the mind.
Also notable is that all of the app’s services are configured through a single window – no pop-up frames or dialogue boxes to deal with. Just one screen, with several simple options to choose from. As far as ease of use is concerned, I’ve seen very few inexpensive apps that put so much attention into the user interface, but MacPaw has done just that with CleanMyMac.
Functionality
Despite its initial simplicity, CleanMyMac is very configurable – you can teach it to always ignore certain types of files, for instance. CleanMyMac is an incredible useful app that, despite its simple interface and small footprint, packs a serious functional punch.
The app can automatically clean your trash, alert you when your wasted space is starting to build, and then help you manage the problem when the time comes. I’ve found that running CleanMyMac once every couple of weeks really saves me disk space, and helps me to keep my computer at its functional best.
The app completes its cleaning process very quickly, often within just 1-2 minutes or less! It also includes some useful features hidden within the interface, such as a quick file eraser that helps quickly and effectively delete files, and an application uninstaller that lets you simply drag an app’s icon over top of CleanMyMac’s icon, and then completely removes all traces of that app.
A Few Points Of Conflict
The only concerns that I encountered while using CleanMyMac are first, that there are free or less expensive apps that can perform the exact same functions. Second, if you aren’t careful when cleaning universal binaries, it can cause certain apps not to work correctly any longer – it’s difficult to know which apps will behave in this manner, so less experienced users should stay away from that feature of CleanMyMac
Verdict
Overall, CleanMyMac is a very solid program – it’s simple to use, does all of the difficult work for you, and greatly helps to improve the speed of your machine (by cleaning browser and system caches), and save you a bit of disk space.
While the $30 lifetime price tag can seem high when compared to other applications, the ease and efficiency with which CleanMyMac can be used, and the fact that the interface is so well designed are certainly worth something.
Could you do everything that CleanMyMac does by yourself, with no software assistance, and for free? Certainly. But CleanMyMac greatly smooths and simplifies the process, making it an essential part of your app collection for any Mac.
Rating & Conclusion
Rating: 4 out of 5
Due to its compelling design, high level of function, and the usefulness of the tasks that it performs, I award CleanMyMac a 4 out of 5. Its high initial cost ($30), combined with its ability to cause problems in the hands of less experienced users are what cost it a few points in my book. Here are a few of the pros and cons I found throughout my review:
Pros
- Slick interface, looks great on the Mac.
- Simple to use, takes almost no RAM or CPU resource to run.
- Packs enough settings to be highly customizable.
- Runs very quickly, often taking 2 minutes or less to perform its tasks.
Cons
- Could be considered expensive in comparison with other utilities.
- Defaults to cleaning universal binaries, which can cause problems with certain applications.
CleanMyMac is a well-designed app that does exactly what it claims to, and as long as you have $30 to spend, it’s a great choice. You can find more information on CleanMyMac or make a purchase by visiting MacPaw’s website.
