Feb 12, 2020 SuperDuper is a popular, powerful, and easy-to-use app for quickly creating a fully bootable backup (or 'clone') of your hard drive, whether you're recovering from. Mar 30, 2019 Your macOS also has a built-in Mac cleaner, which Apple called Optimized Storage. Though its capabilities are limited, it gives you basic directions on where to start the cleanup. But for a thorough system cleanup and removing malware, youâll need a dedicated Mac cleaner app.
We clean our rooms and clothes so why not our Macs? But who can waste the entire day digging through folders and files? There are so many places like music, videos, apps and email downloads, and countless more locations on your Mac where junk and clutter accumulates. In 2020 cleaning your Mac is easier than ever. Which is why millions of people download free and low-cost Mac cleaning software.
To start off, we've made a quick comparison chart about best Mac cleaners for Mac.
A handy cleaner may prove that your Mac is still alive and can actually perform at its best. In this article weâve brought together some of the best Mac cleaning solutions around to clean, optimize, and maintain Macs that are available in 2020.
Top 10 best cleaners for Mac: Free and premium versions1. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X takes the first place with good reason â this cleaner combines features of both cleaning software and antimalware tool. Its Smart Scan promises a ânice and thorough scan of your Mac.â It does what it says, detecting junk like user cache files and system logs, checking your Mac for malicious software, and speeding up your MacBook. Looks like, there is a threat in my system, that I need to get rid of:
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Frankly speaking, CleanMyMac X is Tesla Roadster among other Mac cleaners. And it does a great job revealing your junk and other clutter, uninstalling unneeded apps and their leftovers, and keeping your Macâs system clean and optimized. Another pro is that CleanMyMac X is Apple-notarized, which means itâs safe for your Mac. You can download its free version right here.
Price: $39.95
Free version: Available here 2. Disk Doctor
Disk Doctor is developed in the UK and was awarded the 'Mac Gemâ award by MacWorld in 2013. CNET and other tech journalists also praise functionality. As of 2020, it still looks like a useful tool for Mac cleaning that removes junk slowing down and reducing the computing power of your Mac.
Price: $2.99
Free version: N/A 3. MacBooster
MacBooster is a popular app that is developed at IObit. It cramps so many features under one interface it hardly fits into a âcleanerâ niche. What makes it different is the duplicate file remover â an extra option to free up space on Mac. According to the developer, you can altogether delete 20 types of junk files with MacBooster.
MacBooster, in its version 8 rendition, offers real-time Mac protection, which makes it also an antivirus, although, quite a basic one. For example, you can remove malicious browser cookies to evade intrusive advertisements on your Mac. It doesnât belong to free Mac cleaner apps per se, although a free trial is available. Unlike CleanMyMac, it doesnât allow you to remove any junk for free in its trial version. To get the taste of MacBooster, you only have to rely on a free scan.
You should know that even when you uninstall MacBooster, some parts of the app may remain on your drive.
Price: $59.95 for Premium version Free version: Available 4. Onyx
OnyX is a french Mac cleaning solution developed by Titanium software. It weighs only 5 MB but that doesnât mean its capabilities are limited. OnyX is a tool that programmers will have a lot of fun with. With it, you can peek under the hood of your macOS and automate a whole list of jobs, like disk cleanup and cache removal. You can even tweak the color of folders on your Mac, and even make them invisible. Deservedly, it's among best free Mac cleaners.
OnyX is one of the best Mac cleaners because it cleans many specific under-the-surface files, like inner databases and logs. If you know what is XPC cache is, youâll probably like this app. But for us, ordinary Mac users who came here for the design and glossy buttons, OnyX will require some learning time.
Those who use OnyX say it is stable and reliable. There is no dedicated customer service (because OnyX is free software), but you shouldnât be worried. The only likely damage is you accidentally deleting files by yourself. Price: Free cleaner 5. DaisyDisk
DaisyDisk gives you a visual representation of your Mac folders, making it easy to see what is taking up space and delete the folders you don't need. All you need to do is select a drive, DaisyDisk will scan it, then you can delete everything that is wasting valuable space. It comes with a free and premium version.
Price:$9.99
Free version: Trial version available 6. AppCleaner & Uninstaller
If you only need to uninstall apps on Mac, AppCleaner is a good pick. AppCleaner only removes applications, plugins, and widgets, which are again, small apps. AppCleaner works in a familiar drag & drop mode. Its interface is also clean and easy to understand for a newbie.
After feeding the apps to AppCleaner, you should visit the Leftovers section of the app to erase their remains. Why we place AppCleaner & Uninstaller among free Mac cleaner tools? Because it is 100% free. Whether you will fully clean your Mac using it, is a different question.
AppCleaner & Uninstaller is created by FreeMacSoft, also the makers of LiteIcon, an icon customizer for Mac. Price: Voluntary donation 7. Smart Mac Care
If you launch Smart Mac Care, it will look hauntingly familiar to other free Mac cleaner apps. Not only features will be called the same, everything up to the fonts, will be identical to some other app youâve just used. Thatâs not a minus, though. You can still free up a lot of space with Smart Mac Care.
Smart Mac Care operates by a logic of âscans.â There is a Junk Scan, Malware Scan, Privacy Scan, etc. Just like Mac Booster, Smart Mac Care removes duplicates scattered in various locations on your Mac. Thereâs also a Memory Optimizer feature that promises to free up RAM on your Mac. In a word, Smart Mac Care resembles every other generic product whose only difference is in packaging. This is supported by the fact that we couldnât find any credible third-party reviews for this app.
On another skeptical note: to uninstall Smart Mac Care you have to enter your admin password. This is not the case with other Mac cleaners weâve used.
Price: $56.62 per year Free version: Demo available 8. Drive Genius
Drive Genius is labeled a âMac monitoring software.â Itâs a whole suite of tools that provide powerful disk diagnostics. Itâs hard to list a thing that this software doesnât do. You can scan for malware, secure-erase files, customize icons â itâs dozens of apps in one body. What makes Drive Genius unique is, probably, its search for corrupted files and inconsistencies on your drive. If your Mac is an old one, keeping it in good health will be easier with Drive Genius.
In a free version, you can use just a fraction of tools, notably a DiskPulse utility. This is an automatic Mac health checker that notifies you before your hard drive fails. Unlike Mac cleaners that merely scan, it is able to repair damage on your disks, which makes it a real deal. Be prepared that hard drive scan may take some time, but the results are worth it. Also note that Drive Genius is not available for macOS Catalina (as of the beginning of 2020).
Price: $299 for Professional edition
Free version: Limited Lite edition is available 9. CCleaner
Originally created in 2004 by Piriform, CCleaner comes with a free and professional version, focusing on businesses and business customers. CCleaner is a cross-platform tool, for PCs, Macs, Android, and it has a Cloud, Network and Technician tool, depending on what you need and the platform/software you use.
The premium version comes with a lot more features, including real-time alerts, free updates, and dedicated support. Although created for PCs in the early days, CCleaner does well to identify unwanted files on a Mac, so that users can select and delete the files and folders they don't need to free up space. As a cleaner for Mac, customers are pretty happy with the results of CCleaner.
Price: $19.95 Free version: Available 10. Sensei
The Sensei app is a relatively new app on the market, but it can be another useful tool for your Mac. The Sensei software developers call the app âPro Mac Cleanerâ on their website. I would call it a performance controlling tool.
Sensei presents a detailed picture of how your Mac performs. In the Dashboard, you can find out information about your MacBook, check your CPUâs current temperature, and see how much of your RAM is used. Cooling gives you exact information on your Macâs fans' speed.
Its Clean option helps to get rid of user cache, logs, large files, etc. The Uninstaller feature allows you to delete apps from your Mac and remove their traces. It doesnât list pre-installed apps from Apple, such as Safari or Calendar, but it shows every app you have installed on your Mac.
Surely, you can clean up your Mac manually, but using dedicated software will save you tons of time.
Price: $29 per year
Free version: Available Frequently Asked QuestionsCanât my Mac clean itself?
Your macOS also has a built-in Mac cleaner, which Apple called Optimized Storage. Though its capabilities are limited, it gives you basic directions on where to start the cleanup. But for a thorough system cleanup and removing malware, youâll need a dedicated Mac cleaner app.
Can Mac cleaner apps delete my important files?
Typically, best Mac cleaner apps have a protection built-in. They will usually select only those files that are safe for deletion.
Will Mac cleaners slow down my Mac?
Some cleaners try to get into your Login items, thus creating an extra burden on processor. On a flip side, the reliable Mac cleaner apps might even speed up your Mac. They remove all the outdated junk files giving your Mac an extra boost.
Mac cleaning apps you should avoid
Above we've touched the trusted Mac cleanup solutions but there are many that work on the dark side. Malwarebytes lists Advanced Mac Cleaner Pro and similar tools as unwanted applications. Here are some signs that should warn you against using scam Mac cleaners.
Signs of Mac cleaner scam:
Be safe and happy cleaning.
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Sometimes itâs a good idea to do a clean install of a new Mac operating system version. Whatâs a clean install? That means that the hard drive is erased completely and reformatted, which removes not only the current Mac operating system but all data, files, applications, you name it⦠Just think of it as a brand new computer having the operating system installed on it for the first time. In this post, weâll describe how to do a clean install of macOS 10.13 High Sierra.
Reasons to Perform a Clean Install
Before we get started, make a decision as to whether you want to do a regular update or a clean install, because a regular update is much easier to perform than a clean install.
The idea behind a clean install is to start with a completely bare machine, getting rid of any old data, files, preferences, settings, old drivers, apps you no longer use, and so on. In many cases, a clean install can improve the performance of a sluggish Mac. Clean installs are also useful if a software or system software update has somehow trashed your existing operating system or if you have replaced a hard drive.
Be sure you have plenty of time available to complete the complete install, as it can sometimes take as much as a day to go through all the steps.
Step 1: Backup Your Mac
As noted, weâre going to completely erase everything on the Mac. Make sure that you have access to all installation media for your apps (developer websites, Mac App Store, DVD or CD), and itâs a good idea to make a Note of all apps that you wish to re-install. In addition, be sure that you know all of your online account passwords and logins â for this, a password manager like 1Password can be very useful.
Itâs very useful to also have copies of all of your license information for Mac apps, since those that require a license or activation will need to be set up after your clean install.
Now, what kind of backup to you want to do? A Time Machine backup of your entire system is quite acceptable, or you can use an app like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to create a bootable clone of your Mac.
For those really important files, such as important documents, photos, videos, and so on, you may want to make a separate backup onto other media or to a cloud service like iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
Do NOT go further without making a backup. Remember, your Mac will be completely erased and if you have not copied your information to another location, you will lose it.
Step 2: Create a Bootable macOS High Sierra Installer
You can create a bootable macOS High Sierra install disk by knowing just what Terminal commands to use. However, thereâs an easy way to do this step, and thatâs to use DiskMaker X 7. We just published a step-by-step process for creating your bootable macOS High Sierra installer using this free application, so take time to read the process and to make your installer disk
When youâre done with steps 1 and 2, you can proceed to the scary part â erasing and reformatting your Macâs boot drive.
Step 3: Erase and Reformat the Macâs Boot Drive macOS Startup Manager, showing all internal and external drives
Make sure that the bootable macOS High Sierra installer you just created is connected to your Mac, whether itâs a USB flash drive or an external hard disk. Reboot your Mac, and hold down the Option/Alt key on the keyboard until the macOS Startup Manager Screen appears. It looks something like this:
While the image above shows the Macâs boot drive âMacintosh HDâ as selected for boot, we do not want to use that drive; instead, use the arrow keys or your trackpad to point the cursor at âInstall macOS High Sierraâ, then press Return.
The Mac boots off of the High Sierra installer into the macOS Utilities screen (image below is from a photograph of an actual Mac display):
macOS Utilities, with Disk Utility highlighted
Click Continue to proceed to Disk Utility. Once Disk Utility is on your screen, select your boot drive (itâs usually named Macintosh HD, as in the screenshot below) and then click the Erase button in the menu bar.
Select the boot drive (Macintosh HD) and click Erase in the menu bar
When promoted, select âMac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format type, with GUID Partition Map as the scheme. Note that if your Mac can be converted to the new APFS file system, it will happen during the macOS High Sierra installation. At this point, itâs perfectly fine to use the âoldâ format defaults.
Once youâve selected the format type and scheme, click the Erase button. Remember, this erases everything on the Mac, so if you ignored the repeated reminders earlier to have complete backups of your Mac, youâre going to lose everything.
As soon as the drive formatting is completed, quit out of Disk Utility. You will be returned to the macOS Utilities screen.
Step 4: Install macOS High Sierra
The second item from the top of the macOS Utilities screen is âInstall macOSâ. Select this item by clicking on it, then click on Continue. In the installer screen, select âMacintosh HDâ (or whatever your boot drive is actually named) as the disk for macOS High Sierra to be installed on. Carbon Copy Cleaner Macos App Download
The installation of macOS High Sierra will take a while, and when itâs completed the Mac reboots and goes through the setup procedure that is familiar to anyone who has owned a new Mac. Youâre asked to enter your Apple ID, create a user account, and setup iCloud. At this point, you have a clean version of macOS High Sierra on your Mac.
Step 5: Restore Data, Files and Apps
This step is probably the most time-consuming one in the entire clean install process. Copy your document files to the newly-cleaned Mac from an external drive or cloud service â note that if you have chosen to save all of your documents in your iCloud Drive, thereâs no need to perform this step.
App reinstalls are done quickly from the Mac App Store, and installers for other apps can be downloaded from the developers.
Carbon Copy Cleaner Macos Apps
You may need to set up your email accounts again, particularly for accounts that are on servers that arenât associated with Apple or Google. If you use a cloud backup service like Backblaze, be sure to set up the Mac client again so that you can begin your backups as soon as possible.
Thatâs it! You now have a squeaky clean installation of macOS High Sierra on your Mac. You may find, as I did when I installed macOS High Sierra on my iMac using this process, that you suddenly have a lot more space available on your computer and that it runs a bit more smoothly. Let us know how your clean install went by leaving a note in the comments section below.
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