Category Archives: PC Cleanup

CleanMyMac X Review: As good as new?

Is CleanMyMac worth it? When searching for a reliable, safe Mac Cleaner that is worth it, balancing the cost and value can get complex. Especially, when there’s so many softwares with bloatware and malware out there.

When it comes to CleanMyMac, users find themselves weighing the pros and cons for hours… 

That is, deciding if CleanMyMac really works, how the features differ, and if there are free alternatives that will perform the same optimization.

What is CleanMyMac X?

Well, first thing first, what is CleanMyMac X? CleanMyMac is an app that monitors your system and recommends data to purge. With one click of the Scan button, you can dump gigabytes of built up caches, unused apps, mail attachments, temporary memory, and a whole lot more.

The CleanMyMac X update completely changed the interface, added a few awesome new features, and continues to provide an easy way for you to clear out your Mac’s junk. It’s a great option for keeping a Mac in tip-top shape if you’re not completely familiar with Terminal options, or want a one-stop solution for all the maintenance tasks your Mac may need.

Cleaning with CleanMyMac

Over time your Mac will gather more and more files, logs, system files and other stuff you may not need but that does take up space on your hard drive. And as a Mac user you will know that drive space comes at quite a price on a new Mac. The software looks at drive space in 3 categories: system files, mail and attachments and your waste bin.

Using the cleaning function the first time cleaned up about 30Gb of files, so that is impressive. Most of that were cache files, log files and language files of languages you don’t use. The mail function cleaned up attachments that are also kept in your mail server so don’t have to be kept offline on your harddrive. And the waste bin function keeps your waste bin clean. That isn’t something you can’t do manually, but doing it in CleanMyMac while you are at it is just as easy.

Malware and antivirus scan

When you look at the CleanMyMac X interface, you’ll see the Smart Scan option in the upper left corner. We expected to find quick and full scan options, but the way this program seems to work is a bit different.

The Smart Scan is where the magic happens. You’ll watch while it flies through your files and looks for anything suspicious.

It’s also considered the starting place for optimizing your Mac. When you run a Smart Scan, you’ll get a list of the files that could be unnecessary junk or worse, malware. The malware scan looks at potential threats and also suggests optimization tasks to increase your device speed, like emptying the trash bin.

The Malware Removal feature is the deep scan that checks every nook and cranny looking for bugs that may be hiding.

Even though viruses are not a significant problem on Macs, scanning for malware regularly is part of being a good internet citizen. You may have a Windows virus in an email attachment, and could unknowingly pass it on to your Windows-using friends.

CleanMyMac’s Privacy Scan doesn’t intrinsically make your computer any more secure. But it does delete sensitive information like browsing history, autofill forms, and chat logs, so that if your computer is compromised by hackers, they’ll get access to less information that can be used for identity theft.

Speed and Optimization

Over time, apps may start background processes that run continuously, taking up your system resources and slowing your computer. You may not even be aware that some of these processes are happening.

CleanMyMac can identify them for you, and give you a choice of whether they run or not. Also, any apps that have crashed may still be using system resources and slowing your computer.

In the maintenance section you can scan for other problems. Like cleaning up RAM memory by closing apps and modules that aren’t used. It will also clean up DNS cache, re-index spotlight for faster search results and several smaller scripts to speed up your system.

App Management feature

CleanMyMac X can help you manage your apps. It can help you update all your installed apps at once, to make sure you are on the latest versions of all apps. This is a good idea for security and stability in most cases, but you can also choose which ones you want to update. So you are still in control.

The app delete function is als very good. In some cases apps will come with a delete function, but most MacOS apps don’t have that option. So you will delete the files from your App folder and hope for the best. But many apps will still leave traces in other folders you will miss using this method. CleanMyMac will help you by finding all related stuff and cleaning it all up in one go.

CleanMyMac X cost

CleanMyMac X offers a free and paid version of its antivirus. Like most software, there are limitations to the features you’ll get without a paid plan. The paid plan costs $34.95/yr and covers one Mac, which is cheap compared to MacKeeper, another Mac-specific antivirus.

CleanMyMac X recently modified their free edition to offer customers a 7-day free trial without any limitations.

License Coverage

For instance, if you plan on using it for a year, the CleanMyMac license costs:

  • $34.95 for 1 Mac device 
  • $54.95 for 2 Mac devices
  • $79.95 for 5 Mac devices

However, if you’re looking for a one-time purchase, you’ll have to shell out 89.95 bucks for one machine, $134.95 for 2, and $199.95 for 5 Mac devices. They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, in case you change your mind or are dissatisfied with their service.

Conclusion

CleanMyMac X offers a variety of easy-to-use tools that can quickly free up space on your device and get rid of suspicious files. All its features work as they did since their inception, providing a great combination of functionality, design, and user experience. To top it all, it also supports Macs with the M1 processor as well as the older models with Intel chips. 

If you’ve always managed your files yourself and know-how and why (if ever) your system lags and you know how to fix it, that’s amazing! For others who want the ease of use and functionality over everything else, CleanMyMac is the way to go.

>> Try CleanMyMax X (Free Trial)

Ashampoo WinOptimizer Review

Ashampoo WinOptimizer is my first choice and its our best registry repair and cleaner software, WinOptimizer combines clean, repair and optimization tools with advanced features to speed up and improve the stability of your Windows.

Overview

The user interface is quite friendly. In the Overview section, you can take a look at details of the system, maintenance (auto-start entries, services, unnecessary objects – fixing them is done is a single click), hibernation files, old update backups, but you can also use tuning assistant (it searches for optimization options for your system, based on your preferences) and activate Live-Tuner (so you can monitor CPU and RAM usage).

Pros

With a single click, WinOptimizer’s feature called One Click Optimizer can search your computer for unneeded items, security issues and optimizations that can be made, and then proceed to fix them.

Live Tuner is a basic feature of WinOptimizer since it can boost any running application’s speed. It works in the background and does everything automatically (although you can change its settings from the options menu).

The program can analyze your system and give you detailed information about it, as well as make benchmark tests (and compare results online), view disk space usage, detect issues with your hard disks and let you manage installed fonts.

The file tools included in the toolset give you the power to completely wipe, encrypt, decrypt, split, join and undelete files. In addition, it can also find and remove any existing duplicate files from your computer.

Customizing Windows is possible too, with the help of the several tools included in WinOptimizer such as File Associator, Context Menu Manager, Icon Saver and User-Rights Manager.

Game Booster is a really useful feature for gamers, since it ends all unnecessary Windows processes to free memory and reduce CPU load.

The developers of WinOptimizer have improved the algorithms used in the program and now it is not only faster, but lighter too.

Cons

If you want to use WinOptimizer to its full scale, then you’ll have to spend some time and get familiar with it first.

Conclusions

Ashampoo WinOptimizer is hands down an excellent program and I can feel safe recommending it. As with all utilities of this nature, use it wisely. It can be a blessing if you’re careful, and a bust if you’re not.

>> Click here to get promotional price for Ashampoo WinOptimizer

For Mac, go for Mackeeper Premium

>> Read our full review here

 

Mackeeper Review

MacKeeper is a one-stop shop for optimizing your Apple. It’s an app that automatically cleans your computer, runs anti-virus software, and offers additional services to keep your Mac running efficiently.

At a glance:

Best for all-around protection

  • Cleans out junk files
  • Protects from viruses, phishing scams, malware, and more
  • Encrypts data
  • Acts as anti-theft protection
  • Optimizes memory
  • Offers live customer support

Main Features:

Antivirus

Antivirus is one of many MacKeeper’s features that detects not only Mac OS but also Windows viruses, and this can interest the Parallels Desktop users. A huge advantage of MacKeeper Antivirus is real-time protection of the system from malware, phishing attacks, identity thefts etc, with the daily updated virus database. As this antivirus has the Mac OS-based engine, the real-time protection does not impact your Mac’s performance.

Anti-Theft

MacKeeper’s Anti-Theft service will track your Mac’s location in case it’s stolen and take a pic of the thief using iSight. This pic plus the detailed location report will be emailed to you with instructions on what to do next. You can hand this information to the police when searching for your lost computer. A huge benefit is that MacKeeper support should call you right away after your Mac is found – even at night!

Hard Drive Cleanup

MacKeeper’s Fast Cleanup tool unites four cleaners that scan your Mac for specific types of junk such as binary files, language packs, cache and log files. Fast Cleanup gives you just one click to scan your Mac for all of these files and another click to remove them. Apart from the Fast Cleanup functionality that can be found in most Mac utilities, MacKeeper offers such unique features as Duplicates Finder and Disk Usage.

Pricing Options

Mackeeper comes with three different license versions:

  1. The lite version
  2. A standard license
  3. Lastly, mackeeper premium

The higher the pricing the more the features unlocked for use. For instance with the premium license, you enjoy;

  • the full bundle of 16 apps
  • full system fix
  • live chat
  • round-the-clock call support
  • priority support
  • personal technical geek
  • Free PCkeeper license

Help & Support

Support can be accessed via the website or the interface. On the website, anyone can view the FAQ and the tutorials. You can also call or email the support team at any time. Additional support is offered directly from the MacKeeper interface, which includes 24/7 chat and the “Geek on Demand” feature where you can ask technical questions about your Mac and get a professional answer from Apple-certified experts.

Conclusion

MacKeeper covers the spectrum from cleaning to security and optimization. They blow competition such as CleanMyMac clear out of the water with additional features, beefed up system security, anti-theft protection, and file cleaning tools like their shredder. With so many tools being offered at a competitive price and packaged in a user-friendly wrapping, MacKeeper is an obvious choice for anyone who is currently using an Apple device. Install this important security feature today, and keep your devices protected.

>> Click here to get promotional price for MacKeeper Premium