2. MacPaw CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X is a catch-all utility designed to identify and clean out gigabytes upon gigabytes of unused system garbage. It grants you easy access to several handy utilities to clear up disk space, protect user privacy, optimize performance, update applications, uninstall software, and help prevent malware and adware.
The modules include Smart Scan, System Junk, Mail Attachments, Trash Bins, Malware Removal, Privacy, Optimization, Maintenance, Uninstaller, Updater, Extensions, Space Lens, Large & Old Files, and Shredder. Among these you will find tools for file cleanup, malware removal, privacy cleanup, easy access to system extensions, the app uninstaller, and the ability to down multi-GB files you forgot to delete and a quick means of deleting them.
Smart Scan is the overarching umbrella feature, hunting down extraneous files that can be deleted to clear drive space, performing a quick malware scan, and executing a speed test to look into optimization functions, such as freeing up RAM or quickly clearing system caches. The Disk Lens and Uninstaller offered a clear view as to which folders were consuming the most drive space and a quick means of removing applications.
I was able to recover more than 30GB of drive space as the program found unused files and disk images galore.
Our main criticism is that the developer overextends themselves by trying to be everything to everyone. Unfortunately, some features aren’t as good as others – particularly the Malware removal module and the Updater function, neither of which work as well as we hoped, even with the antivirus being updated to take advantage of the Moonlock Engine.
CleanMyMac X is easy to download and install, and features a bright, friendly user interface and it’s exceptionally easy to see what’s gobbling up the most space on your Mac’s hard drive. The features are well-integrated. The software costs $34.95/£29.95 a year for a 1 Mac license (usually $34.95/£34.95), or a one-time purchase fee of $89.95/£76.95 for a 1 Mac license.
There’s a free version available to download There is a free trial version available on the Mac App Store and from MacPaw’s website, but it restricts the app to only remove files up to a maximum of 500MB – and in the middle of deleting files it will demand you pay the license fee for the app. You can download that limited version and scan your Mac to see just now much space you can save before committing to buying the app.
MacPaw is currently running a 30% discount for students – submit your university email address and receive a download code here.
