Cocktail (from Maintain)

Question

Cocktail (from Maintain)

I've been using Cocktail for several years as a first tool for tidying up my iMac and MBP - I run it 2/3 times a year and the Mac always seems to be a bit slicker afterwards. I initially bough a single user license for my iMac, later a family license to add my MBP and my wife's iMac. Over the years, Maintain have issued a new release to coincide with MacOs updates. But, this year, my license no longer works for Mojave; I emailed Maintain and got a brief (almost curt) response to say I need to buy a new license for the version to run with Mojave. No warning that they'd changed their policy, no explanation (or even upgrade price). £31.80 (for the Family license) isn't a lot and, if they'd been more forthcoming about the change, I'd have paid as it's a useful utility.

However, their attitude to customers doesn't endear me to them so I'm going to see what else is out there that does a similar job. Macs don't need much to keep them running smoothly but Cocktail provides a useful interface for jobs that would otherwise require Terminal commands. Any recommendations?

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Jan 19, 2019 2:48 AM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,349 points

Jan 19, 2019 3:36 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

Suit yourself. The only one I could recommend is Onyx.

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 12, 2019 3:28 PM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

Also a boot into Safe Mode will do some cache cleaning. Safe Mode performs some system checks and cache cleaning before login (which is why it takes longer to boot).

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,349 points

Jan 19, 2019 3:13 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

Macs do not need so called cleaning/maintenance apps such as Cocktail. They do the job without any assistance.

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Answer 4

Jan 19, 2019 3:30 AM in response to dialabrain

Macs may not need maintenance apps - but they can still be useful. My wife's iMac occasionally slows down (not totally unresponsive but enough to get almost as frustrating as her previous Windows PC); a reboot helps - but the improvement is even better is the reboot is preceded by a Cocktail sweep. Since upgrading to Mojave, that option will no longer be available.

MacOS cleans up pretty well after itself but its priorities aren't always convenient and it benefits from some help on occasions.

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Answer 5

Jan 19, 2019 5:33 AM in response to Lexiepex

My wife's iMac is the 2TB HD version (and less that half full); my iMac has over 100GB free on its SSD, and over 300GB on my MBP. I've long worked on the principle of trying to maintain at least half of my OS/home drive free.

I agree that caches are there for a reason and normally let the OS decide when to purge. However, as above, I've found that the automatic process doesn't always optimise in line with actual usage. It's not the cache cleaning that I think most useful (though forcing the OS to rebuild can sometimes help). For example, for a while I was getting corrupt preference files - eventually resolved with a driver update, but Cocktail was able to find and fix in the meantime. Cocktail has a number of useful commands that would otherwise need a dip into Terminal - laziness, perhaps, but saves searching online for the right command (and risk it not being so).

I'd forgotten about Onyx - I remember looking at it when I first tried Cocktail.

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Answer 6

Jan 19, 2019 7:39 AM in response to Lexiepex

No, a straightforward 2TB HD. SSDs have become the norm for OS/home drives but spinning rust still works. It’s not the fastest at firing up apps but, once running, it’s fine. I run Win 10 as a VM on my iMac - it resides on the HD (rather than take up space on the SSD) and, whilst not as slick as it could be, is quick enough for occasional use for work that just can’t be done on MacOS. It’s actually quicker than the Windows 7 PC that was replaced by my iMac!

Straying off-topic. Thanks for confirming Onyx as best option (though I’ll wait until the need arises before installing)...

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Answer 7

zboomer

Level 1

8 points

Jan 26, 2019 9:18 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

Hello all,

I find myself and my family similarly situated as several others have stated. I had a family license of Cocktail, that I had been successfully using on my family's MacBook machines since 1913. The curt response from Maintain is unacceptable poor customer service. I thank this forum and the fellow members for their welcome comments and suggestions.

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Answer 8

Jan 19, 2019 5:35 AM in response to dialabrain

Thanks. I recall looking at Onyx years ago. I might try that if the need arises.

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Answer 9

dialabrain

Level 10

136,349 points

Jan 19, 2019 5:43 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

You're welcome.

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Answer 10

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Jan 19, 2019 6:11 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

your wife's imac is perhaps a fusion drive? That is by far not the fastest way for an OS.

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Answer 11

Mar 9, 2019 12:40 AM in response to Setagayan

.....adding insult to injury - having taken your prompt payment they announce the "separate email with. license code" may. take up to a further 10hrs delay!

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Answer 12

Apr 12, 2019 3:16 PM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

Maintain did the exact same thing to me. I asked them about upgrade pricing and they didn't even reply after two requests. Not impressed in the slightest. I'm moving on.

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Answer 13

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Jan 19, 2019 4:45 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

In general macs clean daily weekly monthly.

Cocktail and Onyx can do that when you want. But macs clean caches, and when you do more, that can lead to problems.

So if you want to perform these tasks on another moment than what the mac already does, it can help a bit.

Normally cleaning caches everyday makes a mac slower instead of faster (the caches are there to speed up the use of recurrent file reads).

Maybe it is time to research if your mac needs more fee space. Recommended free space on a SSD is about 25-50GB.

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Answer 14

Jan 29, 2019 7:09 AM in response to Steve @ Aberdeen

I am in the same boat. My Cocktail Family License serial number has become invalid. Attempts to contact Maintain.se (Cocktail) via their customer support interface, and also via direct e-mail go unanswered (so far). There is no announcement in their prMac announcement for Cocktail 12.0 (Mojave Edition) that this update will require a new serial number (purchase). There is also no "stickie" information on their website. I still retain the original "Thank you for your order" receipt for <<cocktail family license lifetime upgrades>> I have been using this software frequently, but if there is no announcement, no reply from customer support, I cannot justify buying a new license.

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Answer 15

dialabrain

Level 10

136,349 points

Jan 26, 2019 10:15 AM in response to zboomer

Wow, Since 1913 aye? That's even longer I've owned Macs. 😎

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Cocktail (from Maintain)

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