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Is CleanMyMac X safe

Using MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 on MacBook Air. Is CleanMyMac X safe? What's the best way to free up space?

MacBook

Posted on Nov 11, 2019 10:20 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 12, 2019 7:23 AM

Various cleaning apps and various versions have had a history of causing corruptions, and more than a few related discussions posted around the forums.


Security tools and security add-ons and removal tools are an increasingly scammy and malware-infested market, unfortunately.


The controversy around cleaning apps goes back many years.


As for notarization, that’s a signing and app-tracking process and a malware scan. That’s what gets an app past Gatekeeper, now.


“Notarization gives users more confidence that the Developer ID-signed software you distribute has been checked by Apple for malicious components. Notarization is not App Review. The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly. If there are no issues, the notary service generates a ticket for you to staple to your software; the notary service also publishes that ticket online where Gatekeeper can find it.” Highlights added.


That doesn’t mean the code works, and that doesn’t mean the code even works.


The App Review process—which is not part of notarization—is what checks that the app plays well with others, and a cleaner app almost by definition has to rummage in parts of the system and delete stuff that an app should not be deleting.


It’s a lucrative market too, judging solely by all the advertising.

12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 12, 2019 7:23 AM in response to paulgraneck

Various cleaning apps and various versions have had a history of causing corruptions, and more than a few related discussions posted around the forums.


Security tools and security add-ons and removal tools are an increasingly scammy and malware-infested market, unfortunately.


The controversy around cleaning apps goes back many years.


As for notarization, that’s a signing and app-tracking process and a malware scan. That’s what gets an app past Gatekeeper, now.


“Notarization gives users more confidence that the Developer ID-signed software you distribute has been checked by Apple for malicious components. Notarization is not App Review. The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly. If there are no issues, the notary service generates a ticket for you to staple to your software; the notary service also publishes that ticket online where Gatekeeper can find it.” Highlights added.


That doesn’t mean the code works, and that doesn’t mean the code even works.


The App Review process—which is not part of notarization—is what checks that the app plays well with others, and a cleaner app almost by definition has to rummage in parts of the system and delete stuff that an app should not be deleting.


It’s a lucrative market too, judging solely by all the advertising.

Is CleanMyMac X safe

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