corrupt preferences

fcrvind wrote:

I have software that run that checks my system and repairs any issue it finds. When it comes to the section to remove corrupt preferences it says this operation is not permitted. Do corrupt preferences need to be removed?

"I have software that run that checks my system and repairs any issue it finds. "

This statement makes me a uneasy, and you're being a bit coy in not stating the obvious, what software?

However it is well known, cleaners, optimizers, anti-virus, speeder uppers, etc—are known to cause nothing but issues, including corruption, false flags, etc.

Yes corrupt plist can cause problems. Typically we replace corrupt plist...

" operation is not permitted" seems like a permission problem— you do not state what plist and/or where.

With Catalina you do not have r/w access to the /System volume:

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina

A good rule of thumb would be if you aren't having any issues with any applications, don't try to fix the preferences, they're not broke. If you are having issues with specific apps, it may or may not be corrupt preferences. While it can't hurt to rebuild preferences I would never do it through some third party app. It's easy enough to do manually.

fcrvind wrote:

What is the best way to identify and remove corrupt preferences?

What is your issue exactly?

fcrvind wrote:

Thanks for your reply. The software I've been using is Main Menu.

ref: mainmenuapp.com

You're welcome.