You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Is it ok to use Cleanmymac x?

After looking at the comments about cleanmymac 3, I'm wondering if it is okay to use cleanmymac x.




[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Oct 21, 2021 1:37 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 21, 2021 3:05 PM

NO! There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.  


There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   


AntiVirus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.


There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is desshoigned solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  


9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 21, 2021 3:05 PM in response to N3ed-2-no

NO! There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.  


There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   


AntiVirus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.


There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is desshoigned solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  


Oct 21, 2021 3:29 PM in response to N3ed-2-no

I'm not a techy...


Never install any app that claims to "tune up", "speed up" or "clean up" your Mac. These apps exist for one reason: to separate the unwary and inexperienced user from their hard-earned money. At best they do very little, at worst, they can damage your OS installation and cause far more problems than they "solve".

Oct 21, 2021 4:28 PM in response to N3ed-2-no

Anything that says cleaner except perhaps Piriform's Cleaner is unsafe for the most part. Applejack is the only utility that actually cleans caches while booted as root in single user mode. All others can risk perpetually corrupting system cache files not to mention applications not launching properly and actual Mac slowdown.


Mackeeper

Advanced Mac Cleaner

Cleanmymac


and any Zeobit or Macpaw cleanup utility should be avoided like the plague.

Etrecheck is helpful in identifying if you have remnants:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002463


Malwarebytes and Avast are pretty thorough at most other cleanup functionality of viruses and malware.

The one exception is software which rewrites policies for Chrome under


chrome://policy


and redirects the standard search engine to an .xyz site.

Oct 21, 2021 2:35 PM in response to N3ed-2-no

N3ed-2-no wrote:
Would like to hear from others as well.

please do yourself a favour. stop using it and completely remove it from your mac. as already explained by the others, it's not good for anything, other than causing conflicts within macOS. it is well known to give you false info so that you feel that software is working. if you do continue using it, know that there are volunteers here that will attempt to help you after CMM finally causes issues for you and your mac.

Is it ok to use Cleanmymac x?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.