Is Clean My Mac a recommended program?

Do not install CleanMyMac. You will be back here after it causes more problems with your computer. In addition, you will be back needing help in how to delete it, as it will do its best to remain on your computer causing popups with fake problems so you will download another program for the supposed fix.

We are here to help with the current issue you are experiencing. You may want to include a screenshot of what you are seeing and any more information on when you are experiencing this behavior. Does it seem to happen after a set amount of inactivity when a screensaver should be starting?

No, do not install CleanMyMac.

The black screen with ? means that your iMac could for "some reason" not find the startup disk.

"some reasons" can be anything from an incomplete update to a flaky external hard drive.

If the black screen reappears randomly, regularly or you can not move past it.

see > If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

Mean time, I would startup in Safe Mode followed by a normal restart.

see > Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Oskar2023 wrote:

Clean my Mac X is a recommended platform by many users. It might help.

CleanMyMac is NOT recommended in these forums due to the number of problems users have experienced when they have installed the software. Don't take my word for it, just click the search tab on the top of the page and enter "CleanMyMac". Experienced users recognize it simply as Malware. The app can be downloaded for free, but will give you fake alerts that require a paid subscription to remove. Inexperienced user just think that the program is working by solving these fake problems, but if they never installed it, they would not have any problems that would require the subscription to fix.

CMM meets the minimum requirements for selling thru the App Store and Apple is in it for the $$$. If you do a search of the Ventura, and earlier system communities you'll find hundreds and hundreds of posts where CMM was the culprit for the problem cited.

It's your calla but none of the experiences contributors here will recommend CMM nor let it anywhere near their Macs.

DMtn,

The original question was "Is Clean My Mac a recommended program?" If that is what you are asking, Clean My Mac is 100% total garbage. Most experienced users on these forums consider it malware. Please do not download or install any third party:

• Antivirus apps
• Cleaning apps
• Maintenance apps
• VPN apps
• Security apps

All Mac OS needs to remain secure and healthy is to be kept up-to-date and to restart your computer about 1x per week.

GunnarSJ wrote:

Interestingly CleanMyMac is sold in the Apple App Store. I cannot say whether it is a good or bad thing to run but I have been using it for about seven years with no issue. One time it supposedly found a couple of infected files on email attachments that were in the Junk inbox. The comments here make me wonder if I should delete but since I have never had an issue it gives me pause.

Yes you should delete CleanMyMac using the methods already suggested and possibly posting the EtreCheck report to ensure all files have been deleted. Apps available in the App Store are not meant to be endorsed by Apple. Generally using the App Store is safer as the Applications are only downloaded to the Applications folder, which makes it easier to delete them. What you will find with CleanMyMac is that they will claim you need to install additional software or scan your computer that will also install files in locations on your computer that are not as easily deleted. In my opinion, any benefit from the app is outweighed by the resources consumed, fake protection messages meant to make you believe the app is useful, and the many problems reported by other users here on these forums associated with the app.

Jack-19 wrote:

Oskar2023 wrote:

Clean my Mac X is a recommended platform by many users. It might help.

CleanMyMac is not needed on Mac computers. It can harm user files and lead to poor performance and an unstable Mac. If installed, we suggest that it be deleted.

-Jack

Oskar2023 wrote:

Clean my Mac X is a recommended platform by many users. It might help.

CleanMyMac is not needed on Mac computers. It can harm user files and lead to poor performance and an unstable Mac. If installed, we suggest that it be deleted.

-Jack

Most experienced users on these forums consider CMM as malware. NEVER EVER install third party:

1. Antivirus apps
2. Cleaning apps
3. Security apps
4. VPN apps

Unless you want your computer to become unstable, slow and make Mac OS appear buggy. To keep your Mac running well simply keep Mac OS up-to-date and restart the computer about once every week or so.

Jean Kathleen, don't go to just any "Mac tech guy". If you can't log in to your Mac because "CleanMyMac" ruined it, I strongly suggest you post a brand new question with that topic, or contact Apple using the Support link below.

Having said that, the first thing I do with any Mac that has ever been affected by any non-Apple "cleaning" product is to erase it completely. It saves time. Those things are scams. They are destructive in nature, and they wreck Macs.

It may not be designed as malware but it's so poorly designed that it looks for items that can't be there, gives false positives, moves files it shouldn't touch which messes up the system and apps.

Apple lets it on the App Store because it brings in revenue. It's simple as that.

The only app that is designed to look for and isolate malware that I can recommend is the free version of Malwarebytes. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community who knows Macs. 

To see all the problems CleanMyMac causes, simply click the Search tab on the top of the screen and enter "CleanMyMac". You are free to use whatever software you like and we are here only to help others with the issues they are having with their computer. You will see that once they are able to remove CMM, their problems are solved. This piece of software has been labeled Malware, since it wants to live on your system without a simple way to remove all the files it installs. It will also claim to solve fake problems with your system to make you think that the program is providing value to you.

As for clearing purgeable space on your HD, the Mac will do that all on its own. That is what purgeable space means and will be cleared whenever that space is needed. There is no advantage to removing it before it is needed. That is just another example of CMM claiming to provide a benefit that does not exist.

If you are looking for large files to delete, I can recommend Find Any File, which does not install any system files and can be easily deleted by moving it to the trash, unlike CMM.

Jean Kathleen,

You may still have parts of CMM installed on the computer. Please download the free version of FindAnyFile and have it look for anything that has Clean My Mac, CleanMyMac, MacPaw in it and remove these. Then empty the Trash and test your computer.

CJS510 wrote:

As an It professional I can say on thing if was that harmful apple wouldn't let you buy it from the Apple Store. The issue here is that most of this stuff that's done by the software you can do your self, if you have knowledge or knowledge where to look. Now about it messing up you computer that issue you have most antivirus software is that can be to over bearing. I think the bigger issue people don't understand the software and what there doing it deleting wrong files not understanding the task that are being performed while other task are running at the same time. That's just my two cents on the matter.

You just need to click the Search tab on the top of this page and enter "CleanMyMac" and draw your own conclusions. You will see the many problems this program has caused users and the difficulty they have had removing it. The installer used when purchasing the software from their website installs many system files that run on startup and conflict with the normal operation of the Mac. There is no reason for those files to be constantly running in the background, even when you are not using the app.

Apologies for the late response but this comment demands it:

CJS510 wrote:

As an It professional I can say on thing if was that harmful apple wouldn't let you buy it from the Apple Store.

That is basically true, but MAS software can absolutely be detrimental to a Mac's operation without being harmful.

Case in point: a colleague brought a Mac to me that didn't seem as responsive as it should have been. Upon questioning her she admitted using CMM to "clean" it, but all remnants of the program had been removed. Yet it still performed poorly. Booted Safe Mode, no help. Still not running well. Fan blowing, etc. I could find no obvious culprit. Using Console (which I do not generally recommend) the problem turned out to be a macOS process that was encountering constant I/O errors writing to a file. It turned out to be a log file that CMM "cleaned". File no longer existed.

What could go wrong with deleting a simple log file? Apparently, a lot.

Log files are created and maintained by the system. macOS expects them to be present. Perhaps Apple's engineers should have foreseen the possibility of users sticking their fingers where they shouldn't be stuck, and anticipated the need to create a required file that mysteriously vanished. But at some point it's unreasonable to anticipate every possible dumb thing some malicious or merely inept developer might do. This program met all of Apple's App Store requirements. It was not "harmful" yet it still caused a perfectly good Mac to perform poorly.

This is also the reason I advocate erasing any Mac that has ever had any such "cleaning" product installed. It saves time. Instructing someone in Console over a support site like this would be an exercise in futility.

For the Mac in question, I created an empty log file where it should be and all was well.

The issue here is that most of this stuff that's done by the software you can do your self, if you have knowledge or knowledge where to look.

If you have the knowledge of where to look, then you would have the knowledge to not use such things.

CMM sycophants typically defend its use by saying "it's perfectly ok to use" followed by the slightly haughty disclaimer "... if you know what you're doing."

• If you know what you're doing, you don't need it.
• If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.