What about Clean My Mac 3?

so there's nothing to be done with old prefs, kexts, daemons, files that remain but are no longer needed, and which nevertheless appear in scans like what Etrecheck does? Hunting those down and ridding your system of them serves no purpose? (for instance years-old VirtualBox kexts which I'd thought I'd uninstalled?)

Hello pcpclafferty,

This thread is old and Linc Davis is no longer active on the forums.

Your question is a difficult one. Mac OS X has no uninstallation architecture of any kind. None. If the software you install doesn't come with an uninstaller, or you lose it, or they go out of business, you are SOL. Before you install anything, especially something that asks for your password to install, find out how to uninstall it. Even then, sometimes the uninstallation instructions are wrong. And sometimes the uninstallation web sites are fraudulent, trying to get you to buy scam-ware.

In your case, your old VirtualBox extensions aren't loaded, so there is no need to do anything. If you really want those files removed, you will have to track down uninstallation instructions and hope they apply to your vintage of VirtualBox. I don't like to give specific instructions on how to manually delete these files because I have seen too many people get confused and start deleting the wrong files. The only safe choice then is to absolve oneself of the responsibility.

I found this review a few days ago when I was looking for reviews about MacPaw Clean My Mac 3. The review article is good enough to know should we use it.

I think you should read it.

https://usefulpcguide.com/17972/clean-my-mac-3/

The name of the site should be enough to tell you how valuable this review is....

GB

.

petego4it2 wrote:

What are thoughts about Clean My Mac 3?

Just bad as versions 1 and 2 were.

Wow, there is so much in the above post that is simply wrong. This person is painting with a very broad brush a complex range of issues. It's not worth going over this post point by point, and, while much of the information is valid, I'd skip advice from anyone with such a long list of things to avoid. (Notably, don't install any "utilities;" what exactly does that mean?)

As for DiskWarrior, it's one of the most valuable apps on my Macs. I do use it for maintenance, running it every couple of months. It corrects lots of small directory problems, ones that Apple's Disk Utility cannot correct, and it's saved files several times on drives that became corrupted. Because even with multiple backups, my files aren't backed up in real time, and there is always a delay between when files are saved and when they get backed up.

Sorry, but this overly obsessive opinionated person may have good advice about some things, but here he simply goes overboard.

You have problems every couple of months?

What are you doing, I have a problem maybe once a year.

I don't have problems every couple of months, but I run it every couple of months to ensure that my disks remain healthy.

If your most valuable program is a directory repair app, you do have problems.

You may not wish to trust the other poster - and, you are entitled to your opinion.

Having said that, why don't you do a google search on it and, since you addressed your first comment to Link Davis, I'd recommend you do a search for any of his posts here - he is very adamant in suggesting that one does NOT use it.

The fact is: Mac OS does not need "cleaning"; it defrags automatically. And, too many of the "cleaning" apps clean so well they delete needed system files.

I would not let it within 10 miles of my Macs. We'll be happy to help you when you need help from the damage it's done. Just let us know.

in no ones defense I've used Disk Warrior when all else failed and restore from backup was not possible, and it worked. Past that I would not use it for routine maintenance.

I'm not defending CleanMyMac. I'm just pointing out that there's a lot of scary stuff in his post that isn't quite true.

Linc has shown an extensive knowledge of OS X that few can claim, along with that he had his opinions, but he had them for his own reasons.

Hello Kirk,

Whose post are you talking about? This thread is almost three years old.

The Apple moderators really frown on commenting on other people's posts. If you have something meaningful to say to the Original Poster (the "OP"), then reply to that post. You are welcome to contradict what someone else just said, but don't mention the other post. That is a strategy that is likely to get your post removed. Above all, focus on how your post will help the OP. If it looks like the OP may have forgotten about this thread over the course of a few years, then you aren't likely to help them. Just move on to some other thread. If you make it your missing to start correcting bad advice, you have an awful lot of work ahead of you.