What is the best software to keep your Macbook Pro tuned up and running fast?

2 programs. CCleaner and AVG Antivirus

When you delete files it still stays on your hard drive. CCleaner will wipe it off safely

When your mac is fighting Virus' it goes slow. AVG Antivirus = cure 😀

I use these they are really good

Use Disk Warrior 5 monthly, Cocktail or Onyx weekly, and occasionally Disk Doctor or Clean My Mac. Keep >20% free space on hard drive.

Why even consider Drive Genius ?

There is NO application or utility that will enhance the performance or 'clean' the MBP. The end user the the barrier to the introduction of items that may be adverse to the performance of the MBP.

The applications mentionem, along with all others advertised, will at best do no hard and at worst harm your MBP by deleting necessary files in error and slowing down the Mac.. I urge all of the respondents and Gizmo Guy to rid the MBPs of the applications mentioned. You will be much better off.

Do a search on these forums and you will find that my advice will be affirmed many times over by experienced Mac users.

Ciao.

I have to agree with OGELTHORPE on this. Steer clear of all AntiVirus Software and anything that says it can "speed up your disk", such as Drive Genius.

That being said, I do use some programs for housekeeping:

- Disk Utility to fix the permissions on my HD every now and then (mainly whenever I witness some behaviour I can't explain)

- Clean My Mac 3 for 2 reasons:

- To delete ALL components of programs I want to delete and am 100% sure that I will never install again.

- To clean up HD Junk that uses space but you don't really need.

You don't really need Clean My Mac. It will not make your computer faster, it will just aid in cleaning out junk from your HD, giving you more usable space.

Any program that promises to "clean" or "speed up" your Mac is scammy crapware. Never download any such programs!

You do not need Drive Genius. Also ignore the advice to use CCleaner, AVG, Disk Doctor and CleanMyMac. Those are also not needed, and will do more harm to your Mac than good.

If you're having a problem with performance, download a copy of EtreCheck:

http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Run it and post a copy of the report it generates here.

For some additional information about these kinds of issues, see:

Mac Performance Guide

Mac Malware Guide

The myth of the dirty Mac

(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com.)

I was just doing a search on recommended "procedures" for small issues with Mac Pro not running correctly. The apple support people at one time had sent me a link for a procedure to do upon or before start up when I was having issues with my keyboard not working. They had me doing a sequence of holding certain keys upon power up. Also there was a sequence of keys or a file to clear out that I should do routinely....I just don't know where I saved the email to follow those instructions. They said I should do this once a month...I haven't done t for it a year I bet! Oops

Love the nickname!

Thanks in advance for your help.

PL

How to maintain a Mac

Make two or more backups of all your files

One backup is not enough to be safe. A copy of a backup doesn't count as another backup; all backups must be made directly from the original data.

Keep at least one backup off site at all times in case of disaster. Backing up to a cloud-data service is one way to accomplish this, but don't rely exclusively on such backups.

In fact, don’t rely exclusively on any single backup method, such as Time Machine.

If you get an indication that a backup has failed, don't ignore it.

Keep your software up to date

In the App Store or Software Update preference pane (depending on the OS version), you can configure automatic notifications of updates to OS X and other Mac App Store products. Some third-party applications from other sources have a similar feature, if you don’t mind letting them phone home. Otherwise you have to check yourself on a regular basis.

Keeping up to date is especially important for complex software that modifies the operating system, such as device drivers. Don't install such modifications unless they're absolutely necessary. Remove them when they are no longer needed. Before installing any Apple update, you must check that all system modifications that you use are compatible. Incompatibility with third-party software is by far the most common cause of difficulties with system updates.

Don't install crapware

...such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” "boosters," “extenders,” “cleaners,” "doctors," "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, such stuff is useless or worse than useless. Above all, avoid any software that purports to change the look and feel of the user interface.

It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the whole "utility" software industry for the Mac is a fraud on consumers. The most extreme examples are the "CleanMyMac," "TuneUpMyMac," and “MacKeeper” scams, but there are many others.

As a rule, you should avoid software that changes the way other software works. Plugins for Photoshop and similar programs are an obvious exception to this rule. Safari extensions, and perhaps the equivalent for other web browsers, are a partial exception. Most are safe, and they're easy to get rid of if they don't work. Some may cause the browser to crash or otherwise malfunction. Some are malicious. Use with caution, and install only well-known extensions from relatively trustworthy sources, such as the Safari Extensions Gallery.

Only install software that is useful to you, not (as you imagine) to the computer. For example, a word processor is useful for writing. A video editor is useful for making movies. A game is useful for fun. But a "cache cleaner" isn't useful for anything. You didn't buy a computer so you could clean caches.

Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it. Otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve. Do not rely on "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

Don't install bad, conflicting, or unnecessary fonts

Whenever you install new fonts, use the validation feature of the built-in Font Book application to make sure the fonts aren't defective and don't conflict with each other or with others that you already have. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions.

Deactivate or remove fonts that you don't really need to speed up application launching.

Avoid malware

"Malware" is malicious software that circulates on the Internet. This kind of attack on OS X was once so rare that it was hardly a concern, but it's now increasingly common and dangerous.

There is some built-in protection against malware, but you can’t rely on it—the attackers are always at least one day ahead of the defense. You can’t rely on third-party "anti-virus" products for protection either. What you can rely on is common-sense awareness—not paranoia, which only makes you more vulnerable.

Never install software from an untrustworthy or unknown source. If in doubt, do some research. Any website that prompts you to install a “codec” or “plugin” that comes from the same site, or an unknown site, is untrustworthy. Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must come directly from the developer's website. No intermediary is acceptable, and don’t trust links unless you know how to parse them. Any file that is automatically downloaded from the web, without your having requested it, should go straight into the Trash. A web page that tells you that your computer has a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with it, is a scam.

In OS X 10.7.5 or later, downloaded applications and Installer packages that have not been digitally signed by a developer registered with Apple are blocked from loading by default. The block can be overridden, but think carefully before you do so.

Because of recurring security issues in Java, it’s best to disable it in your web browsers, if it’s installed. Few websites have Java content nowadays, so you won’t be missing much. This action is mandatory if you’re running any version of OS X older than 10.6.8 with the latest Java update. Note: Java has nothing to do with JavaScript, despite the similar names. Don't install Java unless you're sure you need it. Most people don't.

Don't fill up your disk or SSD

A common mistake is adding more and more large files to your home folder until you start to get warnings that you're out of space, which may be followed in short order by a startup failure. This is more prone to happen on the newer Macs that come with an internal SSD instead of the traditional hard drive. The drive can be very nearly full before you become aware of the problem.

While it's not true that you should or must keep any particular percentage of space free, you should monitor your storage use and make sure you're not in immediate danger of using it up. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of free space on the startup volume for normal operation.

If storage space is running low, use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeperto explore the volume and find out what's taking up the most space. Move seldom-used large files to secondary storage.

Relax, don’t do it

Besides the above, no routine maintenance is necessary or beneficial for the vast majority of users; specifically not “cleaning caches,” “zapping the PRAM,” "resetting the SMC," “rebuilding the directory,” "defragmenting the drive," “running periodic scripts,” “dumping logs,” "deleting temp files," “scanning for viruses,” "purging memory," "checking for bad blocks," "testing the hardware," or “repairing permissions.” Such measures are either completely pointless or are useful only for solving problems, not for prevention.

To use a Mac effectively, you have to free yourself from the Windows mindset that every computer needs regular downtime for maintenance such as "defragging" and "registry cleaning." Those concepts do not apply to the Mac platform.

A well-designed computing device is not something you should have to think about much. It should be an almost transparent medium through which you communicate, work, and play. If you want a machine that needs a lot of attention just to keep going, use a PC, or collect antique cars.

The very height of futility is running an expensive third-party application called “Disk Warrior” when nothing is wrong, or even when something is wrong and you have backups, which you must have. Disk Warrior is a data-salvage tool, not a maintenance tool, and you will never need it if your backups are adequate. Don’t waste money on it or anything like it.

IceFishingGuy wrote:

there was a sequence of keys or a file to clear out that I should do routinely....

Nope, there's nothing like that that you should do routinely. All startup key combinations have very specific uses, and should only be used in the right circumstances. Anything that Mac OS X should be doing routinely, it already is.

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Who on earth moderates these forums? How can my post be removed yet others with the same 'offence' IN THE SAME POST remain?

I suggested 1 App, one I have used and that I believe is worthy enough to be recommended - gets deleted for 'Advertising'. ...so we can't recommend Apps now?

Yet numerous people in this post are recommending apps, including one person recommending their own apps for which they may receive 'compensation' is that not considered advertising?

BMoon wrote:

Who on earth moderates these forums? How can my post be removed yet others with the same 'offence' IN THE SAME POST remain?

I suggested 1 App, one I have used and that I believe is worthy enough to be recommended

But it is junk.

Yet numerous people in this post are recommending apps, including one person recommending their own apps for which they may receive 'compensation' is that not considered advertising?

But it works.

I just posted in the FHB.

Ciao.

BMoon wrote:

I suggested 1 App, one I have used and that I believe is worthy enough to be recommended - gets deleted for 'Advertising'

That suggests that the moderator who deleted your posts had some reason to believe that you were affiliated with the Disk Doctor app. I have no idea what that moderators might have seen to suggest that. I had wondered about that myself, but was unable to find any evidence one way or the other.

These forums have had recent very severe problems with people setting up fake profiles and promoting apps through "astroturfing." Thus, they may be quick to pull the trigger when it comes to such things.

one person recommending their own apps for which they may receive 'compensation' is that not considered advertising?

To clarify, my recommendations above did not involve any of my own apps. I recommended EtreCheck, which is not my app. I also gave links to several articles on my site. Since those pages have links to my software, I must include a disclaimer to comply with the rules of these forums.

Thanks for clearing that up. Well I can safely say I am in no way affiliated with the app, I had used others but that seems to do the job. I'm sure you can understand what I'm saying mind, if anyone is more closely affiliated with the apps they are mentioning it's you. I have used a few others, but that one seemed to do the job for me.

It's not junk. Ive deleted plenty of files using it 🙂 Have you actually tried it?

Regardless of the content people are recommending, would it not all be 'advertising'? Yes. Yes it would.