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

Using CleanMyMac 3. But everytime you clean your mac, then open a Terminal window and run the following commands there:

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

sudo kextcache -system-cache

BMoon wrote:

It's not junk. Ive deleted plenty of files using it 🙂

People have deleted plenty of files using MacKeeper, but that is definitively junk. The fact that you can use it to delete files is irrelevant. The question is: why do you feel that the files it deletes need deleting? Short answer, they don't, and in fact, deleting some of them may have a short-term negative impact on your system's performance, as your system tries to recover from having those files get deleted by re-creating them.

Việt Anh Trịnh wrote:

Using CleanMyMac 3. But everytime you clean your mac, then open a Terminal window and run the following commands there:

No, don't use CleanMyMac, which is junk, and definitely don't mess with those Terminal commands!

So you agree with Ogelthorpe but simultaneously disagree with him ? That's funny.

Have been "doing Macs" for over 30 years. I disagree with Ogelthorpe in that I've witnessed Cocktail and Clean My Mac and Disk Warrior improve the performance of Macs, and they have NEVER done harm. Never.

Disk Warrior has been a "godsend". It has detected early hard drive failures (even in the face of normal S.M.A.R.T parameters) and also corrected catalog/VIB damage making a non-bootable Mac bootable, enhancing launches, and improving quit times.

Even though some processes can be done from the command line, Cocktail and CMM make maintenance more convenient.

Disagree with about 30% of what Mr. Davis has posted. Disk Warrior is NOT only a data salvage tool. About 55% of the time when I am summoned to help an ailing Mac (won't boot, goes slow, programs fail to quit, kernel panic, spinning ball, etc.) Disk Warrior corrects the problems completely. I've never used DW for data recovery. Haven't had to since the client has a back up and/or Data Rescue works fine or they did not care about the lost data. Warrior, Cocktail, and Clean My Mac are all reasonably priced and last for years with no annual subscription. I am in no way related to these programs or companies, and received absolutely no compensation in any manner, shape, or form from any of these programs or companies or authors.

"People have deleted plenty of files using MacKeeper, but that is definitively junk"

Agree 100%. MacKeeper's ad blitz redirects at many sites is a clue. Excellent programs do not need such intrusive advertising.

Thomas, you posted "and in fact, deleting some of them may have a short-term negative impact on your system's performance, as your system tries to recover from having those files get deleted by re-creating them."

Please give some examples of this negative impact and which files have to be recreated which cause such a negative impact.

"I just posted in the FHB"

Huh ? Where/what is the FHB ?

"I've heard Drive Genius 4 is really good. Any idea's would help."

GizmoGuy: What is wrong with your computer which makes you think any additional program is needed ?

MacPcConsultant wrote:

Please give some examples of this negative impact and which files have to be recreated which cause such a negative impact.

Cache files. All "cleaning" programs delete them, yet caches are there for a reason: to keep your computer running fast. When you delete them, you cause a short-term negative impact on speed, because the cached data is now gone, and the system will just turn around and re-create them.

MacPcConsultant wrote:

Have been "doing Macs" for over 30 years. I disagree with Ogelthorpe in that I've witnessed Cocktail and Clean My Mac and Disk Warrior improve the performance of Macs, and they have NEVER done harm. Never.

I've been using and supporting Macs for just as long, but that's really not relevant. What we were doing 30 years ago, or even 5 years ago, has little bearing on what we should be doing today. Even 5 years ago, practices that are now unnecessary were considered to be important. For example, at one time, running the daily, weekly and monthly scripts manually was necessary, since Mac OS X was only set to run those in the middle of the night, when most Macs were turned off or asleep. These days, not only are those scripts rather unimportant, but they get run at the first available opportunity after their middle-of-the-night scheduled time.

So, regarding Disk Warrior... once upon a time, disks got corrupt fairly frequently, and repair tools like Disk Warrior were great. These days, though, a modern journaled hard drive just doesn't get corrupt unless there's something very serious going wrong... usually, drive failure. Using a tool like Disk Warrior in such a case is like trying to put a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. I quit using Disk Warrior several years ago, because it stopped being useful. If you have a much older Mac to maintain, it may have use, but not on a modern system. A good set of backups is all you need now.

Regarding things like Cocktail and CleanMyMac, they may not have ever caused harm for you, but I have personally seen people who have managed to trash their systems with such tools. There is potential danger to using them, and there is absolutely zero benefit! All those mysterious "junk files" that need to be cleaned are not junk and don't need to be deleted. I have given specific reasons why this is true numerous times here, but the opposing side (those who believe such tools have worth) has yet to provide any hard data as to why it is useful to remove these files. That is because there is none.

I agree with Ogelthorpe but mentioned that I do use use certain programs. But I was too glib using the term "junk" and too short in my reply, leading to misunderstandings. But then thomas_r came along and said what I wanted to say it better than I can. So I refer to his reply and just want to explain what I meant with "Junk".

You don't NEED CleanMyMac. In fact I don't recommend people use it. But I had a 128GB MB Air and used to get to the limit of my HD space every now and then. So I started using CMM to find and delete certain files and file components that I don't need, such as Localisations, Language Files, Leftovers, Original copies of edited photos, old iOS Backups, forgotten large files and stuff like that. And as thomas_r said: caches are there for a reason. So I don't delete those and the mac does good housekeeping on it's own.

And yes, thomas_r: what might have been true 5 or 10 years ago is not necessarily so now. SSDs and modern journaled filesystems changed the game.

Star69 wrote: "

So, regarding Disk Warrior... once upon a time, disks got corrupt fairly frequently, and repair tools like Disk Warrior were great. These days, though, a modern journaled hard drive just doesn't get corrupt unless there's something very serious going wrong... usually, drive failure. Using a tool like Disk Warrior in such a case is like trying to put a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. I quit using Disk Warrior several years ago, because it stopped being useful. If you have a much older Mac to maintain, it may have use, but not on a modern system. A good set of backups is all you need now.

Regarding things like Cocktail and CleanMyMac, they may not have ever caused harm for you, but I have personally seen people who have managed to trash their systems with such tools. There is potential danger to using them, and there is absolutely zero benefit! All those mysterious "junk files" that need to be cleaned are not junk and don't need to be deleted. I have given specific reasons why this is true numerous times here, but the opposing side (those who believe such tools have worth) has yet to provide any hard data as to why it is useful to remove these files. That is because there is none."

Here is were we substantially disagree, There are still RAM-starved Macs out there, and those enhance software collisions. This leads to distorting of the VIB and other issues, even with a new or healthy hard drive. Warrior determines and corrects those issues. Again, I have never seen one bit of damage from running the standard maintenance part of Onyx, CMM, or Cocktail. They have only improved performance, sometimes a little, sometimes substantially. These programs have reconstituted many a Mac, unless the hard drive is failing and/or the OS needs reinstallation.

Just because you have hearsay reports of something wise and a maneuver does not mean that program is responsible. One needs to determine the cause of the alleged worsening and determine of there is any causal relationship. "Correlation doesn't mean causation". There's a darn good reason why the so called "Apple Geniuses" in each Apple Store often use Disk Warrior. Even today's modern hard drives inside Macs with >8 GB of RAM still develop software changes deteriorating the machines performance. If one uses DW on a failing hard drive, and one fails to notice the warnings of "slow access due to drive failure" and if the user fails to do a catalog comparison so that after catalog replacement there are fewer visible files, those files have no been lost. I've been issues only related to permissions, and Cocktail is a simple way to correct those permissions, and do a few other tasks, more than Apple's Disk Utility. I manage hundreds of Macs, some back to G3 and G4 towers and OS 7 - 9.

The massive benefit of these type of programs bring big value, time savings, and small to no cost, and have not witnessed any irreversible damage which has been proven to be done by these programs (other than in the case of a borderline failing hard drive continues to be used).

These are two different discussions. IF you have a problem or deteriorating performance, then, by all means, try to find out what is causing the problem. And use any and all software available to correct the problem. And if you're dealing with G3, G4 or OS 7-9, by all means use DW. (I would think that replacing those Macs would drastically reduce OPEX, so that would be my recommendation, but that's me.)

But the OP asked "What is the best software to keep your Macbook Pro tuned up and running fast?". And here, the correct answer is "none necessary"

You're saying a lot of things that sound like facts to the inexperienced ear, but they don't make sense. Whether a Mac is RAM-starved or not has nothing whatsoever to do with corruption on a modern journaled hard drive. I would note that a program like Disk Warrior could easily fix the corruption on a dying drive, allowing your client to take home what seems to be a working Mac... until some time later when the drive finally gives up the ghost completely. If your client has gone home with the belief that the computer is fixed, and doesn't stay on top of backups, then you could end up being guilty of having caused that client data loss.

As for your repeated insistence that tools like CleanMyMac are useful, you still haven't answered the question of exactly what function they provide that is useful, and why? Why do you believe that deleting files with these apps is useful? I don't want anecdotal reports, such as "I used CleanMyMac on Joe's computer and it made it faster." Cause and effect can often be muddled in such cases. I want you to explain your perception of the technical merit of these tools.