NC1955

Q: Do you recommend downloading the Mac cleaner?

Does anyone know if it is recommended to download a "cleaner" program for an Mac iPro?

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Aug 27, 2016 6:33 PM

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Q: Do you recommend downloading the Mac cleaner?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Meg St._Clair,Helpful

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Aug 27, 2016 6:50 PM in response to NC1955
    Level 9 (58,404 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 27, 2016 6:50 PM in response to NC1955

    Almost everyone here is going to give you a resounding recommendation that you NEVER download something like that. They do far more harm than good.

     

    Why do you think you need to?

  • by NC1955,

    NC1955 NC1955 Aug 27, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 27, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    I don't necessarily think I need to as much as I don't know if I should. I'm not very much of a "tech" person and don't want to ruin my computer by downloading something that is not recommended / needed. Thank you for responding to my question.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Aug 27, 2016 7:03 PM in response to NC1955
    Level 9 (58,404 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 27, 2016 7:03 PM in response to NC1955

    Glad to here you asked advice before downloading. While that may not make you a "tech" person, it does make you a smart one.

  • by John Galt,Solvedanswer

    John Galt John Galt Aug 28, 2016 5:58 AM in response to NC1955
    Level 8 (48,578 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 28, 2016 5:58 AM in response to NC1955

    Avoid all products claiming to "clean" a Mac. It is a marketing term used to exploit unsophisticated computer users, and devoid of any applicable meaning.

     

    Excerpted from Effective defenses against malware and other threats:

     

    • Never install any product that claims to "clean up", "speed up", "optimize", "boost" or "accelerate" your Mac; to "wash" it, "tune" it, or to make it "shiny". Those claims are absurd.
      • Such products are very aggressively marketed. They are all scams.
      • They generally operate on the flawed premise that a Mac accumulates "junk" that needs to be routinely "cleaned out" for optimum performance.
      • Trial versions of those programs are successful because they provide the instant gratification of greater free disk space.
      • That increased space is the result of irreversible destruction of files, programs, or operating system components normally protected from inadvertent alteration or deletion. The eventual result will be unreliable operation, poor performance and random crashes that may not become evident for months or even years after their use, when updates to programs or OS X are eventually released.
      • Memory "cleaners" that circumvent OS X's memory management algorithms work by purging inactive memory contents to mass storage, which can only result in degraded performance and accelerated hardware failure.
  • by NC1955,

    NC1955 NC1955 Aug 28, 2016 5:59 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 28, 2016 5:59 AM in response to John Galt

    Thank you, very much. I will ignore all the ads trying to get me to download one.

  • by NC1955,

    NC1955 NC1955 Aug 28, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 28, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Thank you! For sure will avoid all such downloads!