CleanMyMac X 5.0

I received an email from MacPaw about the new version of CleanMyMac, which confused me initially as I’ve cancelled my current subscription and the email made it sound like they’d renewed it. Thankfully, logging into my MacPaw account confirmed that my subscription remains cancelled, but I could use the new version until the current subscription period ends early next year.

I’ve not tried the new version, so cannot comment on what has changed. I’ll merely note that these days I no longer need all the bells and whistles that CleanMyMac offers, as my computer usage has changed over the year and I no longer have to keep such a beady eye on my system status, hence my no longer subscribing. That’s not to say that CleanMyMac is a bad product, merely not the right one for me.

Just released CMM 5.0. I have some mixed feelings about it.

• First of all, dramatic increase in price with added subscription model but still one-time purchase available. One Time Purchase is around $120 for one machine. If you already have a license for the product, I suggest skipping the upgrade within the App as it led me to nearly paying full price. However, if you go to the website, MacPaw, and create an account if you do not have one, go to the store, and look up your current license you can save around $48 for the upgrade for one time purchase. TidBITS membership currently gives you no discount for one-time purchases.
• Lots of graphics, colors and animation that I personally find distracting and annoying.
• Built-in malware tool that can be turned off. Unfortunately, you cannot purchase the product without it which may account for the higher cost. Personally, I prefer using ClamXAV so in essence I am being charged for a feature I am not and don’t intend us use. I feel that this should be an add-on subscription option so that users can choose their preferred malware tool without being forced to pay for MacPaw’s.
• It eats processor capability. With IStat its process percentage was 25% -75% when running thus may impact other Apps performance when running.
• One new feature is a better duplicate file check including duplicate photos but not extremely accurate for photos. Seems to just about replace Gemini, MacPaws duplicate finder. Needs further evaluation but may dump Gemini as may not need it anymore.
• Got rid of graphical display of all files on drive by size. Only listings but with more sorting options
• One nice thing that should be in macOS is it can show where background items are located. However, like many other lists in it, you have to use a contextual menu to see it instead of having it listed or clicking on a down arrow.
• It also lists all your login items but does not allow you to print or save a list of them. Being able to do this can be very helpful if the file that holds the launch and startup items gets corrupted and you need to reset it which requires adding back all your login items.
• When you click on ‘Whats New’ it does not show it, Just the ‘Whats New’ site allowing downloading a trial version and suggesting a feature. This should have been caught in SQA
• In the Applications listing, ‘Reset’ is gone which was a handy feature. All that is left is ‘Uninstall’. It does let you choose within the App. Want you want to uninstall by it depends on the user to know what to leave behind to reset it.
• Under its Applications Menu it lists all of your .dmg files as installation files, but does not tell you where they are located unless you use the contextual menu one at a time. I keep most of my .dmg files for the Apps I use on a separate drive from my main boot drive, but a few I do not wish to keep land up on my boot drive. Not listing their location in the list or with a simple down arrow results in a very time-consuming task to determine which ones I wish to keep and CMM while offers a way to ignore a folder or drive it applies to all of its tools other than the other options in the ignore settings.
• The CCM Menu has little change. While it shows the primary network connection it does not show the wireless connection if both are utilized. Settings options for the Menu are extremely limited. It does contain a handy speed test for the network but the desired test location cannot be set. Stand-alone tests have much better options.

In summary this is an encompassing tool for a typical user if you are not looking for advanced features and can tolerate its new interface. However, it does have limitations for the advanced user and many of its maintenance features are available for free from Onyx and lacks many advanced tools in TinkerTool System which is less expensive, abet less comprehensive. Additionally, MacUpdater is much more comprehensive for App Updating but also misses a few that CMM catches.

Given that I am quite biased against subscription software I find this product’s purchase price to be at a premium level for original purchase given that much of what it does is available for free or at a lower price point from other products. Most if not all the functions can be duplicated and with additional tools with FileUtils, TinkerToolSystem, MacUpdater and Onyx, but without a malware checker for $38 as a one-time purchase. Add ClamXAV which unfortunately is only a subscription but one of the best malware checkers that even checks for Windows viruses and that adds an additional $30 for each year, so the first-year cost is $60 but drops to $30 in the following years. When compared to the CleanMyMac subscription price of $38/year for one computer, I am of the opinion that the only advantage of CleanMyMac is a one tool App integration but actually with less features when compared with the above tools. If you add IStat for Mac to your package for $12 one time payment, I am of the opinion you have a superior set of maintenance tools for your Mac for only $30 a year after the first year with additional nominal major upgrade pricing for the one time purchases that generally only happen every few years. That said as some regard me as an advanced user, if you are looking for a single basic, easy to use solution for maintenance CleanMyMac might be a decent choice.

$140? I knew it wasn’t for me, but at that price it wouldn’t even be worth thinking about.

I made a mistake and just changed it. It is ‘only’ $120 before any discounts if offered.

Honestly, when friends come to me with computer problems, it’s almost always because they used this tool (or some anti-virus app) on their Mac. The fact that it’s gotten so expensive just makes me laugh at them more. There’s a sucker born every minute.

Don’t know if you are aware of it yet but Clean My Mac 5.0 has been released the other day. I have already tested and purchased the update. I have also written an extensive review of it citing the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is posted on TidBITS Talk. Everything in that review is based on actual experience. You are welcome to utilize it or parts of it should you choose to review the App on your website.

This is your second thread about CMM. You wouldn’t happen to work for them, would you?

Yes, we’re aware of it, and I believe it’s on @agen’s list to cover for the Watchlist.

Just discovered another ugly change with it. You no longer can directly access the uninstall list. You have do do a scan off all you Apps first that can take several minutes.

No I do not work for them and have no connection with them other than that of a paid user. Additionally, I would doubt if someone who worked for them would write such a truthful and complete review and include its faults and limitations. I wrote this in an effort to provide others with a complete assessment of the product so that they could make an informed decision before taking the time to download it and assess it themselves.

Likely a tech glitch that I was unaware of and pleased to see they have been merged together.

It only takes me about 2 seconds from the time I select “uninstall” to the time the list of all apps is displayed to uninstall.
David

If you have figured out a way to not have to scan your apps every time you launch the App to get to the uninstall option, I would love to hear about it. It is likely the scan time is related to the number of Apps you have on your machine. I have ~300.

I’ve only got a little over 100 apps.
But I just click on “uninstaller” and it immediately displays the apps to then check for uninstalling.
David

Do you scan for apps first or use the SmartCare first. For if you do not and you have Unstaller available when first launching the app, you may still be running a v4 version as for me, with 5.0 uninstaller only shows after scanning for apps or using SmartCare which also scans for apps. If your startup screen does not look like the attached screenshot on launch then you are not running version 5.

In using 15.0. it took 5 seconds to scan applications - over 74 of them
When I clicked on manage applications to uninstall, it was instantaneous.
David

WRT the first step - SmartCare or Scan for Apps using 15.0:
For uninstalling, I click on “Applications” on the left first. Then scan applications (5 sec) then “Manage Applications” - instantaneous showing of apps - then click on the ones to uninstall.
David

I would think that the scan speed would be related to actual computer speed as well as the type of drive: SSD vs spinning hard drive so posting those details might be helpful.

As requested:
2024 MBP M3Pro chip
36 GB Memory
SDD 2 TB
Running Sequoia
David

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro7,1

Enclosure: Tower

Processor Name: 8-Core Intel Xeon W

Processor Speed: 3.5 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 8

L2 Cache (per Core): 1 MB

L3 Cache: 16.5 MB

Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

Memory: 48 GB

System Firmware Version: 2069.0.0.0.0 (iBridge: 22.16.10353.0.0,0)

OS Loader Version: 577.140.2~30

Activation Lock Status: Enabled

GPU: AMD Radeon Pro Vega II 32 GB

Sounds like 5.0 but my App scan takes several minutes and has to be done each time I launch CMM

I have the same problem since upgrading to v5.
CMM has been my go-to utility for uninstalling applications and in the previous version the scanning only took a few seconds.

In the new version scanning takes several minutes, every time again. So even when I know the app I want to delete, I still have to go through the scanning process which makes it so cumbersome. For this reason alone I switched back to another uninstaller utility. At least for the time being.