Why You Don’t Need To Clean Your Mac (PART 1)

by Andy  |  February 14, 2012  |  General  |  2 Comments

Chapter 1.

I've received a couple of calls recently from people who are intrigued by third party 'clean-up' software. Disk Drill. CleanMyMac. Lion Cache Cleaner. Washing Machine. MacKeeper. The only one I'm personally aware of is MacKeeper, and that's probably because of the tirade of adverts they've spewed over nearly every internet page possible. These adverts claim authentic, award-winning software that's received high acclaim from expert reviewers.

Now then.

I'm not here to slander these programs and tell you it's awful and damaging software because it's simply not my place, nor do I want to. What I would like to explain how a lot of these programs simply charge money for software that performs tasks your Mac can already do. So, for an example let's see what MacKeeper's offering and what's built in to the Mac and how much overlap appears.

1. Anti virus. Protect you Mac from all security threats.

There are no viruses that are written for Macs and that can affect Macs.
I'll repeat that.
There are no viruses that are written for Macs and that can affect Macs.
The combination of their built-in security and keychain and the fact that Macs are written in Unix mean that there are no viruses that are written for Macs and that can affect Macs.
Macs can be affected by trojan worms, but the very nature of such an infection means that the individual user must activate the worm. It is beyond any software to stop trojan worms from coming in as they are usually disguised as something that isn't dangerous, thus the computer is happy to let it access. I wouldn't panic though, because trojan worms tend to be linked to obviously fraudulent websites that one wouldn't trust anyway.

2. Backup. Schedule backup for your files and folders.

All Macs come newly loaded with Time Machine, which is integrated software that takes a daily snapshot of everything your computer is. Programs, documents, bookmarks, emails, system settings, software preferences. Everything. Time Machine is also capable of being used to restore or set up new computers with all your old data with incredible ease.

3. Shredder. Delete files and folders forever.

Everyone knows that moving files to the Trash Bin is the first step towards deleting content from your computer. With Macs, in the Finder menu there are two options when it comes to emptying the Trash Bin: 'Empty Trash' and 'Secure Empty Trash', but what's the difference?

'Empty Trash' hides files from view, and tells the computer that if it needs free space to save a file it can simply overwrite the files that have just been trashed. This method of deleting data does mean that deleted files can be recovered with recovery software though.
'Secure Empty Trash' absolutely deletes the files from the hard drive - beyond any recovery software's ability to reclaim data. If you are ever deleting sensitive or private information a 'Secure Empty Trash' will guarantee that that data is forever lost.

4. Disk Usage. Visualise the size of your folders.

Although Macs don't display file and folder size in any sort of colourful graphic representations, you are always able to how large files, folders, hard drives and devices are. Simply right click on the desired item and click 'Get Info.' This will bring up a small window that lists the details of the aforementioned desired item.

Don't forget to check back in a month for Chapter 2 where I'll be discussing points 5. - 9.

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