Best apps for removing clutter from OS X Catalina?

Common sense and safe computing habits. There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community   

(continuation (ish) of my other reply) bruh i accidentally marked my reply as helpful and i can't undo it, ok well anyways, basically, the reason why i say these things are all junk is because MacOS is a very good operating system that has a lot of ways to keep itself in check, and when it fails to do so, it just simply restarts your computer (sometimes) and most of the time it's fixed, kernal panicked? restarts, better now, windowserver is getting all messed up and taking up more memory than it should? just restart your computer and it'll be put in its place, and i could even continue saying things, but honestly its unneeded and i don't feel like thinking about things like that, so anyways, with this in mind, lets think some categories, smart scan, mail attachments, trash bins, privacy, optimization, maintenance, updater, and shredder; smart scan is obviously just a thing that screams no, mail attachments, why would you need this? you dont, along with the fact that it'll be doin stuff in mail? no thank you, trash bin is honestly just a big question mark because like, why don't you just drag stuff to the trash bin yourself? privacy is another thing that just screams no, optimization and maintenance are both ANOTHER thing that screams no just because like, do you really think you'd need a third party app for "maintenance" and "optimization"? especially with MacOS? nope, don't need it in window's, definitely don't need it in MacOS, updater is honestly self explanatory, super unneeded, extensions is just weird, and shredder ties in with trash bins, why not just drag it to the trash yourself and empty it? its really stupid to have another app do it, especially one that has two different categories that should do the same thing, then there is system junk (i didn't cover this at the beginning because i didn't think to but i mine as well), this one is just self explanatory and pointless, the system cleans up after itself and things like language files should be kept, OH and i almost forgot about this category, malware removal, don't trust it, really, just please don't, and overall just don't do anything with cleanmymac X, i myself deleted it for a very good reason (and honestly overall just as the other's have said, if you don't have it downloaded yet, DON'T think about doing it) (and because i've noticed this will be pinned because the original poster marked this message as what solved things, i just want to make sure it is said just in case if someone already has CleanMyMac X and wishes to uninstall it properly, go into CleanMyMac X, go into uninstaller, go to macpaw (i believe), click "CleanMyMac X", then click on uninstall, it shouldn't actually require you to pay and honestly i believe it asks you to do a survey, just skip the survey)

What is this "clutter" that you speak of.

I've never had to remove any "clutter" from my Macs. I have a 2012 Mini which I did nothing but upgrade the OS all the way up to High Sierra (I'd have gone all the way to Catalina that way, except for the whole "can't have an APFS Fusion drive in High Sierra"). Never had any need to remove any "clutter."

I do know how to remove apps that I install, and I don't install crapware:

• If it came on an installer, use their uninstaller or directions.
  • If it doesn't have an uninstaller or complete, easy to follow instructions, don't install it (first indication that it is crapware).
• If it came from the App Store or Drag-and-drop into Applications, then drag it to the trash.

Because generally they may cause problems, remove needed files, cause slow performance, interfere with the performance of the MacOS, etc. What specific app are you considering using? Knowing that may allow us to provide a more detailed response.

AndyEdinburgh wrote:

There are many more disk cleaners, disk doctors etc. on the App Store. Are you saying none of them are any good?

Correct. Just because they are in the app store does not imply that Apple endorses them.

eeek, ngl this is a very controversial thing, a lot of people say clean my mac is a virus, others say its just made to slow your mac down, some say it is safe, its honestly REALLY split, so to clarify, well, ok the dumb down answer is, CleanMyMac X is actually very mixed, it can be used successfully for good, but most people don't understand the boundaries so it turns into a very, VERY negative application, basically here are the boundaries (also please for the love of god if you NEED to use it then follow these BUT immediately uninstall it with the method i'll put at the end, it feels like that any day now the app will turn malicious even with boundaries, and i also just overall don't trust it at all being open all the time, one reason is that when you end the "cleanmymac x health monitor" process in activity monitor it just simply comes up again, it won't go away (unless you uninstall it)),

so basically from what i remember and going off of a google image of all the categories, here are the boundaries,

no smart scan, no system junk, no mail attachments, etc all the way down to uninstaller, this is where the good ish stuff is (and even then its a bit iffy), uninstaller i used to use all the time for removing remnants of things like, ok well, honestly i don't remember exact examples but i do remember using it for actually a lot of things (but again, i wouldn't suggest keeping cleanmymac x just because of this), updater is a big no no, extensions is (from what i remember) a big no no, space lens is ok, i personally used it for a decent amount of things but whatever you do, do NOT go into space lens and delete this one thing that is called attachments, it took up like, 15 GB on my computer but after contacting apple support about what it is, yeaaa lets just say i'm glad i didn't do it, honestly it could be fine, but we don't really know, it could do anything from delete all your imessage attachments on your computer and maybe even your phone, all the way to innocently deleting attachments from your computer that aren't needed, but whatever it'll do, apple support told me that it was probably irreversible if its bad and honestly considering no one knows what'd happen, i wasn't gonna take the chance, and honestly overall anything else listed is junk, especially shredder, like, shredder? 🤡 nahhhh, i ain't fallin for that one, while yes it probably does just simply delete things, it does the same thing (if it does what it says) as putting stuff in the trash bin and emptying the trash, and large & old files, that is self explanatory but don't use it,

so basically out of this list what have we learned? its absolute junk and if you do wanna keep it, only use (if you have to) space lens and uninstaller, but even then, when using uninstaller and space lens BE CAREFUL, you can do some serious damage with them if improperly used, and so an even MORE straight forward conclusion, what have we learned? CleanMyMac X is absolute junk and shouldn't be used and if you do need to use it, ONLY use those two options, space lens, and uninstaller, and also just a quick tip, uninstaller has a workaround where instead of paying, you can just right click and click "view in finder" and delete it, as well as everything associated with it, and so now, your spooked, yk now that CleanMyMac X is absolute junk and should be immediately deleted, but how? now with this i actually found out, you actually don't just delete the app, you go into CleanMyMac X, go into uninstaller, go to macpaw (i believe), click "CleanMyMac X", then click on uninstall, it shouldn't actually require you to pay and honestly i believe it asks you to do a survey, just skip the survey, don't fuel the trash XD, and from there its gone, literally, and actually i thought it'd do somethin sneaky but actually i found that it really is gone,

so what did we learn, a-again- 👀, CleanMyMac X is, while useful for something, absolute garbage and if you have it, use it for what you intend to do if it wont wreck your computer (and only uses space lens or uninstaller) because like, if imma be honest, if you already have it, honestly what is there to lose, but after using it please immediately follow the uninstall instructions, i'll copy and paste them again right here, "go into CleanMyMac X, go into uninstaller, go to macpaw (i believe), click "CleanMyMac X", then click on uninstall, it shouldn't actually require you to pay and honestly i believe it asks you to do a survey, just skip the survey", i hope this helps clarify some things and honestly i may reply to my own comment after i send this explaining why i call these things junk, but till then, just believe me, i hope this helps

Being available on the App Store does not mean it's approved by Apple in the context you've taken it to mean.

FWIW I'm of the same opinion as BobTheFisherman and Old Toad. In my 39 years of using computers in just about any platform I've never installed anything that claims to "clean or remove stuff, disinfect stuff, speed up stuff or improve stuff " ever and, apart from the occasional hardware issue I've not experienced any of the problems these Apps claim to "cure".

My 2p.

Never install any app that claims to "tune up", "speed up" or "clean up" your Mac. These apps exist for one reason: to separate the unwary and inexperienced user from their hard-earned money. At best they do very little, at worst, they can damage your OS installation and cause far more problems than they "solve".

Your Mac doesn't get "dirty", Caches do not need to be cleaned, if you use File Vault there is never a need to "shred" files and all that stupid palaver. In inexperienced hands - and inexperienced users are about 99% of the user base of these apps - they can wreak quite a lot of damage to an OS installation.

i hope this helps clarify some things

With respect, if you want to clarify things you'll probably need to use standard punctuation and grammar.

…MacOS is a very good operating system that has a lot of ways to keep itself in check, and when it fails to do so, it just simply restarts your computer (sometimes) and most of the time it's fixed, kernal panicked?

That’s not the OS failing to keep things in check. Kernel panics are either poorly written system modifications (kernel extensions) that you installed, or hardware faults which the OS has nothing to do with.

If the kexts are causing problems, or you don’t need them, uninstall them using the developer’s instructions or uninstaller.

That also goes for anything that required an installer of any kind.

Do not install any third party apps that claim to protect, clean, boost performance, etc.

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