MacClean review-simple, free Mac utility

MacClean review:

 

Simple free Chinese developed utility software for cleaning up your Mac.

 

Tested on: 10.10.4

 

As Apple derives more of its revenue and profits from the People’s Republic of China market, I don’t feel surprised that we should have Chinese developers writing for the Mac and iOS platforms.

 

Imobie writes software with an emphasis on the iPhone platform. Now they have developed a free utility package called MacClean for the Mac itself. This utility package is free and offers simple to use maintenance for your Mac.

 

 

You start out with an opening screen offering you Smart Clean, a series of selections to clean junk from your Mac. You can whittle down these selections by turning off their switches. Turning off the switches changes their color from blue to gray. In the screenshot below, I turned all the switches except for the Trash Bin switch.

 

 

 

Smart Clean does a preliminary scan to show you what it found. You then can click on the rightward facing arrows to further narrow what you want to eliminate.

 

If you want other functions, turn to the Utilities menu on the Toolbar. You can choose from a grid of 9 specialized Utilities:

 

1. Old and Large Files.

2. Duplicates Finder

3. File Eraser

4. iPhoto Clean

5. Language File Clean-up

6. Binary Junk Remover

7. App Uninstaller.

8. Extension Manager

9. Trash Sweeper.

    

   

 

Criticism:

 

iPhoto Clean will need to include Photos Clean with the replacement of iPhoto with Photos in 10.10.

 

A lot of MacClean reminds me of the Ukranian developed Clean My Mac. If you want a more capable utility program, turn to that.

 

Mac Clean doesn’t do every conceivable utility function. For example, if you want to change the file type and extension of the screenshot format, you could use Onyx or http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/ or Tinkertool.

 

Praise:

 

The manual for this program is available from their Web site and from the program through the Hep menu. This allows them to keep it updated.

 

Some English speaker may make fun of occasional lapses in the manual’s English syntax. To which I respond, “The author gets to the point swiftly and without unnecessary verbiage. I’ve read your English and it’s nothing to be proud of.”

 

The manual gets to the point and uses plenty of illustrations. I experienced no difficulty in reading the manual and understanding how to use the app.

 

Caveats:

 

As for worries that the Chinese state may want to spy on you, this program just wants you to comment on Twitter about your experience with MacClean.

 

I give this a Thumbs Up if you want a simple, free Mac utility package. It doesn’t solve every problem, but it does solve those which it intended to fix.

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog