Guess what? Even in a digital world, our digital devices get digitally dirty. Your Mac collects cache files and logs and trash and no-longer-used apps that should be deleted. Is there an app for that.
Oh, puhleeze. There are nearly twenty eleven Mac apps that do all that and more and most are free. This is the story of an attractive and free and nearly free Mac app that purports to be a cleaning genius. Is it? Or is it a simple case of style over substance.
Investigative Reporter? Or, Mac Mommy?
By day I’m an unassuming, house-bound Mac mommy, shepherding three children through the day, working hard to stimulate the economy through large purchases of Pampers and Kellog’s cereals.
By night, I’m a Mac app reviewer, an investigative report digging through the back alley dumpsters for Mac apps, tossing aside those with little or no intrinsic value, to find and review Mac apps you can use (the same ones I’d use or recommend).
Yes, Virginia, your Mac can get clogged up with files and it needs an occasional digital bath. But your Mac does most of that in the wee hours of the morning while you’re asleep (or, just getting in).
If your Mac is asleep while you’re asleep you may want to invest in a Mac app that cleans digital debris. But choose wisely. Not all digital detergents are created equal.
CleanGenius and CleanGenius Pro are two Mac apps which purport to clean your Mac of junk files; System Caches, System Logs, User Caches, User Logs, Trash, Downloads, and old apps you don’t want anymore.
This app with the colorful icon (and you know I’m attracted to things that glitter in the night), looks like this. Pure, unadulterated eye candy of the Highest Order™.
Pretty, huh?
It also scans connected disk drives to show you how much space you have left to store more files and folders you probably don’t need unless you’re planning do star on Hoarders (the digital episodes).
CleanGenius Pro scans your Mac for apps and files. Click on the left sidebar options to remove trash, caches, logs, etc. Easy, right? Your Mac is officially clean. Maybe.
When it comes to removing unwanted apps, CleanGenius is not too smart. Mac apps leave files and folders scattered hither and yon (you don’t want to go there; the roads have potholes and the people speak funny), and CleanGenius Pro has no idea where they are so they’re not easily removed not matter how much wishing and hoping you do (or, whether or not your fingers are cross when you click the button).
When disk space on your Mac is running low, you get a nice color change to orange. It’s an alert. Half my kingdom for a good alert. But when was the last time your hard disk drive filled up?
There’s a nifty neato button that ejects any mounted disks on your Mac (external disks, CDs, DVDs, networks, disk images), though you can do the same thing in the Mac’s Finder.
As cute as CleanGenius Pro is, and as tempting as it might be to download the free version, this is a case of style over substance, and mind over matter. If you don’t mind the lack of substance, then it doesn’t matter.
You’re not going to spend much money, but then, the app doesn’t do much that’s really worthwhile, either.
If you really must dink around on your Mac and act like you’re doing something worthwhile, check out the free apps Onyx, Maintenance, and Deeper from Joel Barriere. You’ll get more done, safely, free, and with no residual aftertaste.
