- Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tool Software
- Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tools
- Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tool Download
- Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Toolbox
A new Mac always seems to be lightning quick. But then it might slow down up to 17% when its disk is near full (confirmed by MacWorld in a test). And there we got a whole world of Mac optimization apps. Some of them are good enough that even Apple employees use them (Guy Kawasaki, for one). So here are some absolutely essential Mac optimizers to check in 2020.
Maintenance 2.5.0, 20 Feb 19 and OnyX 3.5.8, 20 Feb 19, have been released. They are both made by Titanium Software. I opened both apps and looked at their startup screens. OnyX has 4 areas (multifunction utility) to choose from. Maintenance has 1. Both are the same. I can’t see having the Maintenance app as they are both FREE. Note:OnyX is free software, you can download in the official website. Version 3.2.7: Deleting the logs improved; Bug corrected that occurred in some cases while searching update; Compatibility. MacOS 10.12, 64-bit processor. Screenshots Download Now.
These are top 3 optimizers that look most optimistic to us (sorry for the pun). We've chosen these among hundreds of others mentioned on Mac Forums.
Rating | Name | Features | Info |
---|---|---|---|
1 | CleanMyMac X | Includes tools for optimizing your Mac, securely deleting files, and scanning for malware. | Link |
2 | AVG | Quick scan and deep cleaning of all kinds of junk | Link |
3 | Onyx | Allows you to adjust parameters that would normally need to be set in Terminal | Link |
All three are aimed at basic Mac housekeeping. And now, let's dive into these options and then we'll analyze a few more relevant alternatives.
Best Mac Optimizer software reviewed
Made by independent macOS developer, MacPaw, this app tops our chart.
1. CleanMyMac X
This app, which is notarized by Apple, is absolutely gorgeous visually. But it also sports 49 tools to optimize a Mac in one app. It has a free version you can download and play around with.
Inside, you’ll find a full range of tools that will declutter your Mac, make it run faster, and even scan it for malware and remove whatever it finds. One of the great things about CleanMyMac X is that you choose how much control you take over what it removes.
In terms of Mac optimization, you can:
- Free up RAM memory
- Disable heavy memory consumers
- Run Maintenance scripts
It’s worth checking, anyway if you want to improve your Mac’s performance.
2. AVG Cleaner
AVG Cleaner has two functions — to find and remove “junk”’ files one you Mac and to identify duplicate files and make it easy to remove them. The files AVG Cleaner tracks down include cache files from web browsers, apps, photos, and videos; log files; download history; broken downloads; and Trash contents.
When you launch the app, you’ll see it has a clean, modern interface that gives you the option of scanning your Mac for files to clean, or scanning for duplicates. Once you’ve chosen the Disc Cleaner and the scan is complete, you can press a button to clean up the files it has found or view them in more detail and decide which to delete and which to keep. If you choose to scan for duplicates, AVG Cleaner will ask you which folders you want to scan and then show you what it found.
AVG Cleaner is free, l looks great, and works well. However, compared with CleanMyMac X, it lacks many features. These include a malware removal tool, secure file deletion, optimization tools and an app uninstaller.
Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tool Software
3. Drive Genius
Drive Genius started out many years ago as a tool for monitoring the performance of your drive, warning you of any potential problems and allowing you to fix them. It has evolved into a tool for optimizing performance and cleaning up drives, as well as keeping it safe.
Some of its features, such as re-partition, rebuild, and de-fragment, don’t work on APFS drives, but the others do. Those other tools include a malware scanner and removal tool, a secure erase utility, and tools for finding and removing duplicate and large files. In addition to those, Drive Genius still has tools for identifying potential problems that could lead to drive failure and allows you to fix them.
It’s not as user-friendly as Sensei, and doesn’t include an application uninstaller and tools for removing login items and launch agents.
4. OnyX
Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tools
Like most of the apps listed here, OnyX is more than just optimization software for your Mac. It also has a number of tools for cleaning your Mac. However, OnyX also does something that no other tool listed here does: it allows you to adjust settings on your Mac that are otherwise only available through the Terminal app. It’s more of a customizer for your macOS.
![Tools Tools](https://www.applegazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/onyx-download.png)
Whether you want to rebuild a database or index, or just changed the default location or file format for screenshots, you can do it in OnyX. In terms of optimization tools, OnyX can clean up system files and browser data, rebuild Spotlight and Launch Services databases, run maintenance scripts and clean up recent items lists.
It doesn’t have a secure file deletion tool or malware scanner, however. And it’s nowhere near as user friendly as tools we’ve described above. If you like playing around with settings and getting under the hood of your Mac, though, it’s a good choice.
5. macOS Manage Storage
Manage Storage is a feature that’s built into recent versions of macOS. To access it, click on the Apple menu, then About this Mac> Storage> Manage Storage.
When you do that you’ll see a list of categories on the left-hand side of the window that opens. At the top is Recommendations. This is where macOS helps you easily free up storage space by recommending what to get rid of. For example, it might recommend that you store files in iCloud and only keep recent ones on your Mac, or that you allow the OS to delete Apple TV downloads you’ve already watched.
The other categories cover things like Mail attachments, Garageband sound libraries, podcasts, and iOS backups. You just click on each section in turn and follow the advice in the window.
Manage Storage is a very useful tool and can certainly help free up storage space. However, it is not a replacement for a tool like CleanMyMac X because there is no app uninstaller and there are no tools to remove junk files or optimize performance.
6. CCleaner
CCleaner is one of the oldest cleaner tools around, having been available on the Mac for nearly a decade and on Windows before that. It offers tools to get rid of junk files cluttering up your Mac, remove cookies, history files, and other web browser data, and disable login items and launch agents. It also has an app uninstaller, and the professional version offers real-time protection against potentially harmful files you may download.
Like most tools here, you can choose to follow its recommendations and remove files with just a few clicks, or review the files it finds and choose which to remove yourself.
CCleaner has many of the tools available in CleanMyMac X. However, it’s not as easy to use, in our opinion, thanks to its less friendly user interface. It also doesn’t have a tool to allow you to quickly see what files are occupying space on your Mac, like CleanMyMac X’s Space Lens, or a way of securely shredding sensitive files.
7. Disk Clean Pro
Spectralayers pro 3 3 0 17 download free. Disk Clean Pro offers many of the same tools as the other cleaners here. You can use its automated utilities to quickly get rid of junk files, logs, crash reports and partial downloads. And you can also use it to identify and remove duplicate files, old files, large files and old downloads. There are also tools to remove browser files, aloud backups and mail downloads.
Like CCleaner, however, its interface isn’t the friendliest. Also, there are no tools for scanning for malware, securely deleting files, or uninstalling apps.
Does Mac optimization involve cleaning?
Many of the tools above belong to the category of cleaners, so why place them here? To answer that, we should define “optimization” more clearly. If optimization means improving the performance, it does entail a bit of cleaning that is improving something by elimination. To optimize any computer, one should start with removing blockages, massive unwanted objects, and apps that eat up a lot of memory.
Does Mac optimization involve cleaning?
Many of the tools above belong to the category of cleaners, so why place them here? To answer that, we should define “optimization” more clearly. If optimization means improving the performance, it does entail a bit of cleaning that is improving something by elimination. To optimize any computer, one should start with removing blockages, massive unwanted objects, and apps that eat up a lot of memory.
There are lots of applications that can optimize your Mac’s performance and make it run more smoothly. Most of these apps are paid, but you can get away with a free version in some cases.
We would rather pick CleanMyMac X for the sheer number of features and its looks but the choice is yours.
Editor's Rating | |
---|---|
Features | |
Overall | |
Price | |
Customer Service |
Positives
- Entirely free
- Great maintenance functionality
- Stellar cleaning functionality
- Automated cleaning and maintenance
- Utilities enabling access to macOS' hidden features
- Detailed list of identified malware
Negatives
- No detailed data of reclaimed disk space
- Lacks option to review files before deleting
- Specific version of OnyX for each major OS version
When it comes to maintenance, one of the most frequently mentioned applications among Redditors and longtime Mac users is OnyX. Created by French developer Joël Barrière as a multifunctional tool for Mac optimization, OnyX lets you control many basic Unix programs already built into macOS. Such controls include verifying the startup disk, running a range of miscellaneous and cleaning tasks, configuring various parameters, deleting caches, and listing all installed items included in the package files of applications that users have installed on their computer.
OnyX is freeware and the main application Joël Barrière has developed after the launch of OS X Jaguar, in 2003. Titanium Software, his company’s website registered as a French domain, lists another two applications also developed by Barrière, Maintenance and Deeper. The former is a system maintenance and cleaning utility for macOS that takes OnyX's maintenance functionalities and puts it into a separate app, while Deeper focuses on offering personalization options for macOS users, such as enabling or disabling the hidden functions of various apps and more.
Features
OnyX features a nice, clean, easy-to-understand user interface that makes all features easily accessible. When you first open the app, it will display a prompt explaining that OnyX will verify the structure of your startup disk. If you click “OK” you'll notice your computer slow down a bit (which is common when this task is performed with Mac optimization tools) though apps such as MacBooster or CleanMyMac only perform this when you command them to do so. You can disable this functionality in preferences, otherwise it will display this prompt each time you launch the application.
Start ScreenVerify Structure of the DiskOnyX Preferences
Verify the Structure of the Disk
If this task results in a startup disk in good working order then OnyX will display its available functions: maintenance, cleaning, automation, utilities, parameters, info and log. The main features of the app, which are recommended for regular use, are the maintenance and cleaning functions, while the automation functionality is the combination of these two.
Cleaning
Choosing between either the ‘automation pane’ or the maintenance and cleaning panes will depend on how much time you are willing to spend on Mac optimization. You can remove cache files from System folders using either the System pane of the cleaning toolbar or the automation pane. Still, there is a slight difference between the two cleaning options: while the automation tool will perform all the cleaning and maintenance tasks in a single workflow and therefore only require a single Mac restart once the tasks are finished, choosing maintenance and cleaning actions separately will need multiple restarts throughout the process.
When you hit the “Execute” button, OnyX scans your computer and performs the tasks you have commanded. Don't expect too many visuals, however: unlike its paid competitors such as MacBooster or CleanMyMac, OnyX won't display findings such as the number of cookies or browsing history items it has identified while scanning your Mac. Neither will you know how much space the app will reclaim by deleting the system, user, font and application caches. That's information the developer didn't consider important with any of the app releases. Paid Mac optimization apps, on the other hand, focus heavily on visuals and such data.
Force Quit AppsCleaning Font CacheCleaning TaskRestart PromptOnyX AutomationSecure Delete
OnyX Cleaning Font Cache
Restart Required
OnyX Secure Erasing
During our testing a completely automated maintenance and cleaning task took a little more than seven minutes to finish on a MacBook Pro (late 2016) with 250GB of flash storage. Of course this will differ by computer since it depends on a number of factors, including system configuration, disk storage, stored data and more.
If you decide to spend more time on maintenance and cleaning, choosing tasks individually will require more of your time. Also, some of the tasks – such as cleaning the system, user and font caches and log files – will require a restart each time. That's something you should keep in mind.
Utilities
Along with cleaning and maintenance tasks, OnyX includes several other powerful features, such as utilities, parameters, and info. Under the utilities toolbar users will find various useful functions, ranging from gaining access to all of the Unix manual pages to changing the visibility status of a disk, folder or file. The ‘packages' task in Utilities will also look for a receipt file (.BOM) of an installed package (.PKG), and contains a list of all installed items stored in a system folder.
The parameters toolbar will enable you to personalize your working environment and toggle on or off certain hidden system functions and Apple applications. For example, with the Parameters toolbar it is possible to change the screenshot file type from its default of PNG to JPEG or change the save path for screenshots from the default location – your desktop – by clicking on the “Select” button, picking a desired folder and confirming it with the “Choose” button.
MaintenanceOnyX UtilitiesApplications OptimizationParameter PreferencesXProtectPurge Memory
OnyX Utilities
OnyX Utilities – Parameter Preferences
OnyX Purge Memory Function
A very powerful feature of the software is the info toolbar, which includes tools such as ‘protection’. In this pane you'll see a list of malware recognized by XProtect, the macOS protection system. You’ll also be able to show and delete the list of all downloaded items tested by XProtect. In our testing, XProtect recognized 77 malware items, according to the malware definitions.
Pricing
OnyX is freeware, meaning that you can download the application and use it for as long as you wish without paying a cent. If you like the application, you’re also allowed to distribute it, providing the software is not modified. Although the app is free, the developer accepts donations where you decide the amount. That compares to the $40 that OnyX's competitors MacPaw and IObit charge for a single Mac license. The developer pushes out updates regularly on its dedicated website Titanium-Software.fr.
Customer Service
Since OnyX is a free app and is mainly developed by a single person with the help of others from around the world, it doesn't have a dedicated customer service. Still, if you encounter a problem or anomaly, a misspelling or bad translation, or you have any suggestions for OnyX enhancements then you are free to contact the developer via email.
It is recommended that you back up your Mac when using OnyX for the first time, just in case anything goes wrong. However, we should note that we have been using OnyX for many years now and have had no issues with the software.
Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Tool Download
OnyX Help File
OnyX also includes a help file that offers a detailed description of every action and task the application performs, unlike some of its competitors like MacBooster. So, if you don't understand a command you are about to execute, just click on the question mark in the bottom-right of the app window and a help page will open to answer your question regarding OnyX's command.
Bottom Line
Although macOS has built-in maintenance and cleaning scripts, a third-party application can be helpful in an effort to reclaim disk space occupied by cache files. What highly advanced macOS users familiar with Terminal can achieve by typing in complex command lines, OnyX – a reliable and free third-party Mac optimization application – does with a clean and easy-to-understand user interface.
OnyX doesn't deliver much detailed and visually organized information about the free space you are going to regain, but it still does a good job of reclaiming ‘lost space’. Functionalities offered by paid third-party competitors, such as freeing up memory, are also included in the app, although they are a bit hidden.
If you are looking for a reliable Mac optimization app to try risk free, OnyX is the one to start with. OnyX has been available for free since it was first released in 2003.
Best Alternative Mac Optimization Software
Onyx 3 2 1 – Maintenance And Optimization Toolbox
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