I manually run Malwarebytes once a day. And every day the “files scanned” report increases by ~100.

Those aren’t my files! I’m very careful to delete temporary files. They must be junk files created by the system.

I seldom use the Finder, but every Space has several iTerms open, running bash.

What do you folks use to delete junk files? Possibly a Homebrew app?

P. S. I never download videos, or anything of that nature.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

Take a look at the "appCleaner" app. It will hunt down all files associated with an app and offer to clear them. It's free.

Never.
Been using Macs since 1996.

It has a fairly good built in system of taking care of its self.

Do you receive 100 e-mails each day?

I've been using CleanMyMac for years. Does a wonderful job with everything. There is a yearly subscription I think for $39.99 a year. Worth it to me.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Do you receive 100 e-mails each day?

I receive ~6 emails a day. On my iPhone. ~10% of those survive to make it to my MacBook. So emails contribute little to the ever increasing file count.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick_Perry:
I've been using CleanMyMac for years. Does a wonderful job with everything. There is a yearly subscription I think for $39.99 a year. Worth it to me.

Thanks. I’ve been hoping to see a report of CleanMyMac.

Does it require your approval for each file to be deleted? That would be tedious for ~100 files a day.

For that OS, it feels like you are overthinking it with MWB to begin with, let alone worrying about the file volume, but YMMV.

If an app is in the app store, that does not mean Apple endorses, recommends, or values that app in any way.

My experience with cleanmymac was horrible. A brief internet search shows many consider that software to actually be malware.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick_Perry:
I've been using CleanMyMac for years. Does a wonderful job with everything. There is a yearly subscription I think for $39.99 a year. Worth it to me.

Thanks. I’ve been hoping to see a report of CleanMyMac.

Does it require your approval for each file to be deleted? That would be tedious for ~100 files a day.

No it does not. It is an amazing program that will run a schedule if you want or you can run manually whenever you want. Very simple to use and takes care of just about everything to keep your Mac running in excellent condition.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
If an app is in the app store, that does not mean Apple endorses, recommends, or values that app in any way.

My experience with cleanmymac was horrible. A brief internet search shows many consider that software to actually be malware.

I retired from the IT field after 30 yrs. Don't believe everything you read on internet searches. I've been using CleanMyMac for quite a few yrs. It's definitely not MalWare!

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Do you receive 100 e-mails each day?

I receive ~6 emails per day. On my iPhone. But only ~10% of those survive to make it to the email client on my MacBook.

I use CCleaner. Cleans up junk files.

Also, has a nice uninstaller and startup manager.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick_Perry:

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
If an app is in the app store, that does not mean Apple endorses, recommends, or values that app in any way.

My experience with cleanmymac was horrible. A brief internet search shows many consider that software to actually be malware.

I retired from the IT field after 30 yrs. Don't believe everything you read on internet searches. I've been using CleanMyMac for quite a few yrs. It's definitely not MalWare!

Apple is pretty good at managing their OS, what are you getting that the in-built tools don't solve?

Everyone will have a different opinion, and perhaps different needs. I don't run any 3rd party utilities on my Macs. I don't install many programs on my Macs at all though, except Firefox, Microsoft 365 and some music production programs. So I tend not to churn and remove programs that leave behind detritus.

I was and am wary of any utilities you install that must be granted the level of control necessary to see files all over your filesystem and prune or modify them.

I began looking for documentation of CleanMyMac. It appears to target large and old files. I doubt that the ~100 new files per day (36,500 files/year!) are large, and they’re certainly not old.

So I went to the Apple Store and asked for advice. No help there. In this Tim Cook era the “genius” dudes are dim bulbs. They know games, spreadsheets, and emojis, but almost nothing about macOS. The last guy that did left three years ago.

Then the little gray cells began working. I thought that I might be able to write a bash script to find the ~100 new files per day. And then I remembered that I’d already written such a script: “fnf” for “find new files”.

I ran it, and initial results reveal a bunch of them in:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Caches/…

Many other directories too, I suspect. Maybe Spotlight?

It’ll be awhile before I figure out how to safely delete great quantities of this useless junk. Clean caches might help.

P. S. — I now see that CleanMyMac has a cache cleaning tool…

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

It appears you are concerned about files being generated from unknown sources, and have now discovered that these files are produced by normal browsing.

Have you just used the native shortcut command to empty browser caches? shift command e.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I use CCleaner. Cleans up junk files.

Also, has a nice uninstaller and startup manager.

I can’t find CCleaner for macOS on the online Apple AppStore. Is it necessary to go to a brick and mortar Apple Store to purchase it?
I installed CleanMyMac (7 day free trial), but it didn’t stop the ~100 additional files per day reported in the “Items scanned” field after a Malwarebytes scan. Again, those ~100 additional files per day AREN’T my files – they’re system junk.

CleanMyMac reports gigabytes of junk deleted, but that isn’t reflected in the “Items scanned” report.

I’m greatly puzzled.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I use CCleaner. Cleans up junk files.

Also, has a nice uninstaller and startup manager.

I can’t find CCleaner for macOS on the online Apple AppStore. Is it necessary to go to a brick and mortar Apple Store to purchase it?

Buying software at a brick & mortar store is a blast from the past. I think the last software I bought in person was TurboTax at Costco in Alaska so that would make it 12 to 17 years. I like CCleaner, but not not enough to own it if I had to go to a brick & mortar store to purchase it.

I've had the pay version for many years, and I don't recall if it used to be on Apple's App store. Apple got real aggressive about apps like this between 2015 to 2017. I just get new versions straight from their website.

^^^^^^^^
That’s for iOS. I’m looking for CCleaner for macOS.
As clearly stated in my post that you quoted.