Clean My Mac For Free Software

  1. Q1: Does Mac need cleaning software? A: Yes, Macs also needs to be cleaned out periodically like PCs. Using cleaning software can help you reclaim more storage space by cleaning unused or unnecessary files on your Mac. And Mac cleaner software can also: Fix some issues such as low disk space and Mac being slow.
  2. Learn how to clean your Mac notebook computer. MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. When cleaning the outside of your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, first shut down your computer and unplug the power adapter. Then use a damp, soft, lint-free cloth to clean the computer's exterior. Avoid getting moisture in any openings.
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The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task. If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen About this Mac Storage Manage.

If you manually try to keep your Mac tidy and clean, you’ll be wasting endless hours deleting files, folders, images, and videos. Plus there are countless places where junk accumulates on a hard drive, and those places will be very difficult to find the manual way.

But luckily, there are better ways: Enter Mac cleaners!

A Mac cleaner saves you from all this tedious cleaning. And today, millions of users benefit from affordable cleaning software to save valuable time.

And did you know most Mac users can have up to 62 GB of junk on their devices? That’s definitely an alarming figure. And this might be one of the reasons why your Mac does not run at its peak.

Now, let’s check out some of the best Mac cleaner apps on the market. Starting with the best one:

Best Mac Cleaner Software in 2020: CleanMyMac X

CleanMyMac X grabs the winning spot with its multi-faceted features and intuitive dashboard. Not surprisingly, since the developers knows the ins and outs of how a Mac works, and how it can be cleaned most effectively.

First, let me say I loved the one-button cleaning system, which mechanically cleans selected parts of my Mac. In addition to meticulous cleaning operations, CleanMyMac X also offers valuable monitoring and maintenance features, making it easier to uninstall applications. No residue files are left behind as it takes care of plugins, widgets, and extensions!

Secondly, the Smart Cleanup function scanned my Mac in less than a minute. Now that’s pretty impressive considering I have a 500GB solid-state drive! Not only is it fast, but it easily detected heaps of junk, and swiftly got rid of all types of junk files.

Another feature I like is Large & Old Files, a scan that sorts your files into different groups. This is great since you don’t have to check every folder manually to ensure thorough cleaning.

Furthermore, you can easily eliminate several broken items, old logs, and outdated caches. And it will also get rid of all localization files for the languages you don’t need. There’s no other tool that promises a more convenient way to remove broken downloads, old software updates and device backups. And you’re probably not aware of the cache files hidden in your photo library. CleanMyMac takes care of that too! Mac users can save gigabytes without ever losing a single image.

CleanMyMac X continues to dominate the Mac cleanup software industry and enjoys a strong reputation in a competitive market. The software has a free trial for a limited time. However, a single full license is going to cost you a little under $40.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • Best performer. Eliminated all the junk from my system
  • The smart disk cleanup feature is launched with a single click
  • The privacy feature clears all data about your computer usage
  • Features both Smart Cleanup and Deep Cleaning
  • Has other useful features, such as Uninstaller and Shredder
  • Incredibly simple to use with an intuitive and sleek user interface
  • Smart dashboard that presents all information in one place
  • Some alerts are a bit annoying
  • The trial version is limited to 500 MBs

Best Mac Cleaner Runner Up’s

The following tools will also do a good cleaning job. However, they may not always be as efficient as CleanMyMac X. CleanMyMac X s the only tool that completely eliminates all junk, uninstalls unnecessary applications, plus deletes any unwanted files they leave behind. And in combination with its superior features and sleek interface, there’s just no other Mac cleaning apps that come close.

But let’s have a look at the alternatives. Starting with Drive Genius 5:

Runner Up #1: Drive Genius 5

Drive Genius 5 does a great job using its optimization and de-fragging tools. The software automatically scans your system to identify malware, making it easy to get rid of duplicate files and identify a lot of hardware-related problems.

Furthermore, the cleaner software repairs most kinds of folder errors and logical files to prevent future problems. Users can explore through 3 functional modules; Protect, Speed Up and Clean Up:

  • The Speed Up module offers two features: Defragment and a Speed tab.
  • The Clean Up module has several different tools, including Repartition which shows you all of your Mac partitions so you can delete or organize them to free up space on your Mac. However, this feature is not available on macOS High Sierra.
  • The Protect module offers functional features, such as Malware Scan to inspect all your files in search of any malware. This list is updated daily. The Physical Check feature fixes all kinds of hardware issues that could lead to any damage.

Drive Genius 5 also finds duplicates and larger files that you probably don’t need. And thanks to its Clone features, the cleaner figures out your drive configuration, in case you need to copy it’s content to a new drive. Finally, there’s a handy Repair and Rebuild features to give you more control over the cleaning process.

Unfortunately, there’s no possibility of recovery.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • Drive testing and repair
  • Cloning feature
  • Defragmentation
  • No recovery feature
  • Slow malware scanning
  • Not enough customization of duplicate scanning
  • Too many email alerts
  • Expensive

Drive Genius 5 is not free, and you need to make a one-time payment to use any of the three plans:

  • Standard With BootWell Drive: $94
  • Standard: $79
  • Professional: $299 (annual fee)

Runner Up #2: iMobie MacClean

MacClean guarantees a secure, fast, and meticulous cleaning, thanks to its cutting-edge technologies and services. The cleaner features standard Mac cleaning and OS system maintenance features, but also de-clutters your Mac so you can increase your device’s efficiency. No more cleaning your Mac manually as the new Junk Cleanup feature promises in-depth cleaning by deleting all developer-oriented and unused data.

Furthermore, MacClean is a great way to shield your internet activities from prying eyes. Thanks to its quick Internet Cleanup feature, you stay protected from all kinds of online privacy threats. The cleaner removes all cookies, saved passwords, caches, and useless website data on all your browsers. Mac users can erase all traces of recently opened files, docs, apps, and web servers they have been connected with.

Finally, MacClean fixes several other issues that compromise a user’s privacy. For example, cleaning up malware so your computer is safe, and make sure there are no unwanted files and folders that can adversely affect your Mac’s performance.

Users can purchase a personal license for just about $30 and a family license for almost $40. You will also get responsive support via tickets or emails.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • The cleaner frees up gigabytes of space on your hard drive
  • During my Macclean review it produced quick results
  • Offers a choice of cleaning malicious or all cookies
  • A few of the additional scanning tools could be improved
  • Sometimes the app might fail to find some old and large files

Runner Up #3: MacBooster 7

MacBooster 7 is another beneficial Mac cleaner which leaves a good impression. The cleaning app offers plenty of useful tools to identify and fix your Mac storage issues. Every tool is specifically named so you know what to expect from each feature.

First, the Scan/Fix button is accessible at all times, and the system status is blended in with the UI. However, some beginners might find it difficult to use as there’s no backup, which means all changes are permanent. Make sure you click the “>” button which is next to each category so you can carefully review the findings.

Secondly, the tool also offers an impressive Performance Boost tool. This feature enables you to shutdown low-level services so you can speed up your Mac further. There’s also a handy toolbox that features five cool tools: Duplicates finder, memory cleaner, large files cleaner, startup optimization, and uninstaller.

Mac users can delete up to 20 different types of junk files, and remove viruses and malware to protect the device. In addition to that, this advanced mac cleaner also optimizes the hard disk to improve your Mac’s performance.

These five cleanup tools can easily remove gigabytes of junk from the computer. Cleaning up and de-cluttering your Mac is crucial for Mac users who have smaller SSD hard disks. Users can also choose between these options, according to their preferences:

  • Complete Remove: This option lets you remove an entire application along with its library files and system files
  • Application Reset: The reset only removes customization and settings to take the application to its initial state.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • Beneficial malware scanner
  • Intuitive interface
  • Handy application reset feature
  • Some scary alerts
  • Incomplete antivirus protection

Runner Up #4: MacCleanse

Next on my Mac cleaner review list is MacCleanse, another functional Mac storage cleaner which guarantees an efficient cleaning process. The app is engineered to dig through all the contents in your Mac to get rid of all unwanted stuff. And the best thing is that it does everything fairly quickly and easily.

With a simple and unique interface, users can easily choose from various options to identify and clean their devices. Since each tab provides a brief and easy to understand explanation, you know what you’re clicking on to start the cleaning process.

For that very reason, this advanced Mac cleaner software is one of the best for beginners who are not too familiar with cleaner tools. Thanks to its customization and in-depth scanning, you can easily delete useless language packs that are installed on your Mac. To a lot of users, this might not seem like a big deal. However, computer experts know how much disk space they can take.

Furthermore, you also have the uninstaller feature. While most users easily remove a program from Mac, there may be a bunch of random unwanted files and folders that are scattered around your computer. To make sure you remove a program completely, you can easily delete it using this app.

Users can opt from a variety of erasure types and upgrade to military-grade later. This is a great app to disable unwanted login items that usually slow down your system startup or hog background CPU usage. MacCleanse is relatively cheaper than many popular Mac cleaner apps and costs just about $20.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • The best option for Mac beginners
  • Cleans your system and reclaims hard disk space
  • Safely uninstall all applications
  • Erases unused languages, cookies, histories as well as caches
  • Easily reclaims hundreds of megabytes of storage space
  • One of the most affordable Mac cleaners
  • Has no feature to restore any files that are deleted by accident

Runner Up #5: DaisyDisk

DaisyDisk is popular for its intuitive and simple interface. Not only can users view large files, but they can also delete all irrelevant data through a simple process.

When you launch this Mac storage cleaner, the first screen you will see represents an overview of the disks that are attached to your device. It mechanically displays the amount of space that is left on each of your drives. And you can easily scan your drives to identify the data that you need to delete. However, you can skip this scan and scan an individual folder as well.

The tool lets you view a unique representation of all the files on your system using a daisy wheel-like image. You also get a clever color-coding, that shows exactly how much memory is consumed by each block. While this representation gives you an inclusive overview of your disk’s hierarchy, it does not narrow down the items you intend to get rid of.

When you click on any block, it opens up into another daisy wheel to provide similar information about the particular block. This feature allows you to keep clicking so you can dig deeper into your device’s content. You can easily navigate your way in or out of the screen by clicking on arrows. Users can easily find a large file to preview and delete its content, in case they don’t need it anymore.

DaisyDisk is an ideal choice for photographers, artists, and IT professionals worldwide when it comes to cleaning Mac computers. Since all displayed data is in real-time, there’s always an opportunity to see if there’s enough space to download an HD movie or install a new game.

The time needed to scan the drive usually varies on the size, but it normally takes 10 to 15 seconds to scan 100GB of data. You can enjoy a free version or buy it for just around $10.

What’s Good:

What’s Bad:

  • Beautiful interface
  • Easy to use features
  • Offers quick scan speed
  • Very affordable
  • Monofunctional

Who Should Use a Mac Cleaner?

The main reason why people get a Mac cleaner is because they want to reclaim storage space. But there are other reasons, and you may need a cleaner if:

  • You’re a new Mac user and don’t know how to properly manage your device.
  • You don’t want to clean your Mac manually.
  • Your Mac frequently runs out of disk space.

However, a cleaner app may not help older Macs that are already running a lot slower than most modern devices. Remember that cleaning your computer will not help if it has some general performance issues.

How to Choose the Best Mac Cleaner Apps in 2020

Before we review this year’s best Mac cleaners, let’s briefly discuss the crucial factors we need to consider when choosing the best app for cleaning your Mac.

Clean
  • Core functions: The basic goal of using Mac clean up tools is to free up storage space. That’s why you need to choose a one-stop solution that cleans all the unwanted and junk files from your computer without having to install third-party utilities. Downloading software that eats up memory is definitely a big no.
  • Effectiveness: Effectiveness is another crucial factor. Sadly, most Mac clean up software fails to deliver what they claim. The best disk cleaner for Mac OS X should save a significant amount of disk space by deleting all junk and old iOS backups. And the software should also be able to identify duplicate photos and successfully un-install all third-party apps, for a thorough cleaning job.
  • Ease of Use: You shouldn’t have to be a technical wizard to use a Mac cleaner app. Today, developers incorporate usability and intuitive features to ensure every app is easy to understand and use. There’s no need for a flashy or sleek user interface. All you need is a tool that comes with basic features and is easily accessible via navigation buttons.
  • Cost: Who doesn’t want a free Mac cleaner? But, cheap Mac cleaning software is only great if they do a great job. Let’s face it. Paid Mac cleaner apps have more to offer to make your life easier. As pricing options vary, you can choose an app that best suits your needs and fits into your budget. Let’s take the example of CleanMyMac X which costs just under $40. However, that’s a one-time fee. Other apps may charge you an additional annual fee.
  • Customer Service: What if you need to ask a technical question related to your app? Luckily, most developers and companies can be easily reached. But if a developer fails to give their contact information, such as live chat, email, or phone, it’s best to find an alternative. Most paid cleaning tools guarantee a swift customer service experience so you don’t have to wait for answers.

What Is The Best Mac Cleaner in 2020?

Hard drives are vulnerable to damage if not cleaned for longer periods. And to ensure your Mac keeps running swiftly and smoothly for years, you should use a powerful cleaning tool like CleanMyMac X to get rid of files associated with junk.

CleanMyMac X offers a convenient one-button cleaning system, which mechanically cleans the parts that need to be optimized. And users also have the option to manually control the cleanup process.

Why CleanMyMac X is better than other cleaners:

  • Best performer. Eliminated all junk from my system
  • The smart cleanup feature is launched with a single click
  • The privacy feature clears all data about your computer usage
  • Features both Smart Cleanup and Deep Cleaning
  • Offers other useful features, such as Uninstaller and Shredder
  • Incredibly easy to use with an intuitive and sleek user interface
  • Smart dashboard that presents all information in one place

CleanMyMac X will also be beneficial when you’re preparing your device for sale. Thanks to this software, you can remove junk with just a click. There’s no need to worry about visiting each individual directory and getting things cleaner. So, in short, CleanMyMac will help you optimize your Mac in every manner.

Highly recommended!

Cheers!

Tim

In closing, I hope my best mac cleaning software review was helpful when you’re making your choice. I also recommend that you look around our site to learn about other online software for small business owners. For example, our CleanMyMac X review and dr.fone review articles. Also, if you have any questions about this Mac tuneup reviews or something else, don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail using my contact form.

Tim is an engineer and small business owner from Northern California. He’s an outgoing creative writer and tech blogger who has a passion for helping people and building creativity in the mind, through outstanding how-to guides, articles, and honest software reviews.

What is taking up space on my Mac?

Best Free Mac Cleaner App

There comes a time in every computer's life when it is full of files and programs, slowing it down so much that its owner searches for an article such as this in order to cure it of these ailments (before it gets thrown out the window!).

Worry not, you're in the right place. This article will take you through 8 steps which will free up space on your Mac - removing unneeded files and clearing space for the stuff you actually need.

No matter if you're tech savvy or not, anyone can use these tips to breathe new life into their Mac.


To find out how much space is available on your Mac:

  1. Open the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen).
  2. Click 'About this Mac'.
  3. Click 'Storage'.

This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.

The 8 sections below address the biggest culprits of space-hogging on your Mac and how to clean them up.

Jump straight to:

1. Mac OS Storage Management

The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.

If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…

As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.

Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:

  • Store in iCloud: Quickly store files (Documents, Photos and Messages) from your Mac in iCloud. When considering how to clear space on Mac, getting rid of files quickly springs to mind- However, if you need to keep the files, you can just move them to an external hard drive, or into iCloud!

    Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically save space when it’s needed.

    This is great as you’ll be able to access your files on any device using your Apple ID. However, if you have a large number of files, you’ll need to purchase more storage space than your allotted free amount (5GB)- obviously, depending on the amount of space you need, this can quickly become an expensive option.

  • Optimize Storage: For those who download and watch lots of movies and TV, this option can save you a lot of space and a lot of time. Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically remove such files (which can be HUGE depending on their length and quality) once you have watched them.
  • Empty Trash Automatically: Similar to the above, enabling this option allows the automatic removal of files, saving you time and space without having to keep on top of it manually. This will remove items in your Trash after 30 days of them being there. Be aware that once files have been removed from your Trash, you will not be able to retrieve them.

    Side note: Many points in this article will advise the removal of unwanted files from your Mac. However, these files are not completely removed from your computer until you empty the Trash (the space is not regained until they are removed from Trash). You can manually empty it by clicking the Trash Can icon in your dock, then clicking 'Empty'.

  • Reduce Clutter: Find large and unused files on your Mac and delete them from your system. You’ll need to delete them manually, but it’s well worth it if you can remove files that you do not use.

    Navigate to files that you don't need using the 'Large Files' or 'Downloads' sorters, then hit 'Delete...'. Note that this action will bypass sending the item to Trash, so it's permanent.
    If you're finding unwanted files using the 'File Browser' tab, you'll need to right-click > 'Move To Trash'.

2. Find Duplicate Files Mac

The quickest way to free up space on your Mac is to automatically remove files that you don’t need. Without realizing it, you can accumulate gigabytes worth of duplicate files and folders on your computer.

The problem is that it can take so much time to find and delete these duplicates that people do not bother to do it even if they want to.

Luckily, you can use an app like Duplicate Sweeper to do this for you.

Duplicate Sweeper: Easily scan your Mac for duplicate files and photos. You can then select and remove duplicates based on your preferences. In this way you can keep your newest version of files and remove all duplicates with a click of a button.

In the example below, I was able to remove over 6000 files with one-click. This freed up 2.3 GB of space on my MacBook. Imagine manually going through and comparing 6000 files without Duplicate Sweeper... it would have taken forever!

For more information about Duplicate Sweeper, or to download the free trial:

Duplicate Sweeper homepage

Try Duplicate Sweeper free ▼

Receive an email with a link so you can download the free trial on your computer:

Note: We respect your privacy. We won't share your Email address with anyone else, or send you spam.

3. Unused Apps- Uninstall Programs on Mac

One of the biggest areas you should consider when looking at how to free up space on Mac is your Apps. Maybe unsurprisingly, apps on your Mac can be some of the largest files on your computer. Removing apps that you don’t use can free up a huge amount of space. Let’s list your apps by their files size:

Open Finder, then open the Applications section. Display the items as a list (using the button with 4 horizontal lines), then click the ‘Size’ header to reorder your applications by size. You can then work down the list and decide which applications you don’t use. Simply drag an application from the list into the Trash Can on your Dock to remove them.

Remember that you’ll need to empty your Trash Can to completely remove the applications from your Mac.

4. Clean up media and downloads

The quality of media like photo and video is constantly improving. Unfortunately, this usually means that the corresponding files are bigger than they used to be.

For this reason, your saved media could be a great place to free up some of that precious storage on your Mac.

Open Finder and look through your Pictures, Movies and Music folders. If there is media there that you don't want, select it and move it to Trash to get rid of later. If you prefer to delete this media from the associated apps like Photos and iMovie, see how to empty their trash.

It is also recommended to check your Downloads file for unwanted files too.

This folder can receive copious amounts of files downloaded from multiple sources. Many of these files you may have only needed to read or use once.

You can get to your Downloads folder by opening a Finder window and clicking the 'Downloads' header.

Again, select whatever files you don't need, then right-click > Move to Trash/Bin.

Extra: Zipped / Archived files

If you receive a zipped file (with the .zip extension), opening it will unzip the file or folder and create the files in a non-zipped form.

This will create files that you can use, but it will not remove the (now unneeded) zip file. If you've already unzipped, you can delete the .zip file.


On the flip side, you can use file archiving to compress files or folders that you don't use regularly.

Say you have a folder of documents that you only need to save for safekeeping; right-click the folder in Finder and click 'Compress [file/folder name]'. This will compress the files and create a .zip file.

Don't forget to delete the original, uncompressed folder in order to save the space!

5. Delete iTunes backups

Depending on the number of files, photos, messages etc that you have stored on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it’s backup on your Mac can be huge.

Keeping backups of your devices is a good idea. If something was to happen to your device, your data can be restored to it (or another device) using your backup. However, these backup files can be massive, and you may never need them! For this reason, consider backing up your devices to iCloud instead – freeing up space on your Mac.

To set your device to backup to iCloud, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.

How to delete backups on Mac - You can also delete the backups which you already have stored on your Mac. To do this, open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. If you don’t need the backups in the list, select and delete them!

Find out: where are iTunes backups stored?

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use iCloud for backing up your data, or if you only need certain data from your backups, you could use iBackup Extractor. This handy tool allows you to access and browse your backups, and extract any important photos, messages etc. that you need. You can save this data to your computer, then delete the backup from iTunes as seen above!

6. How to Delete Temporary Files on Mac

Some of the most common questions asked are 'how to clear cache on mac' and 'how to delete cookies on mac'. Well, let's answer those for you!

Temporary and cache are files that are stored locally in order to speed up processes. For example, images from a website that you visited can be cached, so that when you visit the page again, you don’t have to wait to download the images again, they are simply pulled in from the cache. That’s great for processes that you use regularly, but without care, your temporary and cached files can build up and eat away at your Mac’s performance.

Let’s see how to clear cache on mac – Open Finder > Go > hold ‘option’ and click ‘Library’ > Caches. Select and delete any cache files and folders that you don’t need to save space!

7. Taking out the Trash

Deleting files on your Mac usually only moves them to your Trash Can (or Bin).

This is great, because if you 'delete' something by accident, you can restore it to its original location - no harm done.

However, if you are culling files on your Mac to make space, you may wonder why you are not gaining storage after clicking delete.

To permanently delete files from the Mac, you'll need to empty your Trash Can. To do this, simply click the Trash Can (or Bin) icon in your Dock.

Here, you can review or restore files in your Trash/Bin.

To permanently delete all the files in your bin, click Empty. You'll be asked if you're sure, and to confirm the permanent deletion of the files.


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Deleting files from Photos, iMovie and Mail apps...

Generally, you'll be able to use the steps above to permanently delete files. However, some apps have their own way to manage 'deleted' files.

As such, you'll need to empty trash cans in individual apps to ensure that files are fully deleted.

An example of this can be seen in the Photos app:

Click the 'Recently Deleted' header to access the trash in the Photos app.

After 'deleting' photos from the app, the files can remain in this section for up to 40 days before being automatically deleted.

If you are sure you'd like to permanently delete these photos, click 'Delete All' to remove them from your hard drive.

You can use similar steps to empty trash for other apps like iMovie and Mail.

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8. Move files into external storage

The majority of the methods above cover how to delete unwanted files to gain space. But what you if want to keep your files?

If you need more space on your Mac, but deleting your files is not an option, you may want to consider investing in external storage.

You can purchase external storage drives pretty cheap nowadays.

The way this works is that you connect your external drive with your Mac via USB cable. The drive then pops up as a Location on your Mac:

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You can then drag files from your Mac onto your external drive, or cut/paste them into specific folders on your drive.

Takeaways

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These are the most effective steps to make the most of the available space on your Mac in our experience.

There's a lot of information above, but this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to clear space on your Mac. We hope that you now have the tools that you need to breathe new life into your Mac or MacBook.

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Happy spring cleaning!

Free Mac Cleanup Tools

Publisher: Wide Angle Software