It’s a common misconception that Macs run perfectly from day one until the day you give it away. We wish that were true. Macs may be the sportscars of the IT world, but just like all cars, they need proper maintenance to continue to run. There are two primary reasons for Mac slowdowns and related issues—the hard disk filling up and errors with so-called caches. (We’ll dive into this below.)

In this blog we’ll show you how our all-new Avast Cleanup Pro for Mac works, and why you’ll love having it as your daily Mac companion.

Introducing Avast Cleanup Pro for Mac

Our software performs some much-needed housecleaning on your Mac. It restores lost disk space by removing invisible or long-forgotten junk and detecting duplicates that waste even more disk space. Is it complicated? On the contrary, it couldn’t be easier: You just press a button, and that’s it! Here are the three simple steps:

1. Launch Avast Cleanup Pro (you can get it here) and click on SCAN beneath the “Clean Clutter” tile. Wait for the results screen.
2. The next screen reveals the list of files that were detected. By default, only files that are safe to eliminate are preselected for recommended deletion, such as application caches and log files. Other files that you may like to keep, such as downloads or data stored under Trash, can be manually selected for deletion once you’re sure you don’t need them.
3. To delete, hit the CLEAN button.

So what do we clean up?

Avast Cleanup Pro is a comprehensive removal tool that detects and removes the following types of files:

Application caches

Caches are actually meant to improve performance. They act not only as temporary storage for programs, but also as your system’s go-to for frequently-used application files. However, this cache can become corrupt or outdated, which in turn might lead to reliability issues or a loss of performance.

Avast Cleanup Pro detects all application cache folders, from built-in macOS applications like iTunes to third-party software, and deletes them. Some examples of common caches:

• Apple Help temporary cache files
• Safari-user temporary cache browsing files
• macOS location services temporary files
• Spotify leftover data
• Photo cache files

Log files

Log files are generated every time your macOS or your installed programs crash. They are also generated as regular operation protocol. These macOS logs (under Library/Logs/ DiagnosticsReport) can grow to hundreds of megabytes in size. When programs crash, the relevant information is stored in a folder called CrashReporter.

These files contain information about your PC, as well as some user information, and, in some cases, a huge amount of data on the crash itself. Unless you’re a developer, this information is useless and can be safely deleted using Avast Cleanup Pro.

Development junk

Programmers will appreciate the fact that Avast Cleanup Pro removes temporary leftover files, such as XCode temp files. These files are left behind during a coding or software-building session.

 Downloads

As the default location for downloads, the Downloads folder can include long-forgotten and sometimes massive amounts of data you just don't need anymore. Avast Cleanup Pro gets rid of this, but only if the user agrees.

External hard disk junk

MacOS also stores temporary files on external disks once they’re connected. We remove these so none of your USB drives are cluttered with files you don’t need.

Trash

The recycle bin of macOS. Sometimes people just forget to “take out the trash,” so to speak, so Cleanup Pro provides a safe way to clear these files, too—all in one go.

But that’s not all. We also clean up duplicate files, which we’ll tackle in an upcoming blog.

Ok, ok, I get it - it cleans a LOT - where can I find it?

Purchase Avast Cleanup Pro right here. It requires Mac OS 10.9 (Maverick) or later with at least 500 MB of disk space.