If you’re like me and love your Mac, but find that over the months and years, it has slowed down somewhat and is not as efficient or as fast as it once was, then there are a couple of decent apps you can download to give it a new lease of life.
Here I’ll be reviewing two different apps from MacPaw, a Ukrainian company specialising in software cleaning for macOS – Gemini 2 and CleanMyMac X.
So let’s dive right in!
Gemini 2 Review
If you’re the proud owner of a Mac built in the past few years, then it probably came with the alternative of a hard drive, flash storage. Yes, it’s great when you can boot in seconds; however, it’s quite costly and doesn’t provide you with nearly enough capacity.
There are some tips and tricks to freeing up space on such devices; however, there is a great way to know for sure you’ve created much-needed space – removing file duplicates.
Most of us don’t really see this as an effective option, and it’s because nobody wants to sit and trawl through our thousands of files – music, photos, documents - and see which ones are duplicated. With the Gemini 2, this experience is greatly enhanced, and it does the hard work for you.
This smart software is capable of scanning all of your files, comparing them against a handful of parameters, and seeing exactly which ones are duplicated. Once they’ve been identified, the user is shown the results, which are grouped into exact duplicates with the same name, or ones that are similar. That’s ideal for those 20 selfies you took last week in the space of a minute to determine which one you actually wanted to use on Insta!
Or the hundreds of images you snapped on a night out with friends, most of which were blurry or too dark. Yep, all of those are eating up the space on your Mac, and at the touch of a button, everything you don’t want is shredded. Well, first, it actually moves them to its own trash before you can delete for good so you don’t accidentally delete anything important.
- I found 9.7GB of free space using this app – seriously!
- It detects hundreds of files that aren’t exact duplicates but may as well be
- Reviewing the duplicates is easy with a great interface.
- The app is easy to navigate and straightforward.
- You can customise the app to your own preferences.
- It saves you soooo many hours trawling through files.
- You can see the results easily, allowing you to visually inspect the files.
- Speed has to be a downside; it took a long time to work.
- Whilst it's working, it eats up a lot of resources, slowing things down.
- I also noticed my Mac fan was loud during scanning and heated up slightly.
The simple answer is yes. It cost about $20 (£15.95) to buy the app, and I’ll probably only use it once every few months to free up space, but the bottom line is that’s exactly what it does – free space very effectively.
With all the work I do on my Mac, and all the songs, videos, pictures, files it holds, space is a major issue, so every little helps. The issue of it working slowly is not a problem for me, I set it running before going out for a bike ride, and it was completed by the time I was back.
One thing that really stood out to me the 3rd time I used the app is that it Gemini 2 has an in-built algorithm that ‘learns’ how you select which files are duplicates and then use that to provide suggestions on future scans – remarkably intuitive!
Want to free up even more space on your Mac? Then you should definitely check out CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X
Whilst the Gemini 2 only caters to duplicate files, CleanMyMac X takes things to another level to claw backspace from your Mac.
Malware scanner? Check!
Extension manager? Check!
Cleans logs and caches? Check and Check!
Using a variety of modules, the app gets to work and comprises a number of functions:
- Enable or disable extensions
- Search for space-hungry superfluous files
- Uninstall unused items in a click
- Clear space on your RAM
- Wipe clean DNS cache
- See all of your largest folders
- Identifies useless temp files
- It’s truly like hiring a cleaning maid for your Mac
- The interface is easy on the eye and simple to use
- It scans quickly, much quicker than anticipated
- I saved many GBs of space in less than 15 minutes
- You’re saving money because no costly upgrades are needed
- I had no idea my iTunes cache was so cluttered!
- It went into areas such as Mail too which was great
- Doesn’t compare to other dedicated malware removers
- A little pricey for just one year subscription
- No duplicate file finder – but I already have Gemini 2!
In short, the answer has to be yes as it’s just got so many features packed into one app. It gives you an overall glimpse at your system’s performance, and it has the power to rectify anything you need changing in a flash.
It doesn’t take up much space on my Mac, and it works to free up even more space which I sorely need.
I think the proof is in the pudding, in that now my Mac works much quicker and is more efficient – exactly what I wanted with no complications or difficult to use interface.
