Spring Cleaning Deluxe for Mac: don’t use it!
During that stretch between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I (finally) clean out my email inbox.
Some years, there have been hundreds of marketing newsletters I’d had every intention of reading some day, and long lost friends I’d meant to reply to. But every December, I face the fact that I’ll never get around to doing that stuff, and do a mass purge of the inbox. It feels good to start the new year that way.
You might think this was a good time to use Spring Cleaning Deluxe on your Mac, too. This age-old software from SmithMicro promises to clean out old data on your Mac, making it run faster.
Don’t believe it.
I ran Spring Cleaning a few years ago. It broke my computer. When I took it into the Apple store and told the guy I’d run Spring Cleaning on it, his face froze. We were standing right next to the software shelves, and sure enough, Spring Cleaning was prominently displayed.
The Apple guy looked around nervously and then said quietly, “See, that was your mistake.”
So I know I’m not the only person who’s wrecked their Mac by running Spring Cleaning on it. Just think of the poor saps who ended up going to apply for a payday loan so they could fix their computer, only to break it for good with this software. Don’t take the chance.
There are other ways to “spring clean” your Mac. They’ll take longer than running some automated software, but it will make a visible difference.
MacRumors has some tips on how to clean out old files from your Mac.
(NOTE: the only software they recommend that I’ve personally used is Monolingual, and it’s fantastic. It’s a little program that erases all those Swahili dictionaries and Cantonese keyboard thingies your Mac ships with, but that you likely won’t ever use.)
Over at ChrisWrites.com, there are some easy tips, like getting rid of all that crap on your desktop. And yeah: buy some more RAM! It will change your life!
Finally, CC Holland serves up “7 Ways to Make Your Mac Run Better.”
All these posts have safe, easy ways to “spring clean” your Mac without wasting your money on dubious software.
