Washing Machine is a basic system clean-up tool designed to help you optimize your Mac’s performance by detecting and deleting caches, logs, language files and duplicates. In addition, the app also comes with a module to organize cluttered desktop folders, manage Dock icons and add smart folders to the Finder. The installation was accomplished with flying colors through a standard installation package that also included an uninstaller. Having both the installer and uninstaller so closely together is a big plus. One of Washing Machine’s most important assets is the polished and well-organized user interface that comes with beautifully colored icons which light up when hovered over. Moreover, working with the app does not require any advanced knowledge. At first launch, the initial screen displays tabs for the 3 major cycles: “Reclaim,” “Duplicates” and “Organize.” However, that is not the first thing you see.
Reinstalling Mac App Store version of Washing Machine June 23, 2018 11:42 When you uninstall Washing Machine 2014 and had previously purchased Washing Machine from the Mac App Store, the version from the Mac App Store will be uninstalled. Mac Washing Machine can automatically organize your heap of Desktop files into the right folders. Our Mac cleaner software also shows you which apps you use most often and allows you to drag and drop them to and from your Dock with ease. ★ How to Download and Install Intego Software for Mac ★ How Do I Install or Transfer My Intego Software to Another Computer? ★ I Forgot My Product Key or Serial Number ★ Legacy System Extension Message ★ How Do I Activate My Intego Software With a New Serial Number?
Help overlays are displayed above every new screen you encounter, which hints at the fact that the utility is designed for beginners in matters of OS X clean-up.
The Reclaim module allowed us to select what to clean: caches, downloads, language files, logs or the Trash. You can click on the “i” icon below each section to open the help overlays that explain why you should tidy these files. After scanning a Mac system that had not been maintained for weeks, it discovered over 4 GB of disposable data.
Although cache files on your Mac are of various types, Washing Machine lists them under one category. It is up to you to decide which cache you want to delete from a list. Still, it would have been helpful to select certain cache categories (before and after scanning), such as user cache, system cache, Dashboard cache or DNS cache.
Washing Machine App Machine
An interesting feature is the circle graph that breaks down selected locations (like cache or downloads) into segments, which you can click to inspect their contents. Since you can use both a list and the handy graph, browsing through detected junk files is like a walk in the park. Furthermore, Washing Machine auto-selects files that should be deleted. It excludes items such as logs with diagnostic reports and English file packs. The great thing is that you have total freedom to choose what to delete by toggling check boxes. Moreover, 3 deletion criteria (safe, aggressive or in between) can be used to select items based on their age and importance.
The application permanently deleted selected files (which amounted to over 4 GB) very quickly, but not before displaying a warning message. After the process, it showed how much space was rescued and allowed us to continue cleaning.
In the second main cycle, namely Duplicates, you can select several categories: folders, archives, movies, documents, music and pictures. Like most duplicate finders, Washing Machine lets you choose which locations to scan and what folders within these locations to exclude. It took a fair amount of time, about 7 minutes, to detect over 659 duplicates (4.7 GB in total) on a 300 GB disk. On the other hand, deleting the pile of files took just a few seconds.
This module offers a decent set of functions. First of all, duplicates are conveniently grouped into folders by category. In addition, you have the choice to keep all detected files, files on the boot drive, latest files or earliest files. The alternative way is to manually select duplicates, but this obviously leads to tedious work. We have discovered a flaw in this mechanism – the app cannot auto-select detected duplicates that were added to a folder at the same time. In this case, an option for auto-selecting all duplicates of a file, except for a designated ‘original,’ is needed. The Organize function will only allow you to send desktop items to either the home subfolders (Documents, Music, Pictures, etc.) or to a Desktop folder that it creates. Another option is to send them to the Trash, which is pretty redundant because it is easy enough to do so via the Finder. What makes matters worse is that you cannot manually select multiple items.
Washing Machine Sale
However, a drop-down menu enables you to send all items to either the home subfolders or the created Desktop folder. Also, the app automatically recognizes the format of each file and sends them to the appropriate home subfolder with just a click. Files sent to the Desktop folder are piled up into a single subfolder, though. Other functions include the ability to quickly add or remove dock icons from a single window, as well as to place smart folders (containing documents, PDFs, movies, etc.) to the Finder’s sidebar. Both these features are not very useful, as you can perform the same actions without the help of a third-party app, if you know how to decently operate a Mac.
The Good
Firstly, Washing Machine comes with an impressive user interface design. Starting a task is extremely simple and the concise help overlays come in handy to beginners. Moreover, it offers an intuitive way to browse through detected junk files and displays all duplicates that clutter your Mac. The app also performs well as far as the scan / delete speed is concerned.
The Bad
You are not allowed to choose which caches to scan in the clean-up cycle. Also, Washing Machine cannot auto-select duplicate files created on the same date. In addition, the Organize module is limited to tidying only your Desktop folder and tends to require too much effort from the user. Likewise, the dock organizer and smart folders can be easily replaced with OS X’s own features.
The Truth
The usefulness of the application unfortunately does not match the elegant user interface. Although the workflow is highly intuitive, the functions could use more work here and there, including a better duplicate selection method. On the whole, if Mac clean-up software is not your forte and you want a user-friendly tool to perform basic tasks, feel free to take a closer look at Washing Machine.