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Troubleshooting utility news and updates

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. There are only three updates this week, for OnyX, CleanApp, and AppleXsoft Photo Recovery.

Topher Kessler MacFixIt Editor
Topher, an avid Mac user for the past 15 years, has been a contributing author to MacFixIt since the spring of 2008. One of his passions is troubleshooting Mac problems and making the best use of Macs and Apple hardware at home and in the workplace.
Topher Kessler
2 min read

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates for the maintenance program OnyX, the uninstaller utility CleanApp, and a file recovery tool called AppleXsoft Photo Recovery.

The free maintenance tool OnyX is a popular option for running general maintenance routines in OS X in the event of slowdowns and other odd system problems. OnyX has been updated this week to add optimizations and improvements to the handling of user caches, logs, and other temporary items. Other than this the program has not been updated much; however, if you use the software regularly you might consider updating.

If you are only looking to run maintenance tasks in OS X, then the sister utility for OnyX called Maintenance might be a good option to consider. While OnyX offers options for tweaking the system and viewing some under-the-hood content in OS X, Maintenance gives you a quick way to schedule the clearing of system caches, launch services, and check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your hard disk.

The next updated tool is CleanApp, which is a good option for efficiently uninstalling applications in OS X. Apple does not provide a program management tool in OS X and the operating system lacks the capability to track files installed by applications so as to be able to fully uninstall them. Tools like CleanApp fill this gap. The latest version fixes errors in the program's logging service when it's running in OS X 10.4. The software is free to try, but will cost $15.00 for a full license.

The third update this week is for AppleXsoft Photo Recovery, which is one of several options for recovering files from digital media such as flash cards, cameras, and micro drives. When choosing a recovery program, make sure it has an option to create a clone of the source drive, and to not restore files directly to the initial data source. This recovery utility has both of these options. The latest update is just a point release that fixes a few bugs; a full license for it will cost $49.95.



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