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Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner
#9928 05/15/10 08:08 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
pbGuy Offline OP
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For some time now, I've been using Cocktail (currently using 4.7.4).

While SL Cache Cleaner does some things as does Cocktail, I see it does other tasks that Cocktail does not, particularly the bootable Emergency Disk (on a flash drive) and the ClamAV antivirus scanning. (I have heard of ClamAV, but have never used it.)

Thoughts about Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner...





MacStudio M1max - 14.4.1, 64 GB Ram, 4TB SSD; Studio Display; iPhone 13mini; Watch 9; iPadPro (M2) 11" WiFi
Re: Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner
pbGuy #9932 05/16/10 03:12 AM
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Given ClamXAV is freeware, I would not consider that as a major, or even minor, selling point. I can't comment on the bootable emergency drive as I have not seen it work. For what it is worth I have used ClamXAV for years and it has, from time to time, detected several Window viruses in incoming email attachments. It is very unobtrusive and it works, the unobtrusive part is more than most anti-virus utilities can claim.

Cocktail was one of the very earliest GUI front ends for the built in BSD Unix commands line utilities. Today it has lots of competition and each has its own set of unique features as well as duplicating a host of features of all the others and all of them are dependent on command line features in the BSD Unix kernel that undergirds OS X. Among the numerous other utilities that will clean the various cache files are Cocktail, OnyX, and TinkerTool System 2. My personal choice for cache cleaning is TinkerTool System. Not that it is necessarily any better but in my experience it has the most flexibility in choosing which caches to delete.

In the long run, given the plethora of options and multitude of various features offered by the various tools, if you are going to choose only one, pick the one you like and has the specific functionalities you use most often. I have and use several from time to time based on what my needs are at the moment.



If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner
joemikeb #9936 05/16/10 04:16 PM
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pbGuy Offline OP
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In your comment, you referenced ClamXAV. Whereas, SLCC's developer site references as I have done - ClamAV. ...Is there most likely a material difference?

Also, given that ClamAV (or, ClamXAV) is freeware, I surmise its anti-virus definitions are more slowly updated which gets to your comment about this feature not being a true selling point. ...But, when compared to other anti-virus utilities, what's recommended as first in class?


MacStudio M1max - 14.4.1, 64 GB Ram, 4TB SSD; Studio Display; iPhone 13mini; Watch 9; iPadPro (M2) 11" WiFi
Re: Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner
pbGuy #9963 05/17/10 03:09 AM
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ClamAV and ClamXAV are one in the same. The X is simply a GUI interface to the command line application on the Mac. The ClamAV virus signatures are frequently updated and ClamAV is widely used and recommended in the PC world where new viruses spring up hourly if not more frequently. ClamXAV uses the same signature files as ClamAV on Windows.

First in class is hard to judge when there are no viruses to detect. As has been mentioned here and on our predecessor site, no anti-virus software can detect a virus until the virus signature is known. As there are no known viruses in the wild for OS X, no anti-virus software is any better than any other. There is nothing to detect and they are all equally good at detecting nothing. In this case the major consideration is which one interferes least with the normal operation of the OS and applications. From that standpoint ClamAV/ClamXAV is outstanding because it is virtually transparent in its operation and presents no operating problems. As for the others it is six of one and half a dozen of the other.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein

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