MacBooster 8 review: a disk cleaner app for Mac

I often feel that my Mac has two parts: the friendly part and the scary part. The friendly part includes the Dock and the desktop, the brightly colored icons, and document folders. Those are what I look at all day and use with confidence.

The scary part lurks in the depths of the Finder. It’s a maze of confusing filenames and official-looking icons. When I find myself in the scary part, I’m always worried that clicking the wrong thing — let alone deleting the wrong thing — will damage my Mac forever.

Luckily, there are tools that can automate and combine the tasks in the scary parts of your Mac — they can help you manage your entire hard disk (and not just the parts you usually see). And one such tool is MacBooster. 

MacBooster’s features

MacBooster 8 is an app designed to make hard disk management more straightforward and user-friendly. Its interface helps guide you through the process of identifying, evaluating, and eliminating files that can slow or harm your computer. 

Here’s a rundown of its features:

• System Junk: Scans your hard disk and recommends junk files that can be safely deleted without harming performance. Also, this module creates a breakdown of each file that you can select for deletion. 
• Virus and Malware Scan: Checks your disk and removes any viruses. Also, finds and deletes malware and other stubborn and unwanted files.
• Turbo Boost: Optimizes disk and storage permissions to speed up your Mac’s performance. 
• Memory Clean: Helps clear away applications, operations, and files that hog your computer’s RAM.
• Privacy Protection: Clears away cookies and browsing data stored by web browsers like Chrome and Safari.
• Uninstaller: Completely deletes unwanted applications and their associated files.
• Startup Optimization: Disables startup clients so that your Mac can boot up at top speed. 
• Large and Old Files: Scans your files by age and size and suggests candidates to be deleted. 
• Duplicate Finder: Detects identical versions of a file and suggests them for deletion. 
• Photo Sweeper: Finds and removes duplicate or similar photos. 

MacBooster combines all these features in a sleek, easy-to-understand package. The app’s sidebars let you expand selected files and use a series of checkboxes to choose which ones you want to delete. It also reduces the risk of accidentally deleting important files: in order to delete anything, you have to not only check the box next to a file but also hit the round “Remove” button. The app’s streamlined interface lets you make simple and informed decisions about how to use your disk space. With helpful suggestions, prompts, and visualizations, you’ll quickly see which changes have the most impact on your computer.

Application management & removal

Speaking of app management, MacBooster does a nice job here, too. Its Uninstaller has handy filters to delete unneeded apps. And as for the useful ones, it would be great to see something like “automated updates” for them — like the Updater tool that is provided with CleanMyMac X, MacBooster’s alternative. You should try the free demo of CleanMyMac X available here. 

What makes MacBooster unique?

MacBooster stands out from the crowd for its thoroughness, polished design, and high level of user control. There are loads of applications out there that try to position themselves as all-around disk managers. Here’s what places MacBooster in the top tier.

1. Depth: Every step of the way, MacBooster lets you see what’s going on. The app presents all information clearly and in a way that’s easy to understand. Rather than clumping files together, MacBooster allows you to make specific choices about which files to keep and which to trash — from the biggest application to the smallest subfolder. 
2. Speed: MacBooster does its job on the double, taking only a few seconds to scan an entire hard disk. You don’t have to wait long to give unwanted material the boot and get back to more important things. 
3. Appearance: MacBooster’s visual design is easy on the eyes — it’s easy to understand but attractive, making it intuitive and a pleasure to use. Furthermore, the use of color cues helps to ensure that you’re taking all the right actions. This couldn’t be farther from the experience of rifling through deeper parts of Finder, where everything looks the same. 

In a crowded field of disk space analyzers, it’s the little things that make the difference. The unified view offered by MacBooster’s System Status pane, handy privacy features, and RAM manager all help distinguish the app from the competition. Together, MacBooster’s features help make the task of disk management feel like just another part of your normal workflow.

Is MacBooster Safe?

When using a disk cleaner, you give an app access to the deep interior of your computer and authorize it to make changes. That makes safety and security a top concern when choosing the right analyzer for you. MacBooster is updated regularly by its developer (it’s currently in version 8), meaning it’s continually checked for security vulnerabilities. 

When using third-party apps, the best choice is always to check the App Store first. If, like MacBooster, an app is not distributed through the App store, always download it directly from the developer’s website. That way, you know exactly what you’re getting — third-party distributors sometimes package downloaded apps with additional junk or harmful software. If you are not sure whether the app is safe, you can always delete it using a dedicated uninstaller, such as the one that comes with CleanMyMac X.

You can also help protect against security threats by ensuring that you always use the most updated version of MacBooster.

Did you know?

CleanMyMac X shares many features with MacBooster and is fully notarized by Apple. This means its code has been checked for viruses, and Apple found it safe to use on a Mac. Unlike many similar tools, CleanMyMac X also has a disk visualizer it calls “Space Lens” that builds an interactive map of your drive. It looks like this and is handy for detecting folders that take up too much space.

MacBooster Review: The verdict

MacBooster is a well-designed and effective disk cleaner and memory manager for Mac. 

What makes it stand out is its Duplicate Remover — an incredibly useful feature to add more organization to your digital world. The rest of the features are also impressive. MacBooster is a solid pick for exploring the scary depths of your Mac’s disk. MacBooster subscription costs $59.95 per year and can be used on 3 Macs. You may also check MacBooster alternatives and see our picks for 10 best Mac cleaner apps. For your convenience, here is also a comparison chart that matches MacBooster against its best-known alternative, CleanMyMac X.