Background processes

CleanMyMac is a complex application that performs a wide range of cleaning, maintenance, and protection operations. Some of these tasks require background system information and extended access rights. Since this may seem suspicious, we're providing insight into the major unseen components of CleanMyMac and control over them.

The Health Monitor is a background process of CleanMyMac that keeps you informed about key system readings and warns of potential threats.

The Monitor subscribes to system notifications and forwards those related to health statuses to CleanMyMac. You can view this information anytime in the CleanMyMac Menu.

All the instruments you see use information delivered by the Monitor, including:

• Memory usage and memory-intensive applications

• Available disk space

• Current battery state and battery-intensive applications

• Processor load and CPU-intensive applications

• Network usage statistics and current speed

• List of hung applications

• Trash

CleanMyMac also uses data from the Monitor for:

• Real-time malware monitoring: To make sure your new installations are safe, keep the Monitor running. It informs CleanMyMac about changes on your Mac and triggers a check for malicious software.

• Background malware scanning: The Monitor launches malware check-ups on your Mac automatically to ensure no threats have slipped by. It doesn't replace full malware scanning but can be a lifesaver for your Mac.

• Health and optimization notifications: CleanMyMac monitors vital system indicators and reminds you about low disk space, RAM deficits, and frozen apps. It also offers to uninstall apps completely when you drag them to the Trash.

• Disk space statuses: The Monitor lets CleanMyMac calculate the amount of free space on your Mac and show it after cleanup.

The Monitor runs behind the scenes unnoticed – it uses only a fraction of system resources and hardly affects performance or battery life. However, if you move a lot of files to the Trash, the Monitor starts using resources more actively to recalculate data.

When a CleanMyMac update with new features and improvements is available, we want to share it with you as soon as possible – that's what the Updater does. It downloads and installs CleanMyMac updates right after they're released.

The Updater is a transparent process that wakes up every six hours to check for updates. If there's something new, the download starts silently. Otherwise, the Updater terminates.

Turn updates on or off

The CleanMyMac Agent is a helper process that dramatically increases the amount of space you can free and lets you uninstall applications completely.

When you command CleanMyMac to perform an operation that requires root privileges – for example, deleting unneeded system files – the system asks for your admin password to install the Agent.

Once the Agent is installed, CleanMyMac can:

• Remove large but unnecessary system files (system cache and logs, unused language files, Xcode junk, and so on)

• Run maintenance scripts

• Uninstall App Store applications and apps involved in system processes

• Eliminate detected malware threats

If you don't use CleanMyMac to perform tasks that require privileged access, the Agent remains idle. Also, when you quit CleanMyMac, the Agent exits too.

To turn off the Agent, open CleanMyMac, then choose Action > Deauthenticate in the menu bar.

We hope you're now more comfortable with these important CleanMyMac components. However, if you still have questions, please contact our Support Team.