CleanMaster security is effectively useless

[fabian bonifacio]

After doing some research on cm security and other cleaning/security apps, I eventually uninstalled it, and the battery on my nexus 5 has improved and I mean drastically improved, so if anyone has any battery issues I suggest you uninstall any such apps, in my opinion at least since your phone doesn't really need such apps

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

Yes yes yes yes yes.

Clean Master and similar apps offer dubious benefit at best, and more often degrade performance, as well as inject annoying adware.

 

[Aglet]

Yep, numerous adverts, intrusive updates, and it's a resource hog. I couldn't find anything to like. Sure seems popular based on Google Play stats though! (4.7 rating out of 10 million d/l) My experience with CleanMaster Boost was worse, unless my interpretation of the word 'boost' is 180 degrees out of kilter with its true meaning.

 

[Ezekiel Barbirolli]

I had Clean Master installed and while I didn't care for the ads or its overall style, I didn't notice any performance degradation and I didn't see the app listed under the battery usage statistics. However, I'm interested in anything that might improve battery life, so if not Clean Master or equivalent app, what is the recommended way to clear unwanted/junk files?

Cheers. . .

Tony N.

 

[B. Diddy]

You can clear all app caches by going to Settings>Storage, tapping Cached Data, and agreeing to clear cache there.

I also use a file manager app to look through the user-accessible directories every month or two to see if there are any leftover directories from apps that I've already uinstalled. They're usually pretty identifiable, and can be easily deleted using the file manager.

Certain other "junk" files may not be worth trying to delete, because the system or other apps might just re-create them. For example, people are often concerned about the number of thumbnails generated--but these are necessary to show thumbnails in apps like the Gallery and Music. If you delete thumbnails, they will generally be regenerated by the system (which also might take some battery power).

 

[Crashdamage]

Cache files are there for a reason, to speed up operation. Normally, the best performance is achieved by leaving cache files alone to do their job.

Cache files rebuild anyway when the associated apps are used, so it's a waste of power and CPU cycles to clear caches. Regular cleaning of caches is unnecessary and counterproductive. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Leave caches alone.

I don't worry too much about eliminating every stray file and folder either. I do some basic housekeeping with a file manager now and then just to keep things under control, but that's about it.

For those who are more obsessed with such things, SD Maid does a good job and does only what it's supposed to do.


Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Ezekiel Barbirolli]

Hi B. Diddy and Crashdamage: Thank you both for your advice about clearing cache. As far as thumbnails are concerned, I have seen references to deleting that humungous (> 1GB) thumbdata file, and recreating a "dummy" file with the same name. Have you heard of this technique and do you have an opinion on whether it is worthwhile or necessary or recommended, or a waste of time?

Regards. . .

Tony N.

 

[B. Diddy]

That's a good question. I haven't tried it, because I've never had to worry about being low on internal storage. Not sure what the downstream consequences of that would be. I would imagine one possible problem is seeing lots of grey boxes when you're trying to browse photos in a gallery.