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Post your questions and comments about MacDust here...

It's worth noting that MacDust was developed by veteran MacHeist member, Tim Parnell (Timi).

John Casasanta
MacHeist Director
tap tap tap chief

hay!. what about me!? i made its icon

I'm feeling old

Be VERY CAREFUL with this app. I ran it and it deleted all my Safari bookmarks. I'm not too happy.

You likely had "Reset Safari" checked. Yeah, there really should be something like an info panel displaying what each option does on mouseover.

Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
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Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.

yeah i probably did, though i didn't realize that would delete bookmarks, and especially without moving them to the trash first or providing some way for me to verify or confirm.

Reset ________ is a complete and total reset of whatever app you've decided to reset.  It's like AppZapping it when you set MacDust off on its cleaning.
I'll work on something for that.  On all the other panels (System, Chats, etc.) there are tooltips to clarify what each function does.

for others who may have got themselves in the same situation:

i have no idea how or why this happened, but my bookmarks were restored once i deleted the default bookmarks in safari. i just clicked the bookmarks icon, deleted everything in the bookmarks bar, and clicked the bookmarks icon again and they were restored.

i honestly cannot fathom how that worked, but it's worth a shot for a last resort.

The tools section is neat.
Always wanted to try Fliqlo screensaver as a wallpaper.

so it goes

I think this a dangerous tool without the proper warning messages that alert you what you are about to do.

I also think the way the the app is presented on the webpage is a bit misleading.

"MacDust performs many tasks that take away your precious time. It removes hard to get at files, unnecessary files, and files you might have even forgotten about!"

In my opinion this app is not fit for the mainstream without a proper help file explaining what the option exactly do and warning users exactly what the are about to delete.

Technically this app is very powerful, but in my opinion should be regarded as tool for system administrator knowing exactly what they do, and is in this version without any helpfile and warning messages not fit for the average Mac user

I am not that happy this tool is in the give away loot of Macheist. And I predict a lot of Mac users not skilled in system administration  will burn there hands, deleting valuable logs and or information using it.

I would appreciate it if a warning would be put for the novice not to use this tool lightly. And that Macheist doesn't give away this kind of apss in the future.

I agree it should probably get a quick manual, but user beware, why is someone going around clicking on random stuff they don't know what it does anyway?  I don't think we need "childproof" apps only from macheist.

My twitter

Agreed I think the app itself is fine. But Macheist also has attracted a lot of new users and not all are cracks on the Mac. Keep that in mind. Without descant help and warnings it's like giving a average user a loaded gun without proper instruction.

Then maybe Apple shouldn't ship Keychain Access, Terminal, Activity Monitor, NetInfo Manager, Directory Access, Network Utility, or Disk Utility with OS X then?

Apps that are much more dangerous, like Xslimmer (which I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole) have shipped as loot or with past bundles from both MacHeist and MUPromo. I didn't see any massive uptick in users hosing their systems after Xslimmer shipped during those times.

Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.

Can anyone tell me how MacDust is better than OnyX?

Go Duke and GO BLUE!!!!

@DevilInPgh
Other than the fact that they're not even close to being the same tool?
Onyx is System Maintenance.  It's designed for running specific scripts and tools included with your system (that generally should run automatically) to keep your system in top function.
MacDust is System Cleaning. It's specially designed for removing files that your computer doesn't need, that take up large amounts of space, or that are hidden and really don't need to be.

@StalkingFox
MacDust is nowhere near that dangerous.  It won't ever touch important system files that will end your computers life if removed.  It would need admin authorization for that, and if you've been courteous enough to give MacDust a try, you'll note that it won't ask for anything of the sort.  MacDust is designed for removing files stored around your local user that can not cause catastrophic failures if missing, and in most cases are generally unnecessary if you haven't used something in a while.

I also fail to see how the description is misleading.  Going through and removing each of these files by hand, on a regular basis would begin to eat up hours of your time.

ROFL same thing happend to me... For once I would not mind a typical Windows scenario where I am asked to confirm 2-4 times..

Oh well did not delete my FF bookmarks so it was easy to restore.

Happy I did not notice I could clean all my browsers... That would be fatal!

I am not an agent in real life, only on weekends!

I really did give MacDust a try before I wrote my first post and again after reading some posts in this thread.

Think losing all your Safari bookmarks is a major lose. And shouldn't be possible without a warning from a cleanup app. Think this a dangerous behavior of the app. Losing your personal data can be a great disaster

So your argument doesn't cut wood. I think technically MacDust is great app. Imho opinion the dangers lies in the fact that the average user can to easily delete important user file with out any warning. When you the other posts some Machiesters already have...

An option saying: reset Safari, that also deletes all your bookmarks from Safari isn't a good thing in a app that states: "It removes hard to get at files, unnecessary files, and files you might have even forgotten about!" I don't think bookmarks are in this category. Imho the designer made a some bad design couches and I would not recommend this app to anyone due it's unsafe behavior.

@Timi,

MacDust (both of macheist and website version) crashed in my macbook giving this message;

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSCharacterConversionException', reason: 'Conversion to cString failed for string "µtorrent"'

My Leopard language is set to Korean. I have not tried English yet, but I guess this problem occurs only in non-English environments.

If anyone wants my full MacDust icon design with the dust rag, You can grab it here

Tim preferes it without the rag, and its his app so what he says goes. I prefer it with the rag though and thought maybe some of you lot would like it too

I'm feeling old

thanks artist-illustrator.net

Twitter PM me me at chi.mp
LETS GO TEAM ORANGE!!!!!
Buy the GREAT Macheist Bundle

Yup, it's probably the languages thing.  I'm not sure µ (the symbol for Micro) would be in the Korean set.  I'll change that to a normal u for now until I find a workaround.  Sorry about the issue, look for the fix in the next release (which should hopefully launch for you)

Most likely it would come back after re-syncing with MobileMe.

Ha!  I just got pwned by the program, too.  Firefox got completely beheaded.

No bookmarks
No toolbars
Nothing.

Fortunately, I export my bookmarks regularly for Launchbar to update.  I was able to reimport the html file.  Otherwise, I'd be super-pissed off.

And, seriously, I'm not a toolbag when it comes to Mac using.  It was just way too easy to do this without knowing what I was doing.  I'd put a bit of a warning on that badboy if I were Tim.

Yeah

Our ORANGE photo and movie blog in Bucheon, Korea: http://www.eatyourkimchi.com

Might I add, I'm pleased to no longer be the only South Korean resident on MacHeist.

Woot!

Our ORANGE photo and movie blog in Bucheon, Korea: http://www.eatyourkimchi.com

seems there's quite a few people having trouble understanding the meaning of the word 'reset'

is it a language problem?

@Timi maybe change Reset Safari to  'Restore to factory settings' ? ?

I'm feeling old

I think most people understand the word reset, just not what it includes...

If I was to reset itunes or iphoto I would suspect that all settings was turned back to default, and would be pissed if all my photos and songs were deleted...

Reset to factory settings would be miss leading as well. From this thread it does not mention bookmarks either:

http://tinyurl.com/9kqg8y

But I could be wrong and I will not try it though.

A pop up saying "Warning this function will also delete all your bookmarks!" would be enough.

EDIT - just tried to do a factory reset of Safari and no it does not delete any bookmarks.

So re-install is actually a more precise definition compared to reset

I am not an agent in real life, only on weekends!

Tip of advice:  Don't reset something you intend to use.
I'll try to come up with another bluntly obvious title for "Reset _______" but seriously, I'm pretty sure reset was the right word to use there.

Give Timi a break. I admit I'd be pissed too if I deleted my bookmarks but if you give it a little thought: clicking checkboxes randomly without knowing what they do - especially when they seem danguarous isn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

If you run the tool in the preconfigured setting no harm is done at all (at least I didn't noticed any harm yet), if you go an clickomania with all options ... sure it sucks to loose your bookmarks, but it is a cheep lesson learned, could have been more then just the bookmarks imagine someone told you to type 'sudo rm -rf /' in the Terminal and enter your password.

For myself I don't yet really see that I would need the app, but it might be a nice tool to have some day.

Don't reset something I intend to use?  Laptop?  Wii? 

Seriously, I didn't think reset Firefox would completely wipe every damn thing off of it.  My toolbars and addons have gone as well.  I was expecting cookies and caches and tiny things that I didn't know were there but needed removing...not a complete wipe of everything.

Yeah man.  Reset was the wrong word to use.  "Completely Erase Every Frickin Thing" would be better.

Our ORANGE photo and movie blog in Bucheon, Korea: http://www.eatyourkimchi.com

I haven't tick the checkbox and get my stuff wiped, but I wouldn't have thought MacDust's "Reset Safari" would include nuking the bookmarks since the same named function inside Safari doesn't either.

Maybe a warning dialog box popping up when checking the checkbox would be a good warning? "Hey you're going to trash everything including your bookmarks! Are you sure?"

This is an excellent idea. In addition, I suggest extensive use of tooltips, and perhaps a little warning icon next to the ones which may cause unexpected data loss. However, to be fair, labelling buttons is one of the hardest things about independent software development, along with thinking of a name for the application itself.

I haven't worked with them for a long time, but I have a vague feeling that cStrings only accept ASCII characters. I don't believe "µ" is an ASCII character.

Oh come now - it sounds like we're splitting hairs now. In any case, "Reset" in the context of what we're talking about here is "reset to the original condition it was when you first installed it". In principle it's the same but in practice its quite different from resetting your Wii.

In defense of Timi, I don't know what would have been a better phrase to use - perhaps the term "Nuke and Pave" (for all you Marathon vets out there) would be to your satisfaction?

(Hmm. It would be entertaining to see that check box labelled "Nuke and Pave Safari"...)

Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.

I don't think there is any reason to "Give Timi a break" nor any reason to "defend" him. No one was attacking him in the first place, some people decided to give a little customer feed back and nothing else.

After what I felt was a pretentious remark from Timi top of page 2 I was about to get personal, but then again that's not worth it. As a developer it would perhaps be in place with a "thanks for your inputs" instead?

But if Timi feels "Reset" is the right term to use, and feel that it is a customer problem not understanding the term - then feel free to keep it - just feedback and nothing else.

Funny though that the ones pressing "Reset" all got "surprised", perhaps deleting all bookmarks does not go into the category of "dusting off"?

It is the first cleaning program I have seen behave in such a way without any warnings at all - and I am curious to hear why the function is included at all? I mean in what scenario would you reset and delete EVERYTHING from an application?

1 - If you feel you have "messed" too much with the settings, you might want to revert back to what you came from, but you might have collected a lot of bookmarks during that "mess time" - why would I have those removed?

2 - If you feel Safari is not working at all, you might want to go back to factory default, but again bookmarks would never be the source to the problem - would it?

3 - Last situation would be if everything in Safari was messed up and it ran like crap. Then I would just backup my bookmarks, zap and re-install.

But again this is just some thoughts from a customer of the software - nothing else!

I am not an agent in real life, only on weekends!

Out of curiosity what would happen in a scenario like this?

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

I am not an agent in real life, only on weekends!

@Mint
The Safari Icon Cache is the favicons for websites you visit.
In this scenario Reset Safari overrides the two unselected options because Reset Safari, means Reset Safari.

Taking all suggestions into thought, I've come to think maybe I should retitle the checkbox "Eradicate all data related to use of Safari"  If that doesn't cover it, I'm not sure what will.

Thoughts?

For reference, I'd recommend you check out Mac Cleanse from Koingo Software... it offers a lot of the same tasks, with clearer warnings -- an "information" pane takes up most of the main application window.

Koingo also has a great start-up window that describes the app in detail upon first launch.

It's worth considering these attributes in your main competitor.

One note: "reset Safari" and other tasks are all possible from within Safari itself. 

You can also choose to delete all cookies in various ways, but I would strongly caution against deleting your cookies while dealing with MacHeist, since some heists may require certain cookies to be present.  Other websites won't remember your preferred settings if you delete their cookies.

I recommend checking out something like Cookie Assassin to delete specific cookies you know you don't need.  Though I wish there were more descriptive references for different types of cookies.

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I think the following makes sense to me

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

I am not an agent in real life, only on weekends!

Ah, but Resetting Safari (or Firefox, etc.) does more than delete bookmarks - it also targets preferences, caches, favicons, etc., so it wouldn't seem right to put it as an option pertaining purely to bookmarks.

EDIT: Actually, seeing that clicking that box clicks everything else does work pretty well...and it does provide important visual feedback about the seriousness of what that choice is going to entail. Actually, that works pretty well.

Marathon Forever.
AppShelf: MacHeist 3 Loot
AppShelf: nanoBundle 1
Check Reciept Page for nanoBundle 2 AppShelf Files.

I like both suggestions:

Completely Erase Every Frickin' Thing

and

Nuke and Pave

LOL... simonandmartina and rampancy

Whadda you lookin' at?

How about Restore to factory defaults or Clear all Data or something like that with a clear warning and information as to what is getting nuked.  The problem is that a lot of apps today have a Reset function, Safari, Camino and a few others, I have, use this term to reset the apps data keeping your data, like bookmarks, intact.  So that is where the confusion could be coming from.  If you reset something you don't necessarily think that you are erasing all your data that goes with it.  Certain things a user just assumes, which may not be wise, but true none the less, that reseting something will leave their data intact.

Green Monkeys
Roses are red, Monkeys are Green
Made with 100% recycled pixels

I looked through the app but then got scared because there are no tips or hints to describe exactly what each bit does.

I thought that I'd better not mess if it wasn't entirely clear and I'm no mac noob!

@timi
My suggestion would be to add tool tips or an extensive breakdown in help or pop-up warnings or even all three.

Looks good, think I'd use it if it was more clear on exactly what it will do.
Waiting for an update, whilst appreciating you have developed it and then given it away for free so no complaints!

http://www.mooseworks.co.uk/
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http://www.alexgreen.co.uk/

The only squabble I have here is that... Well, "reset" means to reset. You shouldn't take the name of the application, MacDust, too literally... Fact is, it's a bit invasive at the consent of the user. It doesn't just dust... It pries down deep and gets rid of any unwanted files.

Personally, I'd post first, ask what the "reset" button does, then use it. Although, it wouldn't be necessary, because I can infer that by "reset," it means "reset to factory settings."
Maybe that would be a better term, Timi. Gives people a better idea that what they're about to do will wipe that application clean.
I think I might actually reset Firefox when I get home, after backing up bookmarks and addons... It's been pretty slow and buggy lately, and I think it may be the result of some user:config fiddling.
See, in my situation, it's helpful... It makes it so that I don't have to uninstall, search for all config files, delete them, redownload, reinstall. It's just one click, and I'm done.

I've gotta wait... five and a half hours before I'm out of school, though, and I will forget, so I've gotta email myself.

iTweet | Personal blog

@Condawg The current change is to "Erase all data made by ______" to replace Reset _____.  Do you think that works?

@mooseworks There are tooltips on everything but the browsers (because I figured the browsers one was pretty self explanatory) and even some of the tools.

It seems sufficient, but it's a bit wordy in my opinion... Apple uses the "Restore to Factory Settings" for the iPod, and I haven't heard any complaints, so it seems like it's a good way to word stuff like that.
But, either way, it's clear no matter how you word it, really.

iTweet | Personal blog

How hard would it be to implement something like this? I think this is the most elegent solution, but it would also mean coding each of those check boxes to run separately if someone just wanted to "dust" their Icon Cache, or just erase all their bookmarks. That allows you to see what you're doing when you "Reset Safari." Credit and kudos to MintCreation for this. I like it.

Sometimes I feel so blue
It makes me twitter.

On a non-problematic note, this really saved my ass here.
As I posted earlier, my Firefox has been crappy lately... I really didn't want to switch to Safari, because... Well, it's a decent browser, but I love me some Firefox. So, some stuff took FOREVER to load, and then when I tried to load other things while that thing loaded, they'd take forever, too.
Basically, I'd have like, 7 tabs open and loading, for a good five minutes.
Now, after resetting Firefox with MacDust, everything is perfect... It's been a real nuisance, and so this was a really nice convenience.

iTweet | Personal blog

MacDust 3.02 is expected soon.
It is intended to be a free update for MacHeist users.  Make sure you've downloaded and launched the MacHeist version from your loot page before using the new version.

This update includes:
- Fixed interface issue where some system languages were unable to launch MacDust
- "Reset _____" has been reworded by suggestion of MacHeist Users
- Reduced possibility of accidental toggling
- More beautiful icons from Wil Nichols.
and quite a bit more.

Very cool.
Looking forward to it. I hope I can find some more use out of this application... I mean, it's really useful when you need it, but when you can't think of something that you need it for, it kind of just sits there, waiting for you.
I launch it maybe every other day or so just to look around for anything else to do with it, but... Nothing.
Maybe Firefox with go on the fritz again soon.

iTweet | Personal blog

Mmm, yummy.

The reason it's caused confusion is because the actual Reset Safari option within Safari does not remove bookmarks.

Well the 3.02 update (which is free for MacHeist users) released today changes the wording to "Restore Safari to Factory Defaults" along with many other updates.