Cocktail for Mac 18.5.1

Overview

Cocktail is a comprehensive clean/repair/optimize utility for the MAS OS X that is designed to help you monitor and tweak your computer's performance. This powerful program provides a robust toolset that is currently used by more than a quarter million Mac users to keep their computers performing optimally. The main goal of the software is to provide a centralized interface through which the most influential Mac settings and applications can be controlled.

Installation

With a file size of under 3 MB, this nifty little utility downloads and installs quickly on all Macs. A simple, wizard-style installation process ensures that even the most inexperienced Mac users get by without a problem.

Interface

The Cocktail user interface is designed to be convenient and familiar, with an appearance similar to that of every other Mac menu you've ever seen. The tab-based main window lets you access settings in several other Mac resident programs, including Safari browser, QuickTime X, and iTunes. Thus, the Cocktail interface is actually a portal to many other interfaces within Mac OS X.

Pros

• Covers the three main aspects of computer health – maintenance, repair, and optimization.

• All-inclusive functionality that gives users complete control over system, file, networking, disk, and interface settings which contribute most towards performance.

• Provides easy access to S.M.A.R.T (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) data

• Helps fix erroneous disk permissions to solve common administrative issues

• Lets you modify power conservation/sleep settings for laptops

• Streamlines the process of running commandline requests and gathers the received data into a well-organized interface.

• Extensive help documentation provides an informative knowledgebase that is cross-linked with online resources like Wikipedia and the official Apple website.

• Lets you modify advanced settings in resident Mac applications like iTunes, Safari browser, and QuickTime X.

• Enhance your Mac networking and file sharing with an integrated OS X file server

• Schedule automated maintenance tasks using the Pilot module

• Gives you complete control over the appearance and functionality of your Mac's Finder and Dock

• Quickly and easily clear several types of caches (including internet, system, font, and user caches), temporary internet files, cookies, download lists, log files, and other unnecessary files to conserve disk space and minimize resource usage

Cons

• Free trial version only lasts for 10 uses. However, in those 10 uses you could find out a lot about your computer's health status, and gain temporary access to features that will improve your Mac's performance.

• Can be difficult for novices to use without input from the included help file

Alternatives

The most notable alternatives to Cocktail for Mac OS X are MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, Onyx, and Hazel. Of these competitors, MacKeeper would have to be the most robust, with a comprehensive feature set that is said to be even more extensive than that of Cocktail's. You have to be the judge of this claim though - try them both and decide!

Conclusion

If you're looking for an efficient, compact, and relatively easy to use software that will give you more control over your hard drive and operating system attributes, Cocktail is certainly the optimal selection. However, if you're very technically inclined and need access to more advanced features, you may want to consider MacKeeper instead.