14 DAY TRIAL // OS X has a very different approach when it comes to your computer settings. The System Preferences is where most people go to change the base behavior of their computer; however, the preference panes offer only the most basic options and are intended more towards the novice computer user, being very easy to understand and quite limited in what they can do. On the other hand, those who are very savvy with the inner working of the system can open up the Terminal and change whatever they want, enjoying absolute power but requiring the extensive knowledge of how to make any of those changes. This has given birth to a whole host of applications that act as a front end to many terminal commands, letting people who are less technologically inclined make changes that would be otherwise inaccessible.
Tiger Cache Cleaner is one such application, which puts more power in the hands of the average user.
A horrid mess
There are many similar applications out there, too many to start naming, however Tiger Cache Cleaner is unlike any of them because of the rather disorganized approach it takes to everything.
It has a main window, in which some of its options can be found, conveniently grouped under tabs. This is in tune with the general approach of other front-end utilities. However, most of its options and features are not present in the main window, being located in multiple menus. To make thing even more complicated, there are options that are available in the menus but not in the main window, and other that are available in the main window but not in the menus.
Overall, the application has a very muddled, patchwork feel to it, which is by no means lessened by the documentation.
What it does
Tiger Cache Cleaner does a multitude of things from cleaning up caches, to running maintenance scripts, to cleaning applications of unwanted resources and changing core settings.
Many of these functions can be found in other similar applications, but there are a few that stand out and I have not seen elsewhere. These, in turn, range from cleaning up all finder preferences and settings for all users to removing the unnecessary information from Universal Binaries (thus making them run only on the current platform) to creating RAM disks and a 'Startup Items' folder, something I have not seen since the old days of Classic.
A new take on automation
While many applications let you schedule jobs that are otherwise run only when the system sees fit, at any time you choose, Tiger Cache Cleaner does things a bit different: it lets you create "Tiger Cache Cleaner documents" which are stand-alone files, and which can be executed by opening them.
To create one of these documents you simply choose 'New TCC Document' from the file menu and you are presented with the new document window. Here, you simply tick off the jobs you want done and specify any shell commands you wish to run and then press save. At this point you have a file, which you can rename to whatever you see is appropriate and launch whenever you see fit. You can even include this document in the startup items to have it run automatically when the computer turns on.
A lot of power
As is quite often mentioned in the documentation, this program gives you easy access to a number of tools that are quite powerful. Many of the option in the menus can cause a reboot of the system and other unfamiliar behavior such as booting up in single user mode.
Like all programs that can potentially screw up your machine, it should be treated as such. Reading the documentation is a must, as is quitting programs and saving any unsaved work you may have open. Also, experimentation is not recommended unless you are prepared in case anything goes wrong.
The Good Has a lot of features and options not found in other applications of the same kind. The TCC documents are a very easy way to set up stand alone task files with just a few clicks.
The Bad Quite hectic with features being spread out over the main window and menus, some appearing in both locations, others only in one. The documentation is also quite disorganized and unstructured, feeling more like of a walkthrough than an actual help file.
The Truth This application has quite a few nifty options that are very useful. The fact that it is not that well designed can be a problem, especially if you are new to this sort of applications; otherwise it is simply an inconvenience you learn to deal with.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
