Bytesweep 2.1.0: Charge limit, calendar in the notch, and a check for adware

Bytesweep 2.1.0 is a big one. Your MacBook can stop charging at the level you choose, the notch picks up your calendar, timers and world clocks, Monitor keeps a month of history, and Bytesweep now checks your drives' health and looks for known adware. Bytesweep for Windows gets almost all of it in its next Microsoft Store update.

Battery

• A charge limit. On Apple silicon MacBooks, choose a level from 50 to 95%, and Bytesweep pauses charging there while the adapter keeps powering the Mac. 80% is a good everyday setting. Charge to 100% once tops it up for a trip, then goes back to your limit. The limit holds while Bytesweep is running; quit it and charging goes back to normal. It is not offered on Intel Macs.
• Battery health shows the condition macOS reports, the cycle count, the capacity compared with when the battery was new, and the adapter's wattage.

The notch

• Calendar. Today's and tomorrow's events, with a Join button for Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, FaceTime and other call links, and reminders due today that you can tick off. It is off until you add the tile, and macOS asks for permission only when you press Continue.
• Timers. 5, 10 or 25 minutes, or any length you type. The countdown runs in the notch, and you hear a sound when it ends.
• World clocks. Up to six cities, as a notch tile and in the menu bar card.
• AirDrop. Drop a file on the notch to send it with AirDrop.
• Mirror. A quick look at your camera before a call, only after you press Start.
• Charging and volume. The notch shows a short moment when you plug in, and optionally when you change the volume.

Monitor

• 30 days of history. Bytesweep keeps a reading every minute for a day and every hour for 30 days, in about 95 KB. CPU, memory, network, disk, free space, temperature and battery all go back a month. One switch in Settings turns it off and deletes it.
• A menu bar item for each reading. CPU, memory, network, disk, temperature and battery can each have their own menu bar item with a page that drops down from it. They are off until you turn them on.
• Wi-Fi. Monitor → Network explains your Wi-Fi: signal, noise, channel, band and speed, with a plain verdict and a scan for networks crowding your channel. There is no speed test, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Storage and cleaning

• Drive health. For SSDs, wear, spare capacity, data written, errors and temperature from the drive's own health log; for hard drives, their SMART status. Bytesweep checks daily and when a drive connects, and warns you about a failing drive.
• Downloaded cloud files. Clean shows how much space your downloaded iCloud Drive and cloud folder files take, and removes the local copy of files that are fully uploaded. Download Again brings them back. Cloud-only files are never downloaded.
• A scheduled scan. Weekly, every two weeks or monthly, Bytesweep tells you once it could free more than an amount you choose. Automatic cleaning is a second switch, off by default, limited to low-risk items, always with Undo.

Apps and security

• Extensions. A new tab in Apps lists Safari, browser and app extensions and plug-ins, what each one belongs to and is allowed to do, and the ones whose app is gone.
• Security check. Startup now compares what starts on your Mac with a list of known adware families and browser hijackers, and flags unsigned programs running from hidden or temporary folders. It also shows whether SIP, Gatekeeper, XProtect and FileVault are on. The list ships with the app and nothing is uploaded. It is not an antivirus.
• Default apps. Settings shows which app opens web links, mail, PDFs, images, video, music, text, code and more, and lets you change them.

Bytesweep for Windows

The Windows app's next Microsoft Store update brings the same: 30 days of history, separate tray icons for each reading, Wi-Fi, battery health, drive health, the security check (with Defender, Firewall, SmartScreen, BitLocker and UAC status), browser and Explorer extensions, cloud files for OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and Box, the scheduled scan, world clocks, timers and a calendar in the top bar, and Nearby Share in place of AirDrop. Windows does not let apps limit charging, so Bytesweep points you to your laptop maker's tool instead, and it shows default apps but cannot change them.

Languages

All of the new text is translated into the app's 14 languages.

Upgrading

Bytesweep 2.0.1 or later installs 2.1.0 for you: choose Check for Updates in the Bytesweep menu. Your licence key, settings and Undo history carry over.