Apple’s Downloads section is featuring Cocktail 4.5.2, a new version of Maintain’s general-purpose utility for Mac OS X. Described as “a smooth and powerful digital toolset with a variety of practical features that simplifies the use of advanced UNIX functions and helps hundreds of thousands of Mac users around the world to get the most out of their computers,” Cocktail is shareware, costs $14.95 (single-user license) and comes in Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard editions. The old, Panther Edition is absolutely free to download and use.

Cocktail serves up an attractive mix of maintenance tools and interface tweaks. Having everything accessible via a comprehensive user interface, Cocktail’s major features are arranged in five basic categories, or tabs. The Pilot function offers the ability to clean, repair and optimize your system. The latest version of Cocktail, 4.5.2, delivers enhancements and bug fixes for the Snow Leopard edition of the software. One noteworthy fix, Maintain claims, is for a bug causing high CPU usage on 32-bit Macs. According to the company, many more enhancements are to be observed in the new version, although the developer fails to detail any of these particular improvements.

“Cocktail is an award winning general purpose utility [...] It is a smooth and powerful digital toolset with a variety of practical features that simplifies the use of advanced UNIX functions and helps Mac users around the world to get the most out of their computers,” Maintain, the developer of Cocktail, says.

Readers can immediately obtain a free trial version of Cocktail using the first download link below. When unregistered, the Cocktail Tiger Edition, Leopard Edition and Snow Leopard Edition will run in demo mode and will expire after ten uses (application launches). Those still running Mac OS X Panther can use Cocktail for free – the Panther Edition is distributed as freeware and does not require a license.

Download Cocktail for Tiger / Leopard / Snow Leopard (Update / Trial / Buy)

Download Cocktail for Panther (Free)