When you are using your computer, especially when you are browsing the web, a lot of files are saved that you probably won’t need anymore. These files also include information about your browsing experience. CCleaner deletes these files so you can use this space for useful things and to secure your privacy.
So, CCleaner cleans your temporary internet files directory, what’s so special about that? Well, CCleaner offers you the possibility to clean up some more diskspace besides that. .It will also remove useless files from several other applications like Google Earth, Mozilla FireFox, Adobe Photoshop and much more, with the same click on the button. This will free up some space without browsing through all the applications and files on your computer. It also offers you the possibility to delete your cookies in a better way than internet explorer does: you can exclude cookies from websites that you trust, so you won’t have to re-enter every password again after a cookie cleansing.
The greatest part about this cleaning process is that it’s really fast and simple. You can choose which information you want to delete (including some advanced things that you won’t find back so easily without CCleaner), then analyze how much free space deleting those files would create, and finally you can choose to delete them. Of course, you can choose to clean your system right away without analyzing it first, which is much faster. For the real paranoid people: there’s an option you can enable so CCleaner will securely delete these files. It will then overwrite the information first, before deleting it so it can’t be retrieved in any possible way.
The Cleaner of CCleaner offers you delete the files you select in an easy way for both windows applications and third party applications.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, this basic cleaning function is only an extra of CCleaner. The fun starts with the registry tools that this software offers.
The first registry tool is just a basic registry cleaner. It deletes or repairs registry entries to files that don’t exist. You probably don’t notice any change after doing this, but it can solve some problems. Because messing with the registry can be dangerous, there is a backup option for the changes you’ve made in the registry. You should use this, especially when using windows 98 (personal experience ^^).
The second registry tool is probably a life safer for the people that don’t like to uninstall applications in the way they should be uninstalled: with the uninstaller. If you just delete the files, there will always be an entry in the windows software index which you can’t delete, because you need to run the uninstall package (which you have deleted) to delete it. CCleaner offers you to delete this entry from the registry, so you won’t see it again. But you should try to uninstall it first, otherwise you may even get some problems using the uninstaller. Next to that, you can rename these entries, in case there are some nameless pieces of software in the registry.
The best function of CCleaner: the software registry editor.
The last, but not least, tool is one that has direct access to the start up registry. This enables you to manually select the applications that you want to start when windows starts. The ideal tool for people with a slow starting computer.
And, is there anything bad about this software? Well, not with the functionality, but there are some things I just don’t like. First of all, it offers to install a yahoo toolbar during the installation and you need to unclick this option so you won’t get the toolbar. I really hate these things, it slows down the installation, and you could end up with a toolbar on which you can test CCleaner… The other bad thing is that this program only contains an update notifier, so you need to download the update from a website, manually. I just love auto updaters.
So, there’s a lot of cleaning you can do with CCleaner, and the great thing about it is that it’s incredibly easy. Next to that, it offers some options that I can’t find in Windows, like the direct access to the start up registry and the possibility to delete or rename entries from the software registry. This can be really helpful, and CCleaner is without a doubt a must have tool for people who make intensive use of their computer.
Evaluation
10/10
Screenshots
Platforms
Windows 98/NT4/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista
Links
Website
Download CCleaner