What Is It?

CCleaner is essentially a system optimisation tool removing unwanted and temporary files from the system along with a registry cleaner. It also removes traces of your PC use on web browsers and opened documents history.

My recent post My Current XP OS is Dying (and Holiday Weekend in the UK) outlined problems with my current XP installation. This is part of the normal cycle for a Windows OS which becomes overloaded with all sorts of files and registry entries over a period of time. Particularly for my type of use where lots of programs are installed/uninstalled and all sorts of changes are constantly being made to the system to se how things work. I though that as I am about to reinstall the system this would be an ideal opportunity to experiment with some system and registry cleaning utilities.

This will be the first post outlining the main features of CCleaner in the same way as a normal review. I will follow this up shortly with my experience in using CCleaner on the system to see what improvements it makes and any problems that result.

Why Would You Want It?

Essentially to try and get your Windows Operating System into a state where it runs more efficiently. This can be partly achieved by removing invalid entries from the registry and deleting unused temporary files. It also will remove your web browsing and opened documents history along with the associate cookies, files, shortcuts, registry entries, etc. if this is important to you. As many of the files and entries are hidden or not obvious to the average user this is almost impossible to achieve without an application such as CCleaner.

What Does It Do - The Essentials?

Summary:

• Registry Cleaner
• Removes Temporary Files
• Removes Web Browsing Traces/History
• Removes unneeded System and Application Files

Pros: What’s Good?

• Freeware
• Portable (+ Installed option)

• Easy to Use
• Relatively Quick
  (Depends on system components, number/size of hard drives, etc)
• Good focused options and controls
• Allows to include and exclude files/file types/folders
• Nice GUI

Cons:What’s Not So Good?

• Ideally should have (or link to) a disk defrag option

What the Developer Says:

The developers site gives the following information:

Program Summary:

CCleaner is a freeware PC optimizations tool.
It combines a system cleaner that removes unused and temporary files from your system and also a fully featured registry cleaner!
CCleaner allows Windows to run faster, more efficiently and gives you more hard disk space.
The best part is that it’s Small, Fast and Free!

More Information can be found at CCleaner Features

The Main Window

On starting CCleaner the interface shows the Cleaner window on the Windows Tab. This gives access to the options to remove unneeded files and information from a number of Microsoft Windows applications and the system. see that there is an option to remove “Old Prefetch” data. The Prefetch cache holds files/applications that are normally run at startup and speeds the system so use with caution. The prefetch cache is rebuilt if cleared but this can initially slow the system start process.

There are options to Analyze or just Run the Cleaner accessed by the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The Cleaner Windows Tab

The entire set of available options is shown below.

The Cleaner Applications Tab

This shows a number of cleaning options related to non Microsoft applications as shown above.

The Registry Window

This window allows you to select a range of different registry entry types to scan. After scanning you have the ability to select/deselect individual entries using the checkboxes. There is also a right-click menu which provides more global select/deselect options

Having scanned the registry there are buttons that allow you to Scan for Issues or Fix Selected Issues.

If you choose to fix issues then you are prompted to backup the registry:

(do this unless you are very certain about what you are doing or already have a full backup in place)

The Tools Window

Here there are two options. The first provides access to the Startup Items:

The options are limited to deleting startup items with no saving of the current state or simply temporarily disabling an item.

The second button provides access to the Uninstall information for your installed applications.

These include Renaming and Deleting uninstall entries as well as Saving to a text file.

This is very useful if you want a list of all your installed applications.

(As I currently need for my impending reinstallation of Windows XP)

There is a right-click menu but this only provides the same functions as the buttons.

Options Window

Settings

This provides access to basic settings to

• Run at Startup
• Add Context Menu Items
• Check for Updates
• Normal or Secure File Deletion

Cookies

Displays all the Cookies but is not clear on the location paths. I doubt that it is finding them for “non_installed “browsers.

Include

This allows to include files and folders in the scanning processes

Exclude

This allows to exclude files, folders and registry items in the scanning processes.

These windows use standard dialog boxes for selecting files and folders.

This is the registry exclude dialog box.

Advanced

Provides access to some further options for general use.

What are the Technical Details & Compatibility?

What is the My Free Review Experience?

I find this to be a very useful, well thought out and well written utility. It is highly regarded and the subject of many recommendations and other good reviews. is:

Very Useful - Efficient - Good tools and options

What Could Make it Better?

1. Disk Defragmentation option
2. Disable Startup items
3. Save current sate of startup items
4. Help File on PC
5. More Details on what CCleaner is doing, why and the consequences.

What Other Posts are Relevant?

My Current XP OS is Dying

Backup - Identify Where the Data Is - Find the Location of Your Information on a Windows Based PC?

Defrag Those Hard To Get At System Files with System File Defragmenter (Sysinternals PageDefrag v2.32)

Fast and Simple Disk Defrag with JKDefrag

Recuva - Easy and Quick Way to Recover Deleted Photos and Files

TIP - Stop Applications in Windows Stealing Focus

TIP - Repairing an XP Home Installation with the Original Installation CD

TIP - Disable or Control Windows Error Reporting

Lupo PenSuite - Massive Portable Application Suite

Why You Want to Use Portable Freeware Applications

PortableApps Menu - Start All Your Portable Applications with 2 Clicks

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Popularity: 51% [?]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 6:59 pm and is filed under Portable Freeware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.