....Sure, not only is CCleaner a registry cleaner but also a extraneous file
disk cleaner as well. These are two distinct separately evocable functions
within the program. Cleaner doing the file cleanups, and Issues doing the
registry examination and cleaning. Some of our WD forum participants don't
like registry cleaners, well there's no need to use that function if you
prefer not to, but it always gives you the option to backup any changes
beforehand... and I always do backup before getting into the registry even
though CCleaner is pretty conservative.
Cleaning files, for example cookies stored on the harddisk, are easily
managed within CCleaner because it keeps a list of cookies you've decided
may be good on your system... like those with passwords versus the cookies
you've decided are junk... so the next time you do a cleaning you only
might want to look at any newly acquired cookies that you want to keep on
an ongoing basis and flush all the others. To me that makes more sense
than just a blind flush... I'd recommend you start cleaning just the
cookies to get a feel for the program (see Options/Cookies) Another
example are log files, these might be important if you have a failure and
need a diagnosis, but after the immediate usability of logs they usually
just take up space. You could manually go around and clean up all this,
but CCleaner has it all in one interface. There's a lot more functionality
than that, but the idea is that it does housekeeping above and in much more
detail than what Ms Disk Cleanup will do for you, all very quickly and
efficiently. So yes, there is speed, versatility, and certainly
functionality to recommend the software. Another advantage... it's well
supported via online peer group forums.
Now for the bad news... and there's not too much, but I recommend you
specifically *NOT* clean up Windows Defender because the scan history will
be removed, and WD will then erroneously report you have not run a scan for
___ days... Also, you may not want the version that comes bundled with the
Yahoo toolbar... unless you're mad about toolbars. That's the way the
author makes some money from his efforts, but he's straightforward enough
to provide a slim(mer) build which is not bundled, and the one I prefer to
download during updates. No Adware supported junk.
Now we also have a new cleaner that Engel likes, HDCleaner... I've
installed it but have not yet had time to look at details. Perhaps he'd
like to give the finer points, but it looks worthwhile and comes
recommended by a trusted source and former WD forum member. Both these
products are free by the way. If you've let maintenance slide... it might
be worth your while to have a look at these. CCleaner in particular is a
extremely popular download, but as with any program you download over the
net, it's provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. ;-)
and hey, plun likes it too !