CCleaner -- Clean Up After Messy Programs
Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 2:25 PM by Randall
A lot of programs are "messy" -- leaving all sorts of temporary files on your hard drive. Other programs keep a history of where you have been and what you have done, while this can be very useful, some consider these records a security risk. There are a lot of commercial programs designed to clean up the mess, but few I've tried work as well as the freeware CCleaner.
Like most clean up programs, CCleaner will clean up your browser's paper trail of history, cookies, temporary files, etc. Of course, you may want to keep some of your cookies (with site passwords and the like) -- CCleaner likes you selectively keep cookies. This program also removes temporary files and recent file lists (MRUs) from an ever growing list of applications including Windows Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, and WinZip. You can control what it does to which applications. CCleaner can optionally check for a number of problems and inconsistencies in your registry. The program is updated every 4 to 6 weeks with new features and new applications it can clean up after. It's really hard to believe such an easy to use and powerful program can be free -- especially when you check the prices of commercial offerings.
While this program is easy to use and makes an effort to avoid deleting important files and registry entries that could cause system problems, the user still has to know a little about the effects of deleting things. For example, if you delete all your cookies, you will get rid of all the bad advertising tracking cookies that let ad companies follow you around the web, but you will also get rid of mot of the personalization at the sites you use regularly. "Easy to use" does not mean "safe to turn off your brain" -- think about what you are doing with this program before you do it.
Rating: 5.0
Operating System: Windows
License:
Freeware
Price: Free
Web Site: http://www.ccleaner.com/
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