CCleaner 5.6

CCleaner is a utility which stood the test of time, leaving in its wake many system optimization software rivals. It's still one of the best options for optimizing our systems and it’s growing better and better with time.

CCleaner is a program, which optimizes the performance of your computer by cleaning unnecessary junk files, cleans your registry, and performs many other handy operations. It’s one of those “must have” programs for many reasons. The first of them is the Cleaner option, which made this program so popular all over the world. The Cleaner option deals with all those unnecessary files left over by the system and other programs. I’m talking about junk files, temporary files, history, cookies, and so on. Secondly, you have the Registry option, which, as the name implies, cleans your registry. And last but not least, the Tools option, which includes many useful features like Uninstall, Startup, Disk analyzer, Duplicate Finder, System Restore, and Drive Wiper.

Once you enter the program, you will see five buttons on your left side: Cleaner, Registry, Tools and Options. Let’s start at the top.

The Cleaner option is what made this program what it is today. This is the most useful tool in the entire program, sort of a “jewel in the crown”. This tool is divided into two sections, Windows and Applications. What this tool does is cleaning those files which just clog up the system, like temporary files, history, memory dumps, cookies, Windows log files, and much, much more. But the best part of this tool is the aforementioned Applications section of the program. So, besides the system junk files, it also cleans the junk left by your applications, for example, Firefox, Chrome, or Photoshop. So this particular part of the program is that jewel in the crown I was talking about. Not only will it clean all the junk files of your applications but, seating in the tray, as soon as you close your browser, CCleaner will automatically clean your Internet cache, history, cookies, and session and it will even pop up a little semi-transparent message that the cleaning is done. Amazing, isn’t it? Cleaning and privacy protection at the same time. All you have to do to start the cleanup is first click on the “Analyze” button and when the program finishes its search just click on the “Run Cleaner” button and that’s it!

Now, the Registry tool is, as the name implies, a tool for cleaning your registry. Sometimes system optimization programs do more harm than good, but that's not the case with CCleaner. Just click on the “Scan for Issues” button, and when it finishes analysing, click on the “Fix selected issues”.

The Tools part of the program has a pile of useful tools. First, it has an uninstall tool, which is not that different from the one in the Control Panel. Next, we have the Startup tool that enables you to turn on or off programs that boot with your system. But the Startup tool is different in CCleaner, because it has tabs marked Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Scheduled Tasks, and Context Menu. What this means is that you can turn off startup programs like in any other Startup tool, as well as extensions in Firefox, Chrome, Context menu, etc. I think this is an incredible option. Then, we have Disk Analyzer, which analyses what type of files you have on your drive, Duplicate Finder, which I advice you to use with extreme caution. And finally, we have the Drive Wiper, which securely erases the contents or free space on a drive.

I should point out that I'm describing the free version of CCleaner here. The Professional and Professional Plus versions offer an even larger array of tools. It’s also worth mentioning that CCleaner is available for OSX and Android as well.

At the end of my review I'd like to underline once again the Cleaner function of the program, as this is the key feature that made CCleaner so popular. Registry cleaner is ok and as for the tools, besides the awesome Startup one and, perhaps, Disk Wiper, they are all available in Windows itself. The GUI is done in Windows 8.1 style and looks great. So, to sum it all up, this is a very useful program, not only for cleaning your junk, but for your protection as well. I think that the fact that I have this program running on every my device since it first appeared says everything.