Clean up the mess – Free!
Most computer users rely on Microsoft operating systems in one way or another. Keeping the Windows operating system up and running requires the necessary evil of optimizing the system as part of your regular preventative maintenance program. Most of the users put off this daunting task for as long as possible or at least until the system performance becomes slow and user unfriendly. Finding a program that allows the user to perform system optimization for minimal cost and with maximum ease would be a welcome find. There is a program that is free, takes up little space, doesn’t use a lot of system resources, can run in the background virtually out of sight of the end user, doesn’t conflict with other software, and has an industry-wide reputation for better. valued. This program is known as CCleaner.
Piriform (www.piriform.com), a UK-based software company, created CCleaner 5 years ago as a solution to help the user easily perform system optimization. This software has saved countless users vast amounts of time and money over the years. It is easily downloadable, installable and configurable. FileHippo.com describes the software as “a free system optimization, privacy, and cleanup tool. It removes unused files from your system, allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard drive space. traces of your online activities, like your Internet History. Plus, it contains a full-featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (usually takes less than a second to run) and NO spyware or adware! !
To fully explore the features, you can get started in one of three ways, either (1) double-clicking the desktop icon, or (2) clicking Start, Programs, CCleaner, or (3) right-clicking on the Recycle Bin and selecting “Open CCleaner…” For those hungry to clean up the Recycle Bin, there is also a “Run CCleaner” option in the Recycle Bin menu, which will clean your system without any prompts. CCleaner has four main sections that can be selected using the 4 icons on the left navigation panel:
- Cleaner – This is the main feature of the program, which will allow you to optimize your system by removing temporary and unused files. It also protects your personal privacy by removing traces of the websites you have visited and the files you have opened. (It’s important to note that it does this without deleting any files you still need!),
- Registry – This is a more advanced feature that analyzes your computer’s registry (where Windows system settings are stored) and fixes any problems and inconsistencies that exist. CCleaner has a full backup option, so in the rare event that you delete something you need later, you’ll have a backup to restore from,
- Tools – This section allows you to manage installed programs and applications that run when you turn on your computer,
- Options – The Options section handles a wide range of preferences for how CCleaner runs. I prefer to enable some of these advanced settings so I can “set them and forget them” so I don’t have to worry about them in the future. I choose Options, Advanced, Hide warning messages, then Options, Advanced, Close program after cleanup, and finally I uncheck Options, Advanced, Show warning to back up registry problems and Options, Advanced, Minimize to tray of the system. In addition to this, I will schedule CCleaner to run daily using the Windows Scheduled Tasks feature. This is a wonderful feature to configure for end users as part of their preventative maintenance program.
Some people don’t like toolbar additions to their Internet browser, so CCleaner asks users during installation if they would like to install “CCleaner Yahoo Toolbar” as part of the installation. FYI, CCleaner offers “alternative builds” of which one is a “slim” version of the full version of CCleaner. The entire installation process takes less than a minute to complete. Did I say “easy” or what?
In short, I totally recommend CCleaner as a valuable addition to anyone running any Microsoft Windows operating system, including Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit). Not using CCleaner regularly would be an expensive mistake.