I’ve been asked many times about registry cleaners and utilities that are supposed to remove computer-clogging junk.  I shy away from most of these because uninitiated users often get into trouble when they clean out a little too much. There is only one that I recommend and it happens to be free.

CCleaner, (commonly known as Crap Cleaner) is a free utility that clears temporary files, log files, and other pieces of junk from your computer. It is often useful to speed up an older or heavily used computer. CCleaner will also remove cookies, recent documents, and empty the recycle bin. It will clean the registry of invalid shortcuts, unused entries, and much more. It works for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Windows, and third-party applications like Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, and WinZip.

CCleaner lists everything in a very visual way, so it’s easy to follow and easy to use. There is an excellent tour of the product on the CCleaner website.  I recommend that you take the tour and peruse the Frequently Asked Questions before you use the program.

Using a program like this can be confusing to a new user. Cleaning the registry is especially difficult. While an advanced user may understand all the errors and old entries found in the system registry, the casual computer user  will find that most of the errors found in the registry mean nothing. So when you attempt this type of cleaning, you should make a backup which you can use if something goes wrong. I can recommend CCleaner only because it offers a complete backup option. After you click to begin the registry cleanup you will be prompted to create a backup. I strongly recommend that you choose that option.

When using CCleaner or any utility of this type you should be very careful about what you let it clean. For instance, temp files can always be removed, but if you remove all the cookies, sites that you visit often may not recognize you and you will have to log in again.  Cleaning recently used document lists is a way of clearing away information that is not used often, but you may be sorry that you deleted this information when you can’t find a file that you used recently.  Also, be careful in cleaning third party programs that you have customized. For instance, if you have customized some of the settings in Microsoft Word, cleaning it may remove some of your changes.

Luckily, CCleaner gives you control over what you clean. If you don’t want to remove cookies, recent files, or you don’t want to clean certain programs, you simply uncheck the box in front of those options.

CCleaner is fast and free.  If you’re careful in using it, it can keep your computer junk free and running faster.

Date of Review: 3-20-2008

Link to Product: CCleaner