CCleaner
Important note: I included registry locations in some of the screenshots but this doesn't mean registry editor needs to or should be used to do any of the mentioned steps.
I included them in the screenshots merely as a reference for those who are tech savvy and would be interested.
A. DOWNLOADING CCLEANER
- Visit the developer's home page to find out the latest version and select one of the available download locations to start your download.
- If using Internet Explorer, upon clicking "Start Download", IE security feature will require you to click on the top blue bar to show the "Download File.." option.
- click on Download File... option to initiate the download pop-up where I advise you to select Save to save the file to somewhere on your computer (such as Your desktop):
B . INSTALLING CCLEANER
- When download completes, double-click on it to start the installation.
- On the Install Options screen, clear the boxes next to the options you do not want to install then click Install:
- Complete the installation by clicking on Finish button.
Default installation (on all Windows systems) is "C:\Program Files\CCleaner" regardless of Windows version being 32-bit or 64-bit.
On 32-bit Windows systems, you will only see CCleaner.exe in the installation folder. 64-bit systems will have CCleaner.exe as well as CCleaner64.exe.
Regardless of which you double-click on CCleaner64.exe is the one that will launch.
Technically, for English speaking users, the only file needed is/are the executable(s) file so if you wanted to the program on a portable drive or Flash drive, only the executable(s) would be what you need.
If you take a look at the list of useful standalone programs on my small USB flash drive, you would understand what I mean:
C. SYSTEM (Temp/Junk File) CLEANER
As soon as CCleaner launches, the first thing you will see is the following pop-up:
Which one you choose depends on whether this is a private computer that only you use and you would like the settings, user names, etc. for the sites you frequently visit, kept for future access or not.
Cookies can be a good thing for sites you trust, use and visit often. They can make it much easier to log in to the sites that require a user name and password yet retain very basic information about you such as online forums. If something like that is applicable then click Yes. If you are on a shared computer or you do not want to leave any traces about your web surfing then click No.
One of the neat features of CCleaner that most other similar programs seem to lack is the "Analyze" feature which lets you see what would be deleted and how much space would be freed up, if you were to actually run it.
For diagnostic purposes, it is a valuable feature to have but also for those who are not sure what would be deleted based on their selections, I would suggest using this feature to prevent unpleasant surprises.
- Default Cleaner Settings - The list on the Applications tab could naturally be different based on what software you have installed on that particular computer:
- To check all the boxes under a certain section, simply double-click on the icon next to the title of that section:
- For those who are using a shared or work PC and having privacy concerns and/or having various system/application issues and/or suspecting malware (Spyware, Adware, etc.) then checking all options on both pages would be best:
- If you check any of the advanced options such as the ones in the System section, you will be receive a warning for each selected box letting the user know what the outcome would be:
- For everyday use, the following configuration works for me but customize it to your needs. My settings might be too aggressive for your needs.
For example: If you access recently opened files (Word, Excel, Pictures, etc.) frequently, then do not check "Recent Documents" option in the Windows Explorer section.
Also on the Applications tab, under the "Applications" tab, do not check any of the "Office 20xx" options as these would delete recently opened Office documents from the program's cache.
What does that mean? To elaborate, when you open Word application, if you click on File and select Open, normally it'd show you a list of recent Word documents you accessed. If you check the related options, that list will be emptied out (but of course the documents themselves would not be deleted). So you can say the recent list is more like a web browser history that helps you locate and open them easier and quicker.
D. REGISTRY CLEANER
The registry cleaner included with CCleaner has gotten a lot better over the years.
I still prefer using AUSLogics Registry Cleaner on Windows 7 systems and RegScrubXP on Windows XP systems mainly due to having years of very positive experience using both applications.
Of course, this is not to say CCleaner's Registry Cleaner is not a solid program because it is but regardless of which application you use, if you must use one, make sure to backup your registry.
All these free applications come with a backup functionality, still, It would be wise to have a full backup just in case. For that, the freeware I recommend is Erunt.
Using CCleaner's Registry Cleaner is fairly simple:
- Click Scan for Issues
- All issues found will be selected by default, if needed, you can deselect any of the entries to exclude them from deletion
- Click Fix selected issues..
- The program will automatically give you a pop-up window with a brief description of the first issue to be fixed and what the solution would be (typically deleting it)
- If you want all issues fixed automatically without further interaction, then click on Fix All Selected Issues
- If Show prompt to backup registry issues box was selected in the Advanced Options section then the program will pop-up asking you if you want to backup the registry keys before they are modified/deleted.
- I strongly urge you to let CCleaner backup the registry for any and all registry fixes it will be applying
Here is an overview of the registry cleaning process:
E. TOOLS: UNINSTALL
Another handy feature of the program. Even though you can use Add-Remove Programs (XP & earlier) aka Programs and Features (Win7) applets to uninstall any installed application, this utility gives you additional options.
You can use "Rename Entry" option to change the name of any entry on the list but more importantly, if an entry is indeed invalid (you know for a fact that it was already uninstalled or manually removed) or, running the uninstaller give you an error as seen in the screenshot below, then it is time to use "Delete Entry" option to get rid of it:
In my example I used AnalogX SayIt application by manually moving the program folder to my desktop to mimic an application that was uninstalled or manually deleted which caused an invalid registry entry to remain.
If you are not sure, I'd suggest start by browsing to the installation directory of the application to see if it is there or not:
If the application folder in question is indeed missing, then deleting the related invalid registry entry makes sense.
Remember Uninstall panel simply reads the information they get from the related registry keys, they do not check your system to see if the application or its files really there or not (you will have to do the leg work).
When you click on Run Uninstaller button, the program launches that application's uninstall program registered (listed) in its related registry key (see UninstallString line on the right hand side in the screenshot below)
2 other excellent and free uninstallers, I use and like, are: Revo Uninstaller (free version) and MyUninstaller from Nirsoft. Another excellent one is called Absolute Uninstaller.
When you uninstall an application using Revo Uninstaller, it actually has various degrees of registry and filesystem scanning capability to detect and remove leftover registry and application files/folders.
E. TOOLS: STARTUP
As the name implies, this function displays the entries in the two most common registry startup locations under the Windows tab:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
- Internet Explorer tab displays the IE based add-ons (No Firefox stuff) same as managing them within Internet Explorer's Internet Options screen (Start > Run > inetcpl.cpl ,5 > OK > Click Manage Add-ons):
- Scheduled Tasks tab displays the system, application and user based tasks which you could also manage using Windows Task Scheduler:
Save to text file..: It captures the entries in the foreground tab and copies it to clipboard then creates a text file at the end. Again, it only captures the entries (if any) on whichever tab you are viewing.
So, if you are looking at the Internet Explorer tab, it will not capture the entries listed on Windows and Schedules Tasks tabs.
To save each and every tab, you will have to separately clicking on each tab and then the "Save to text file.." button (or you could right-click on any of the entries on the list).
F. TOOLS: SYSTEM RESTORE
A much easier way to manage Windows System Restore Points with the Remove option:
As expected, when an older restore point is selected and remove button is clicked, the user will be prompted with a confirmation pop-up.
Also, the latest (most recent) restore point cannot be deleted as shown above, the Remove button for the latest retore point will be greyed out.
OPTIONS: ADVANCED
If I am running CCleaner for the first time on a system, the first thing I do is to open the Advanced options panel to customize the program.
To do a full cleaning, the options I select on this section look similar to the ones on the 3rd screenshot down (with 2 red highlighted boxes).
- To get rid of this warning message, you will need to check the option "Hide Warning Messages" under Options > Advanced:
- The above screenshot shows the default settings of the Advanced section, the following shows my customized version which is suitable for every day use:
- For systems having issues or suspecting malware infection then I'd recommend selecting/deselecting these options:
...to be continued soon!
~TL
Windows Launch Points
