Program:CCleaner (Crap Cleaner)
Price: Freeware
Site: www.ccleaner.com
Description: Cleans temp files from windows and also has a registry cleaner.
CCleaner is one of those tools that you really need (or if not need then will miss) when you’re doing tuneups or setting up a new computer. We all know that over time computers get filled with crap. Crap from the internet, crap from installers, crap from applications. The crap takes the form of temporary files such as browser cache and temp backups of your files as well as other things.
Introducing the Crap Cleaner! CCleaner will scan your computer and find all this crap and present it to you in a nice list form. All you need to choose is what to delete. (Hint: Probably everything.) I’ve seen the cleaner remove gigabytes of crap. Amazing!
The program also has a registry cleaner, and I know that there are many out there that are iffy about these as some tend to corrupt the registry. I’m happy to say that I’ve used CCleaner on hundreds of machines and it’s never messed anything up. However it does prompt you to do a registry backup, something you should be doing anyway before working on a clients machine. The cleaner will find obsolete keys such as file extensions not in use anymore and outmoded dll file keys.
And as if that is not enough the program also has a startup removal tool. It will scan startup locations on your computer and let you choose which programs to stop from loading when Windows starts up. However I’m not as fond of this tool as I tend to use HiJack This for my startup removal needs.
The summary? CCleaner is a great tool that I use everyday, it’s user friendly and safe.