Uncommonly good freeware. Volume 1

Published on March 6, 2005 By Kobrano In Personal Computing

This is the first in a series of articles I will be doing for a computer users group I belong to, which I am going to cross post here. Basically, its a false, but common belief out there that to get good software, it has to cost money. This series will set the record straight, and indeed prove that there usually are free and just as good (if not better) alternatives to commercial products.

CCleaner
www.ccleaner.com

First up, we have CCleaner. CCleaner is easily the best cleanup and system maintenance utility i've found, and best of all, its free! You can find CCleaner by clicking this Link

Considering its been downloaded almost 3,000,000 times, you know its probably a pretty solid product.

From their website:
CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization tool. That removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less that a second to run) and Free.

Cleans the following:

* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.
* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.
* Recently opened URLs and files.
* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs).
Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...
* Advanced Registry scanner to remove unused and old entries (includes backup).
Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more...
* This software is completely free and contains no Spyware or Adware.

Try it, and you'll like it!
http://www.boredmofo.com/

Comments (Page 1)

Gene Nash

on Mar 06, 2005

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.

Phoon

on Mar 06, 2005

BE CAREFUL of running applications like this!!
A good example..
This program deletes index.dat files. Doing so can have a negative impact on some built in functionality of your operating system. For one, if you delete ALL index.dat files you will render msinfo32.exe inoperable. If this only deletes one of them you may be okay. Also, I have never seen a registry cleaner that is 100% safe either.

The gesture is noble, but I would advise the general public to USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Gene Nash

on Mar 06, 2005

Also, I have never seen a registry cleaner that is 100% safe either.

That's why they make backups.

If I don't regularly use a registry cleaner my Windows just plain dies after awhile.

Phoon

on Mar 06, 2005

Gene.. for you and I, regisistry cleaners may be okay as we would know what to delete and hopefully what not to delete. I am just warning the average user to be wary of these so called "wonder programs" which promise all while kicking you in the shins from time to time.

Phoon

on Mar 06, 2005

HEADLINE:
Gene Nash and Phoon see something eye to eye without bashing each other.
Film at 11

Gene Nash

on Mar 06, 2005

No arguments there, Phoon.

Two things that should never be left to run around unattended: 4 year olds and Registry Cleaners.

And of the two the four year old is probably smarter!

Gene Nash

on Mar 06, 2005

HEADLINE:
Gene Nash and Phoon see something eye to eye without bashing each other.
Film at 11

If only they hadn't used that doctored footage of us running hand in hand through a grassy field while Elton John's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" played in the background.

Phoon

on Mar 06, 2005

Kobrano

on Mar 06, 2005

Lets not fearmonger, it has facilities to protect people in the extremely unlikely event something happens.. I've used CCleaner for TWO YEARS and have never had a problem, and never had it corrupt a registry in any way. I don't even make backups as it recomends, I just fire away.. Now with this in mind, CCleaner is set to run when my computer boots. On average, that means it runs 20-30 times per week. Given i've used it for 2 years, that means i've run CCleaner nearly 3000 times in the last 24 months on PER MACHINE in my household, and I have 3 machines here now. With that in mind, of course as with any product, theres no guarantee, which is why it has a backup function. But given my personal track record with it, its probably the most reliable and solid product you can find for doing this stuff.

Also note, over this same time period, I have it set to delete Index.dat files, and never once experianced any trouble.

So try it yourself and see. Given its been downloaded nearly 3,000,000 times, its probably the most tested registry cleaner and cleanup product out there. The developer is 100% committed to the product and to it remaining free. I should know, I offered to buy it out from him a couple months ago to commercialize it.

_02

on Mar 06, 2005

Your link goes to a game page.

WebGizmos

on Mar 06, 2005

I've been using CCleaner for awhile now as well without any problems. But with any program I use...no matter how seemingly reliable...I make backups just in case.

werewolf

on Mar 06, 2005

Wow, just tried it and it got rid of a BUNCH of stuff I didn't know I could get rid of. Thanks for the link, for sure.

BQuinn22

on Mar 06, 2005

Use this program. I've been using it for only a few months and my frist scan removed 500 MB of internet files and other junk! Since then I've removed an average of 60MB per scan by my estimate.

Double Zero

on Mar 07, 2005

I have just used it on a couple of machines and no problems on either one, it *does remove ALOT of stuff.

I admit I agreed with Phoon and was very apprehensive to try it, but I was bored and figured "Why not, something to do anyway"..LoL

It works folks, the first machine I used it on, I created a restore point and also backed up the reg, then I just went to town, scanned and cleaned, then "fixed issue", rebooted and "fixed issues again" I noticed that there was quite a few issues left for a second fix.

Rebooted the machine once more and it never ran so good!.
On my main PC it didnt seem to make that much of a difference since I keep up with the maitenence on it, there were about 100 stray items to clean out, and 25 Reg errors to fix, so the final outcome was not as noticible as it was on the other machine.

Anyway, I definitely recommend the program, it does work great, and I thank you Kobrano, for sharing it here!

Zero.

LittleBearJason

on Mar 07, 2005

I've used CCleaner for TWO YEARS and have never had a problem, and never had it corrupt a registry in any way.

Ive used it for about a year , and I too had no issues.

Currenty awaiting the feature to clean babies dirty diapers. sory had to get that one in

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