PC Tonic

CCleaner (or Crap Cleaner) is one of the smallest and most popular system optimization tools available for Windows. This 2 MB program includes a thorough junk files cleaner, a registry fixer, an uninstall manager and a startup manager. In this post, we shall discover CCleaner with a bunch of screenshots and tips.

CCleaner – Piriform
Rating : !!!!! (Excellent)
Main function : Junk file and registry cleaning
Type : Freeware
Links : Home | Download.com | FileHippo

Cleaner – The junk file cleaner
By default, CCleaner opens it’s Cleaner tab. Here’s the snapshot :

Registry Cleaning
The registry cleaning option in CCleaner is usually overlooked by many users but you can clean up some crap from your computer with this feature. Here’s how to :

For safety purposes, CCleaner asks you to take a backup of your registry. I never do this but you should if you don’t want to take risks. Should you click Yes, follow the on-screen instructions to take the backup.

Additional Tools
CCleaner has two additional tools – an uninstall manager and a startup manager. The uninstall manager mimics the default Add / Remove Programs in Control Panel; the startup manager, on the other hand, is a small but great tool to quickly remove unwanted startup items, which may usually creep in during new software installations.

Tweaking CCleaner
CCleaner has some pretty strong options to configure itself. Have a look :

Integration with Recycle Bin
During installation, you can choose CCleaner to integrate into Recycle Bin to provide quick emptying options for the bin. If selected, you can empty your Recycle Bin by right clicking on the icon and selecting “Run CCleaner”.

I am sure that you must now be dying to try this extremely useful and small utility. CCleaner isn’t the best of the junk file cleaners out there, but it’s express speed makes it a must-have for daily use.