PC cleanner for free?

[sacp]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I would also suggest Advanced SystemCare. I have used TuneUp Utilities which I love, but it's not free. The Advanced sysmtem care has some limitations on the free version but I believe it does a good job. It's the one I have been installing on friends computers.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I will just pass again my recommendation about Advanced SystemCare 7.
After using it for a year as free, I did pay the yearly fee so to get it.

It does not damage windows registry and it gold point is that makes fine adjusts in windows services and boot up time and all windows operation looks like a fresh OS installed PC.

Ghost 14 and dual Raptor 10.000 rpm in RAID/mirror, for extra safety :-)

[ThePCDoctor]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I know that there are many users that have used CCleaner, with no problems, but I have tried it twice, over a several years time frame and both times it disabled my OS.
I had to resort to a Ghost Restore to return my PC to full function again, both times.

Now I won't touch it with the proverbial 'Ten Foot Pole'.

The Disk Cleanup app that comes with Windows, will do a respectable job, if you run it in the Extended Mode.
A web search will find you that code.
or download the shortcut here: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/15...k-cleanup.html

But for safety, NEVER remove "Setup.log" files.

In answer to post #1....yes it's a scam to get you to buy something you don't need. Their free scan will tell you that you have hundreds of even thousands of problems that only they can fix, after registration that requires you to BUY the program. Scam! Scam! Scam! It's the same old thing you see advertised on TV all the time. It really ticks me off, that the TV stations even run that CRAP!!!

For years there have been Good and FREE cleanup programs available. From '98 to XP, I used a FREE program called "Easy Cleaner 2". I ran it on virtually hundreds of PC's to clean them up, with NEVER a problem.

For OS's after XP, I use "Win Utilities" or AVG PC Tune-Up. They both work good, and SAFE.

Or if you're anywhere near Central Florida, or planning a trip here, bring that PC over here and I'll clean it up for you and leave you with all the programs I use.

Cheers mate!
The Doctor

[Heihachi_73]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

Isn't it just awesome when a website dumps you a "free" EXE file to install when you're on Linux?

My rule: If it has "free" in the description, it's probably going to be watered down trialware, bundled with adware/malware for revenue, or outright crap from the onset.

People can see when a program is free because they can download it without hassle and it won't nag them to pay, donate or upgrade to a full or "Pro" version every time it runs, or have FREE TRIAL/FREE VERSION/REGISTER NOW! or a countdown-to-useless (crippleware) displayed somewhere in the program.

If you must return a profit from software, do a Photoshop and charge a small fortune for it, but don't come crying when your one-trick-pony ends up pirated a day later. Anyone who pirates programs was never a potential customer anyway (they were simply downloading it for the sake of downloading it), so you're not missing anything. If it's popular enough, you'll still make a mint from the program from the real (paying) customers. Pirates will pirate a $1 program for the sake of pirating it, just like they will pirate a $35000 professional-grade program suite (and why is it $35000? Because the target audience, such as professional musicians (as opposed to today's pop "artists" who can't even sing a note so they need Auto-Tune, Pro Tools and FL Studio to do all the work) and those in the movie/TV/3D industry can afford it; the more expensive something is, the higher the bling factor).

[retiredcaps]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

Yes, NEVER EVER download anything from CNET or Download.com - they will try to slip you their own installer, which is indeed crapware.

The inclusion of software you didn't ask for is very bothersome.

Ever since I switched to Lubuntu, I am now rid of such things.

[momaka]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

^Excellent info by Agent24 above.

Yes, NEVER EVER download anything from CNET or Download.com - they will try to slip you their own installer, which is indeed crapware. I think many other software download websites have started to do that too. Therefore it's best to download directly from the source. The only exception I can mention right now is MajorGeeks and FileHippo. Last time I used FileHippo, they were still fine. But be cautios if you download from FileHippo - they have lots of ads that look like legit "Download" buttons. If you have FireFox with AdBlock Plus, you won't see them most of the time.

+1 for ccleaner, I also use spyware blaster which is free (if you don't mind manual updates).

Yes, Spyware Blaster is good too. If you don't want to mess with creating a custom hosts file, Spyware Blaster will block many dangerous sites from downloading content to your PC. That said, I find that a custom hosts file still works better than Spyware Blaster. But since Spyware Blaster doesn't take any resources (it adds the info of those malicious websites in registry, so the program itself doesn't need to run to have your PC protected), might as well put it on there.

As for CCleaner, don't bother with the registry cleaner unless you have problems. The cleaner itself is useful, though, and I recommend runnig it every once in a while to clean up temp files and browser cache.

[Agent24]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I've never used ccleaner and was under the impression that it was spyware/adware stuff.

CCleaner is fine. But if you downloaded it from sites like CNet or Download.com you will find it comes bundled with crapware.

I always download from their official website here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard

Note that the installer will ask if you want to install Google Chrome, but that's easy to opt-out of.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I've never used ccleaner and was under the impression that it was spyware/adware stuff. But dang near everything is now days. I use SuperAntiSpyware (free) and AVG (free), if I need to ever look deep into the registry I use either RegEdit or HijackThis but when I do so it is something specific to look for and remove. Usually reg entries with orphaned files and other invalid entries don't cause a problem but if I get an error indicating they do then I take action. There again though, I try to know what I am about to delete before I actually delete it, no matter what tool is used. I still use RegCleaner 4.23 on PCs that will run it (not hyper-threading or multicore processors) and it has caused no problems for me to use the "do them all" registry cleanup actions.

[877]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

+1 for ccleaner, I also use spyware blaster which is free (if you don't mind manual updates).

[goontron]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

probably deleting all the auto-generated "preview" images that Dolphin and other file managers generate.
that and wiping browser cache makes one hell of a difference.
my browser caches over 80meg a day!

yes, it does those and removes pre formatted manpages that are too old.

[stj]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

What do you clean with that? I've always wondered about Linux temp files etc.

probably deleting all the auto-generated "preview" images that Dolphin and other file managers generate.
that and wiping browser cache makes one hell of a difference.
my browser caches over 80meg a day!

[Gianni]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

On Xp I have used and I use sometimes WiseDiskCleaner to remove unnecessary stuff and temp files.

For the registry I use WiseRegCleaner, you find them here

http://www.wisecleaner.com/

I had not a single problem with them but while with disk cleaner you see the free space at the end of the process, with the registry cleaner it is difficult for me to say if it really does something really useful, at least I can say it does no damages anything.

Unfortunately as almost all software today they have change the programs and I don't like them, I'm still using old version because they are more user friendly IMHO.

There are also portable version, so you don't need to install them.

http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html

Ciao
Gianni

[Agent24]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

my PC cleaner is a Cron script.

What do you clean with that? I've always wondered about Linux temp files etc.

[goontron]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

my PC cleaner is a Cron script.

[momaka]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

ccleaner is the only one i use.

Same here.

I started using CCleaner back when it was still called Crap Cleaner (some 8 years ago?!). Instantly became addicted to its functionality back then and still am to this day. Haven't been keeping up with the latest versions as of the last 3 years, so I can't say how good it is now, but their older versions can still be a huge time saver.

On my everyday PCs, I use it daily before shutting down to wipe out temp files and history as well as Windows logs and a few other things (nothing in the registry, though).

Back when I used to intern at an IT place, CCleaner has saved me hours, if not days, of time. When you have 30 mis-configured laptops brought in the middle of the week that need to be done by Friday so that they are ready for the following week, it's CCleaner time for sure. First off, many of the computers I worked on had a crap-ton of unnecessary processes running in tray. Now, I could go in each program's settings and try to disable automatic start-up, or I can just go in a single window in CCleaner and do them all at once. The latter option is a no-brainer.

The best part is that there is a portable version of CCleaner that you can run directly off of your flash drive without installing. And it remembers your settings. Very handy in situations like mine above. Also very handy when someone brings me an infected computer to take a look at. The first thing I do is run CCleaner and disable almost all of the start-up items. Then, I run the cleaner to flush the temp Windows directories. Many viruses still run out of the Windows temp directories.

I never have and never will use any PC cleaning/tuneup, registry fix, driver update tool or anything of that nature. They do absolutely nothing helpful and usually cause problems.

In general, many of these do indeed do nothing useful or helpful, especially the driver update tools.
But useless temp files do accumulate over time in Windows, and they just take up HDD space for no reason. You could use the Windows built-in clean-up tool - which is slow and IMO sucks... or just do it with a single click in CCleaner.

I've also used the registry cleaner in CCleaner a few times, but I can't say it's making any majorly noticeable difference in anything. Mostly found references to old DLL files, which were no longer on the system, thus no longer need, and a few extension association problems, which also wasn't a bad idea to remove. It didn't pick up any false-positives, though (unlike many of the leading tune-up utilities), so overall it is not bad. I still don't use it much though. In fact, I only use it if I suspect there is a registry problem with anything, and even then I check carefully what it picks. Overall, I am not to keen on using registry cleaners, so I am with you all that it's better to dissuade people from using them.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I've used a very old regcleaner (Jouni Vuorio 4.3) that is no longer available and it doesn't work with hyper-threading or multicore CPUs. Just like any other registry cleaner one must be careful and pay attention to what you are doing to avoid creating problems. I generally do not use any PC cleaners other than trusted anti-spyware and anti-virus programs.

[Agent24]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I used to use Norton SystemWorks years ago, but it wasn't perfect either. On a clean install of Windows XP it found numerous registry "problems" that it wanted to fix....

I use CCleaner now, for temp files etc. I disable most of the things it cleans so I don't lose cookies, history, program MRU lists etc. I don't use the registry part - haven't tried a registry cleaner in years. IMO they break more than they fix...

[canadaboy25]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

Yeah me too if I have any issue I always do it manually.... even from DOS

[trebo]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I second that.
since I stopped using them, I seem to have next too no problems
the only things I use are avg and malware but only run the scan part of them occasionally

[c_hegge]

Re: PC cleanner for free?

I never have and never will use any PC cleaning/tuneup, registry fix, driver update tool or anything of that nature. They do absolutely nothing helpful and usually cause problems.