CCleaner USEFUL Additional information

[RealBlackStuff]

This is NOT a commercial blurb, and by posting this, I am not endorsing this program, but I thought this was rather interesting!

Almost everyone knows about CCleaner (Yes we know it is free, and lots of people swear by it).
The latest release has made some nice changes to the results output – where it is broken down by product – and you can drill down to read the details.
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Some notes about CCleaner.

When you download – select the section “Other Builds” and you can download the “CCleaner v2.22.968 – Slim” Build which doesn’t come bundled with a toolbar (you really don’t need yet another toolbar).
CCleaner will clean at the moment just under 300 different products – including from the latest version of all the major browsers, BUT to get the extra support – you need to download a small file to add to the install folder.

After you install CCleaner – go to the CCleaner forums
At the end of the first post – there is a download for a file called winapp2.zip
Download this file and extract it into the folder where you installed CCleaner.
This file contains the coding how to clean a few hundred extra applications, beyond the basic apps that CCleaner ships with by default.
NOTE: to download that file, you need to register at the Piriform forum.
If you don't want to register, copy/paste the text from the code box, and save it as winapp2.ini into the folder where you installed CCleaner.
You can open/read/edit this file using e.g. Notepad.
If you already have CCleaner, just get the above file and add it to your existing installation folder.

For advanced documentation for CCleaner:
http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-fr ... leaner.htm

[mattbiernat]

doesn't windows clean its own files eventually

[RealBlackStuff]

If it did, the average computer wouldn't bog down after a few months operation.
M$ does have its own Cleaner, but who knows or uses it? ( %SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr.exe )
See also this, IF you use the M$ product: http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -us;812248

[Marin85]

M$ does have its own Cleaner, but who knows or uses it?

I do Since Vista I don´t see any need to clean up anything else but the temp folder and only after it has got a few GBs.

[miketoro]

Great post. Thanks for this. (I love, and swear by, C-Cleaner.)

[mattbiernat]

thanks for the hint RBS. I just cleaned extra 2gb out of my old T60. funny thing is that the 2GB came from avira antivirus. see the problem is that windows does perfect just managing itself, the applications are the ones that create all the mess. number one reason that people bog down is because all those stupid java, adobe, skype, messengers, toolbars, perfect disk, registry cleaners, ccleaners either install a toolbar or a service or make themselves run at start up. this is not a problem of MS but a problem created by third party applications.

[Marin85]

Many of these applications have settings whether or not to run at windows startup, and when this is not the case, one can change it within the configuration utility (msconfig). For other applications that play the role of substitutes or supplements to some windows tools/features, one should really ask himself whether one actually needs such apps or whether there aren´t better (less bloated) alternatives (for instance, sysinternals offers some nice tools). Because with installing third-party apps that are complementary or substituting to some windows features, there is quite some chance that in the end the system looks nicely BLOATED, especially after the introduction of Vista that is already bloated...
After some months with Vista (and then later the subsequent switch to Windows 7 beta) I stopped using registry cleaner (a good one was always a must in the XP era), Perfect Disk as I found the built-in windows defrag engine to bring the same results, and 1-2 other apps like these. In fact, I´m about to stop using Lenovo Power Manager as Windows 7 seems to have pretty good utility for that. Same goes for Presentation Director.
I agree with Matt about all these completely unnecessary services installed by some applications. I really hate those FlexNet and similar services installed by applications like Adobe CS or Autodesk 3DMax, Maya as they have noticeable impact on startup times

Just my 0.02$

Marin

[yak]

In fact, I´m about to stop using Lenovo Power Manager as Windows 7 seems to have pretty good utility for that. Same goes for Presentation Director.

The Presentation Director will not be supported on Windows 7 anyway. The built-in projector functionality suits me quite well. Even the projector menu (Win+P) pops up when I press Fn+F7.

As for the Power Manager, I plan to stay with it, if only for the charging thresholds setting. The calibration seems to be a good feature too (restored my battery lately from 83% to 97% or design capacity) as are the extensive power consumption and battery info reports.

But generally speaking, although in the past I was installing most of the Lenovo software, I installed only the necessities when moving from Vista to 7. Haven't used a cleaner since XP.

[NorrisCell]

(I love, and swear by, C-Cleaner.)

+1

CCleaner is an awesome program, which works effectively without taking a ton of resources. Been using it for quite a while now, and it never disappoints. All these commercial apps to "Speed up your computer" use very similar methods to CCleaner, which is free. Great piece of software.