System Cleanup Series: CCleaner
This FREE blog post focuses on how to use CCleaner. This is part of my System Cleanup series.
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Today, we’re getting familiar with the CCleaner tool. As it’s name suggests, this will help clean up junk files on your computer.
Download CCleaner here directly from their website.
The printable PDF version of this post is only available to paid subscribers. A printout is easier to reference as you learn. To be clear, it isn't simply a printout of this page. It's a handmade step-by-step guide with bookmarked jump links to get to the parts you care about in a given moment: no extra wasted pages and no ads.
This is a FREE program with a Pro version that I’ve honestly never felt the need to buy. They won’t harass you to do it, but there is some upselling during the initial install and occasionally when you first open the program, which you can quickly ignore.
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Don’t worry about most of what CCleaner offers. We’ll find what we need on the ‘Custom Clean’ tab.
I leave most of the checkboxes on the left as they are. Since most websites use “cookies," which take up very little space and are harmless, I uncheck cookies under each browser.
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I also choose to uncheck "download location history", and "internet history", as those also take up very little space, compared to something like the "internet cache", which are the web pages you've downloaded to view on your computer since you last ran CCleaner. Those files can significantly add up.
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Certain programs such as Firefox, Chrome, and Edge MUST be closed so that any junk files related to them can be removed. CCleaner will bug you to close those programs if they’re open. Otherwise, clearing the junk files is a quick and easy process. These are generally web pages downloaded to your computer simply by surfing the internet.
Looking at something online, specifically webpage content, downloads it to your computer to display on your screen. This was much more evident in the days of dial-up or if you had a slower internet connection. Images and whatnot would slowly load on the page. How webpages load these days on high-speed connections is less obvious.
I will note the “Registry” tab. Although I trust CCleaner with tidying up the Registry, it's best to leave it alone unless you have a clear reason to use that. If something goes wrong, Windows may not continue to work properly. The Registry is effectively the brain of Windows. The Registry rarely needs to be touched.
CCleaner has other features, but I don’t bother with them. I use other programs and even settings in Windows itself to take care of those things. Take a look if you’re interested, though.
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