Recently I relized that my working computer was cluttered with all kinds of valuable or valueless files. I can’t bare to take so much time identifying and organizing them, so I decide to pick a data cleaning software to take over the job.
There are only three criteria for my selection: 1) simple to operate; 2) effective; 3) free of charge.
After a quick search I downloaded CCleaner V5.67, which claims it can remove unused files, allow Windows to run faster and free up disk space, fix registry issues, clean traces of online activities such as Internet history. And the best part is that it’s fast and contains no spyware or adware.
It has a good reputation on Internet and seems can be used for free. Considering many so-called free software only allow you to complete cleaning after your paying, I didn’t expect much and just want to give it a shot.
The installation is quite simple, you’ll be lead to the [Health Check] page quickly, but unfortunately, it’s a feature only for PRO version.
It’s OK since it’s not my initial purpose, and you can actually go to [Options] – [Settings] to set the [Custom Clean] as the home screen instead.
Let’s take a look at the main interfce. There are 6 functional plates – [Health Check], [Custom Clean], [Registry], [Tools], [Options], [Upgrade]. The first one, as I said before, is for PRO only. And the second one is just the feature I want from the beginning.
Switch to [Custom Clean] section, here you can choose to clean [Windows] or [Applications] at first, and check the specific file types you want to clean on the left. Then tap [Analyze] and wait for a little while. In my case it didn’t take long and all the deletable files was displayed quickly.
Now you can right-click any file and clean it solely, or you can also click [Run Cleaner] to delete all the listed files at once.
Before actually deleting files, you’ll be required to make a confirmation.
After hitting [Continue], these detected files will be removed in a quick process. And you won’t be charged for actually cleaning them.
I also tried the [Registry] cleaning feature out of curiosity. The process is almost the same – check the registry types you want to detect and click [Scan for Issues] to start scaning. Wait for a while and all the registry effors will be listed here.
Then you can check issues you want to fix, or leave it all selected, and hit [Fix selected Issues…] to fix them. To avoid problems, you can also back up the registry bofore making changes.
Just to let you know, there are even more free features in [Tools] tab, like uninstalling apps, upagrading software, managing startup progress, finding duplicate filese, etc.
Among all of the tools, I like [Duplicate Finder] most. With it you can search duplicate files on any disks quickly.
And to deal with the duplicate in batch, you can right-click any file in the list, and choose [Select All] in the menu, thus all the duplicates will be all selected (only one file would be left), you can then click [Delete Selected] to remove them.
I’m so far satisfied with the free features of CCleaner V5.67. They are quick and actually effective without the frustrating of asking you to pay at the last step. And it’s also easy to operate without the need to follow a guide.
If you have the need to schedule the data cleaning, or do a health check, set a smart cleaning, etc., you can also upgrade your CCleaner to PRO version, of course. As I checked on its official website, the price for Professional version (1 year and 1 PC) is currently $24.95 ($19.95 with discount), which is acceptable for me.
In a word, if you are a Windows or Mac user and want to delete the duplicates or unwantted junk files every now and then just like me, CCleaner is a reliable choice which enables you to scan and clean your computer quickly. Best of all, the basic features are free or charge.
